Now, THIS Is Swift-Boating
When Bob Schieffer hailed John McCain as a man of character because he was shot down over Vietnam, Wesley Clark (after having spent a few minutes praising McCain as a “hero”) said that that did not qualify McCain for president; that was without a doubt not swift-boating, no matter what the wingnuts want to claim.
The latest book by noted sleaze merchant James Corsi, however, is the epitome of swift-boating–not because it was by a former associate of Obama’s who claimed to know him. a usual key ingredient in the definition. It is swift-boating because the author of the book is the original swift-boater himself, and the book carries the signature quality of being jam-packed with errors, innuendo, and mostly bald-faced lies. This time, not even the media will give this book any credibility, but that won’t stop the Republicans from trying to float a “popular” campaign based on it.
The book will premier as #1 on the New York Times best-seller list (one can only assume the editors had to swallow hard when labeling it as “non-fiction”), but not because people are buying it–rather because right-wing organizations are buying it in bulk quantities likely for no better reason than to artificially put it on the “best-seller” list and so inflate the book’s cache with the mindlessly-inclined. McCain’s quip on the book: “You gotta keep your sense of humor.” Yeah, right–like he’d react better if a book of the same caliber on him came out. Maybe he’d like to comment on this YouTube commercial–slimy, even though factually accurate.
This is the essence of the conservative run for the presidency: don’t just lie, but lie about the lies. Yet another reason not to vote Republican–unless you would like this kind of thing to define your personal politics.
Just, as a precedent, Ulysses S. Grant was the General of the Army that defeated the South during the Civil War. By now everyone knows that his administration was considered one of the worst in American history before the current President stole the crown. (In truth there’s some debate about Warren Harding in there).
Obviously, in the case of Grant, being a war hero didn’t qualify him for the presidency. Grant was responsible for practically all the major victories of the Union Army during the Civil war (Antietam and Gettysburg being the most notable exception), faced personal hazards countless times, and for all practical purposes was singularly responsible for winning the war. All that and he still made a bad President.
Given that, there’s no way that being able to hit the ejector button while getting shot out of the skies over Vietnam makes McCain qualified for President.
If he is qualified, a big if, it is because of some other criteria.
In regard to Swift-boating, did McCain think it was so funny when Bush’s henchmen were claiming that his adopted child was the result of an adulterous affair?
(By the way, I wish some democratic flunky would re-float this idea (though not as an Obama surrogate). By floating this idea around it would both draw attention to McCain’s former adultery and force him to bitch about being swiftboated himself.)
Finally, I think if the New York Times had any stones at all, they would list Corsi’s book under fiction – if for no other reason than for the hell of it. It would generate great discussions.