On Veteran's Day I think of the hatchet job the "Swiftboat Patriots"

[rurallib]

did on John Kerry almost a decade ago.
I for one am so grateful to veterans in general. I could never understand how we could ever condemn someone who has served unless of course that service was proven faulty to some degree. My father-in-law was among those who did their duty in WW2 and came back and helped build this country into the greatest country ever.

As I think of that I always come back to what I think is one of the worst incidents ever in our pretty ugly electoral history. That is of course the smearing of John Kerry's war record. Kerry had an excellent record. Then a bunch of amoeba come along with unfounded lies and innuendo, intent not just to win the presidency through these lies, but to destroy the man and his reputation.

Got to be one of the darkest hours in electoral politics.

[karynnj]

1. I think the RW success in attacking a well certified war record as a war hero, led to their chutzpah

in attacking a certified birth certificate. This lie became even more ridiculous when, they immediately redefined "natural born" to include being born to an American mother because Cruz was born in Canada. (To add further insult, Cruz' s dad has accused Obama of being born in Kenya.)

Against a focused echo chamber no amount of documentation stops them from making up lies. It angers me that BOTH these lies show up on message boards whenever these two honorable MEN ARE MENTIONED.

[gordianot]

2. The RW confrontational tactics such as in swiftboating may be losing favor as in Chris Christie.

If there was ever a politician ripe for swiftboating it was John McCain. There more than a few POW's who despised McCain enough to do it. Even though there was some stir Democrats resisted it and the M$M ignored it. Thankfully Democrats rejected this tactic.

By opposing the various anarchist and bomb throwers of the tea party right Chris Christie can appear to be slightly reasonable even though his policies are not that different. Fear and smears may be giving way to common every day liars and thugs telling you to shut the hell up when they get challenged. A quiet boot placed in the side of the face of a protester outside the range of the cameras will be much more desirable than featuring full blown nut case liars such as Rand Paul and Ted Cruz fomenting hate.

[w8liftinglady]

3. They did that to David Harris in Tx as well

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/09/04/242642/-Swiftboating-Iraq-War-Veteran-David-Harris-TX-6

I worked on David's campaign as he ran against Joe Barton.David is a good man, and would have done a much better job at representing his constituents. Barton couldn't wait to attack...

[UTUSN]

4. CORSI is buds with NOORI (Art BELL's replacement), wonder if he's guesting tonight. n/t

[ScreamingMeemie]

5. When I think of the "Swiftboaters" I think of that pig of a woman who made

fun of the Purple Heart...