The 2004 presidential election pitting George W. Bush against Sen. John Kerry was tarnished by one of the most virulently dishonest attacks in modern politics. Sensing a real threat due to Kerry’s patriotic service during the Vietnam War, the Bush campaign, led by Karl Rove, concluded that Kerry’s military resume had to be buried beneath a mountain of mud and lies.
Thus was born the Swift-Boat Veterans for Truth, an organization comprised of partisan liars who had little to no knowledge of Kerry’s service, but who were recruited to slander him in the media. Their allegations were revealed to be unsupported by facts and the term Swift=Boating entered the American lexicon to describe false political attacks, particularly those aimed at the target’s personal strengths.
Now Fox News has proudly announced the commencement of a Swift-Boat campaign against President Obama. The organization set up to carry out the assault is described as “A group of former U.S. intelligence and Special Forces operatives,” but in reality is a partisan assembly of Republicans and professional Obama haters. The Special Operations OPSEC Education Fund (SOOEF) plans to produce and distribute videos and advertisements that will criticize Obama for “taking credit for the killing of Osama bin Laden.” This is an archetypical implementation of Swift-Boating whose purpose is to spread lies about a key achievement of Obama’s leadership as Commander-in-Chief.
The assertions by the SOOEF that Obama has improperly heralded himself for the demise of Bin Laden are demonstrably false. Their video features gross misrepresentations of Obama’s statements on the subject that loop portions of his speech referencing himself, but leaves out his abundant praise for the military and intelligence operatives who carried out the mission. The opening line of the President’s address to the nation announcing that Bin Laden was dead explicitly and unselfishly stated that “the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden.” He went on to thank “the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who’ve worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome,” and he praised “the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country.”
None of that was in the SOOEF video which sought to portray the President as self-obsessed by cutting together snippets of his speech where he used the words “I” and “my.” However, a quick analysis of the speech shows that he only used those words ten times. By comparison he used the words “we,” “our,” and “us” ninety-one times. That shows just how determined the video’s producers were to mischaracterize the actual events.
The SOOEF is a brazenly dishonest election year effort to smear the President and to prevent him from getting the credit he is due for his role in bringing Bin Laden to justice. And it does not diminish the courage and skill of the Special Forces who stormed Bin Laden’s compound to note that the President was a unique participant in the operation. He had to personally take responsibility for approving the the plan, the timing, the coordination with allies, etc. If the operation had failed Republicans would have been merciless in their condemnation of the incompetency of the White House. Just ask Jimmy Carter about that. Consequently, it is hypocritical and ungrateful not to recognize the efficiency, and leadership that contributed to this success.
What’s especially disturbing about this propaganda exercise is that Fox News is openly participating in it. What’s more, they are even calling it by its name: Swift-Boating.
Either they have completely given up on trying to pretend that they are a “fair and balanced” news enterprise (which no one believes anyway), or they don’t know what Swift-Boating means. But by stating in their headline that “Navy SEALS Start ‘Swift-Boating’ Obama,” they are admitting that they are committing political character assassination. Granted, Fox News does that every day, but they rarely come out and say that’s what they’re doing. Apparently, they have grown so at ease with their mission of slandering Democrats and disinforming their viewers that they no longer feel any need to disguise their intentions.
Update: As a sign of their desperation, Fox Nation is plastering their page with postings that further demean the President and make wildly false claims. One headline reads “Navy SEALS Respond After Media Matters Calls Them ‘Gutless’.” However, Media matters did not call the Navy SEALs gutless. They said that the former SEALs-turned-politicos didn’t have the guts to admit that they are a partisan organization. That’s simply a fact. What’s more, Navy SEALs did not respond, only the same aforementioned Republican operatives. No actual SEALs have had any comment on this matter, including any comments supporting the SOOEF.
The other headline reads “OBAMA CAMPAIGN ATTACKS NAVY SEALS.” That is absurd on its face. The Obama campaign only reacted to the lies in the propaganda distributed by the Republican group that is attacking the President. Again, no actual SEALs are a part of the SOOEF campaign and none were attacked by the President.
These two examples of dishonest distortions of reality illustrate just how worried the right is about this election. There is nothing they won’t lie about to smear their opponents.
