The Swiftboating Of Obama Begins

Posted by on May 2, 2012 at 10:36 am. 12 Comments :

In 2004 the campaign for president was tarnished by a band buttheads who thought that it would be appropriate to smear the military record of a decorated veteran who risked his life in Vietnam (John Kerry), in order to support a frat boy who evaded combat by leaning on the connections of his famous family (George W. Bush).

The Swiftboat Veterans for Truth launched a well-financed campaign of distortions and lies in order to prevent Kerry from gaining any popular support for his service to the country. And now a similar campaign has begun by a shadowy group called “Veterans for a Strong America” to deny President Obama any credit for his role in finding and killing Osama Bin Laden.

This video is brazenly dishonest in its portrayal of Obama as negligent in praising the efforts of all of those who had a role in Bin Laden’s demise. Obama has repeatedly and effusively honored everyone from foot soldiers to intelligence operatives to diplomats to civilians to the Navy SEALs, etc. There is abundant evidence of that praise had the liars responsible for this video cared to review it. Instead they chose slap together some deliberately deceitful soundbites of the President speaking in the first person.

As usual, it took the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart to set the record straight. He not only shames the producers of the video above by demonstrating how easy it is to be honest, he also makes the undeniable point that any politician would seek and expect some credit for having orchestrated this sort of dangerous mission and seeing it through to success.

Part One:

Part Two:

Republicans would like to steal every speck of gratitude that the President deserves for having been in charge of this operation. They seem to think that the SEALS planned, executed, and gave themselves the order to proceed without any intervention from the Commander-in-Chief. They also seem to believe that the order was a foregone conclusion that anyone would have made in similar circumstances. However, we know that that is untrue because Mitt Romney said specifically that he would not have chased Bin Laden into Pakistan and he criticized Obama for proposing it.

In 2004 there were, unfortunately, way too many gullible people who fell for the fallacies of the Swiftboat Liars. Hopefully that will not be the case today. President Obama was not solely responsible for determining Bin Laden’s fate. He knows that and says so frequently. But he did play an important role and is entitled to list it on his resume.

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12 thoughts on “The Swiftboating Of Obama Begins”

  1. The internet was not as extensive in 2004…people can be led astray, certainly, but thinking folks are using it to find the truth, and the Obama campaign is being far quicker to answer these lies than Kerry was, or could have been. Unless there is a massive voter restriction, or a massive machine takeover, the Democrats should have a landslide (and the GOP is well aware.)

  2. The entire Right-Wing plan has been to turn President Obama into Jimmy Carter. However, Republicans and their Bircher Masters only succeeded with falsely vilifying Jimmy Carter because of the lack of access to non-biased info.

    Even the proliferation of the Right-Wing Echo Chamber and the incestous linking of each others stories to “prove” them true can’t halt the proliferation of Liberal sites highlighting the blatant dishonesty and outright bigotry the Right has been spewing for the last 4 years.

  3. I for one am pleased Obama did what he did. I don’t agree with some of his policies, but he has been solid in a lot of political areas, like the war, chasing bin laden and such. Some criticize President Obama for staying in Iraq and Afghanistan when he campaigned that he would pull out immediately upon being elected. Again i am happy that as the commander and chief he took under advisement recommendations to pull out in a controlled fashion, which i agree 100% with and didn’t stick with his campaign promise. That alone should have shown some that he wouldn’t make a rash decision just to keep a campaign promise. I respect that, once elected he had more information about the situation in Iraq and Afghanistan that he had as a governor and made (what i feel) was the appropriate decision.

  4. How much would the GOP be “politicizing” if the Bin Laden attack had been a failure?

    That’s what I thought. They should just shut the fuck up.

  5. Common Sammy, both sides do it…its tit for tat…But i wish both sides would stop with the show boating and stick with real issues. I am curious Sammy, do you think the Dems and liberals do the same or is this just a GOP thing?

    • Rather than just saying that everybody does it, can you just cite a single example of Romney being subjected to this sort of dishonest attack that was promoted by a major news organization (as Fox has been promoting this video)?

      • I hear you Mark, and i will do a little research and get back with you. I haven’t been following the whole Mitt Romney – Obama gear up. Each side goes all out in trying to make the other look bad and spin. I just want to know the facts of what they have done and what they want to do. The rest is garbage to me….I will do some research and provide some examples…some will be Mitt and some will be general and some will be about Bush. Every President does somethings good, but our sides always focus on the dirt or something they can spin as dirt. Great question Mark, i will get back with you…

  7. This is a link to the Wisconsin Incident I told you about Mark. You never mentioned if you heard about this. I would think this is news worthy. It wasn’t in the flint journal or the Detroit Free Press or any local news affiliates:

    Wisconsin Fair Goers Attacked: http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/126825018.html

  8. My point about the Wisconsin thing is imagine if it was the opposite. You have to admit, this incident would be touted as a National Outrage by NBC,CNN,CNBC, etc..

  10. I don’t think you have an appreciation for scale here….

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