Althouse: "Swiftboating Obama."

June 17, 2008

"Swiftboating Obama."

The NYT – using that title — is running a 4-minute clip from my Bloggingheads with Rachel Sklar.

25 comments:

Anonymous said...: Congratulations on the exposure. That's probably a good thing for you.

Too bad you had to share the clip with a leftist motormouthed twit like Sklar, although it's the NYT and her patter no doubt fits right in with the paper and its dwindling readership. In an odd way, she seems incapable of original thought (referencing also the entire Bheads "discussion"), instead stringing together stock phrases interspersed with smarmy bits of self-promotion. Ick.; 6/17/08, 4:57 PM
1775OGG said...: AA: Congratulations for getting a word or two in edgewise. Ms Rachel Sklar kept interrupting you as do most members of the LW do.

"Swiftboating?" Good, the '04 campaign demonstrated most aptly that the Left will do anything to deny the truth about their positions. So, now telling the truth about a candidate is "Swiftboating?' Strange how the political world works, or doesn't.

My guess is that this is going to be typical of what the NYT will be doing down this long campaign trail.; 6/17/08, 4:57 PM
BJK said...: Anyone who talks about "Right wing tactics" to smear a candidate, while using MediaMatters like a primary source needs to spend a few hours reviewing the dictonary definition of the word 'irony.'

That was the first BHTV clip I've ever listened to, and with all due respect, it may well be the last.; 6/17/08, 5:03 PM
titusabsolutelyloves you said...: Fellow republicans I am furious that Cindy Mccain's books of recipes was ripped off from the Food Network.

She really doesn't cook does she?

I would like to do a three way with you and Sklar. Less talking though. Way too much talking.; 6/17/08, 5:05 PM
titusabsolutelyloves you said...: Are you considered coming from the right on these performances?

What happened to Troop?

Did he get mad?

I am not horny at this moment. But in approximately 123 minutes I will be.; 6/17/08, 5:09 PM
titusabsolutelyloves you said...: Whether we like it or not fellow republicans the left has successfully used "swiftboating" as a deragatory term.; 6/17/08, 5:10 PM
ricpic said...: Sklar doesn't think "it's ever a joke" when the words or behavior of the Obamessiah are questioned. Anything less than worship is verboten. There you have it. From an enlightened progressive. So JUST SHUT UP!; 6/17/08, 5:14 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: "Swiftboating?" Good, the '04 campaign demonstrated most aptly that the Left will do anything to deny the truth about their positions. So, now telling the truth about a candidate is "Swiftboating?' Strange how the political world works, or doesn't.

That is what "Swift Boating" always was - telling inconvenient truths about Democratic (esp. presidential) candidates.

None of the original Swift Boat ad was proven to be false (unless you accept Kerry's unsubstantiated word), and some, like his trip to Cambodia, proven to be true. Most was he says/she says sort of thing that without his military records (which we have not yet seen) cannot be proven one way or another. Of course, there were always a lot more Swift Boaters on the other side from Kerry in this, but still...

But the more damaging ads came later, esp. the one with his Congressional testimony telling about the atrocities that he claimed to have seen in Vietnam (but turned out to have gotten from other "vets", some of whom didn't actually serve in Vietnam). It was the latter ads that really turned so many Vietnam vets against him.

And, thus, "Swift Boating" is now, and has always been, the act of telling inconvenient truths about Democratic politicians. And, since there are so many inconvenient truths about Obama, that we aren't supposed to talk about, expect that he will be "Swift Boated" a lot this election.; 6/17/08, 5:25 PM
Ron said...: Sniff...castigated by the NYT, even secondhandedly...I see you like Anne Baxter holding the Oscar amidst all the mirrors at the end of All About Eve...; 6/17/08, 5:41 PM
reader_iam said...: Titus: Trooper hangs at his own blog, updating regularly, these days.; 6/17/08, 5:45 PM
Richard Dolan said...: "Swiftboating", like so much else, has a different meaning for Dems and Reps. For Dems it means, basically, lying. For Reps it means exposing a liar. No big surprise that the NYT adopts the Dem view.

As of the bloggingheads clip, it's a big bore. Ms. Sklar thinks that the Rep/conservative rhetoric has shifted into Swiftboating (= flat-out lying) mode. Her proof is some silly line about terrorist jab something-or-other than some apparently said about Team O!. If that's got the lefties all in a twitter, they aren't going to make it through the real campaign, once it gets going in earnest.; 6/17/08, 5:46 PM
rhhardin said...: There was nothing on the swiftcowing of judges.; 6/17/08, 5:47 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Safari and Firefox will not run the video. Help! I'm being swiftboated by Safari and Firefox. <---uses term swiftboating in a way counter to historic fact. It's a portmanteau, you see, several meanings packed into one.

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in a rather scornful tone,' it means just what I choose it to mean, neither more nor less.'

...

'They've a temper, some of them - particularly verbs: they're the proudest - adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs - however, I can manage the whole lot of them! Impenetrability! That's what I say!'

Well then, no point in arguing with points cogent as that.; 6/17/08, 8:59 PM
reader_iam said...: Chip: I've run the clip through both browsers to which you refer. Which isn't to say you're doing something wrong (because I've had the same experience, when others aren't)--it's just to provide information.; 6/17/08, 9:26 PM
Anonymous said...: So.....

A carrot is obviously a dick — even when no one but Ann sees it.

An onion ring is obviously a pussy — even when no one but Ann sees it.

Half the word "night" on a pair of pajamas from old stock footage used in a Hillary ad is clearly an attempt to degrade Obama as a "nigger" and inject poisonous racism into the campaign — even when no one but Ann sees it.

But Fox News suggesting that Obama and his wife are terrorists?

Why, that's just part of some unfortunate "thing these days" where people "find little things" and "make a big deal about them." You know, "Fox News strings some words together and throws something in there that's off" and "people jump all over them." After all, "it was just a teaser" and "a dumb little joke," and, you know, "people on TV that have to chatter constantly are under a lot of pressure and sometimes dribble out something stupid."

You see, the real victims here are at Fox News.; 6/17/08, 9:29 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Let's see rumor has it the new owner at the Phila. Inquirer & Daily News was not able to make his scheduled debt payments.

Hugh Hewitt reported the guy (Sam Zell?) who bought the LA Times and Chicago Tribune can't make his debt payments.

The NY Times ignores reality daily. Is this practice for ignoring the bill collector when he comes knocking at the NYT door?; 6/17/08, 9:54 PM
titusabsolutelyloves you said...: Verso nailed it.; 6/17/08, 10:27 PM
Cedarford said...: titusabsolutelyloves you said...
Whether we like it or not fellow republicans the left has successfully used "swiftboating" as a deragatory term.

No, it is basically a tribal rant to rally the hard Left base - while they pretend that they are convincing others by ceaselessly repeating a lie...

See the:

1. "Ve vere stabbed in der back!"
Nazi lie.
2. "John McCain wants our soldiers dying 100 years more in Iraq" Obama lie,
3. "Tax Cuts for the Rich Only" grow the economy and pay for all debt and then trickle down from the rich's largess to enrich the middle class and poor..." 28-year long Republican lie.
4. The almost 20-year old "Blood for Oil" lie.
5. The "stolen election" decided by 5, lie.

But it is really sad to see the Left and their MSM media shills milk the "swiftboating" line when the evidence is as clear as Kerry's denunciationas of US soldiers in the Congressional Record and photos of him meeting with the enemy in Paris.
Especially when it is also clear to most objective Democrats that the guy really is a well-off, arroogant and out of touch scumbag who honesty does look down on US troops even today.

You had people ready to get Bush out after 1 term like his daddy. One key block that doomed Kerry and who would have voted for other Democrats was Vets and their families - that is the group that the Swifties made thair case to, not lefties with degrees in journalism and 3rd world liberation from Columbia U. And the Vets weighed the evidence and 3:1 came down with the opinion that yes, indeed, John Kerry was a duplicitous scumbag who dishonored the uniform. Then agonized, as no voters had to since Ford vs. Carter, on who was the lesser evil.; 6/17/08, 11:43 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Verso, you left out half of what I said which absolutely acknowledges everything you accuse me of not saying.

Titus, did you even watch it?; 6/18/08, 12:12 AM
Anonymous said...: Ann,
I'm honestly amazed that you seem to believe that you gave a balanced account of the Fox News smear. I would have doubted it, until you asked Titus if he even watched it, as though he would do so and conclude that you were doing something besides running cover and making excuses for Fox News.

The clear point you were making was that this was just an innocent little mistake, and the only real significance was that it gave the enemies of Fox News an opportunity to beat up on them.

I don't buy it for a second. You are awash in right-wing talking points, between your comments section, your daily dose of Rush Limbaugh, and your ongoing perusal of conservative blogs. You know exactly how the Fox News terrorist smear fits into and is perfectly consistent with the larger right-wing narrative and line of attack against Obama. You know there will be more, much more, along these lines.

Why can't you just be honest about it? I think you're assuming your audience is more credulous than they really are. Nobody with a functioning brain stem is going to mistake a Fox News terrorist smear as accidental or innocent, and your attempts to convince people otherwise undermine your own credibility.

You've chosen to align yourself with the far-right; why don't you do so proudly, instead of pretending to be a moderate who doesn't see — and embrace — the extremism all around you?; 6/18/08, 6:17 AM
Fen said...: Is there a way to garner the content of the clip without having to visit the Grey Whore?; 6/18/08, 8:01 AM
Crimso said...: "the Fox News terrorist smear"

You mean he's not cozy with Ayers and Dohrn?; 6/18/08, 8:06 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Fen:

If you find a way, let me know. I can't break my pledged boycott even for Ann.; 6/18/08, 9:03 AM
The Drill SGT said...: So this was a NYT example of a debate with a far left Obama supporter debating a Center Left Obama supporter?

sort of like the AA commenting on WI NPR where by their frame of reference she is far right.; 6/18/08, 9:28 AM
titusbeatLA said...: I did watch it. You seemed to be making excuses as to why "terrorist jab" was not a big deal.

You can acknowlege your biases-it is ok you know.

"The hosts have to talk all day and fill time blah blah blah."

Lame.; 6/18/08, 12:35 PM