Swiftboating John McCain?

On Monday, Senator John McCain, the Republican's lady in waiting for the presidential nomination, spoke vigorously of what he considered to be a "failure of leadership," on the part of his Democratic opponents, with respect not only to how the war in Iraq will flourish, but how it will be characterized to the public at large. The senator from Arizona even went so far as to suggest that Democratic candidates are being less than truthful when they call for troop withdrawal.

These remarks were made before an organization calling itself the Veterans of Foreign Wars, but another group, Vietnam Veterans against John McCain, has a thing or two to say about the wannabe commander-in-chief, and his prisoner of war record.

It now appears that John Kerry and John McCain have more in common than the fact that both their first names are John, and their years of service in Vietnam War. The Arizona senator is about to be swiftboated by the same group that attempted to blow away John Kerry's candidacy by launching a kamikaze attack against his military record.

Last March, the masterminds of the swift boat blitzkrieg against Kerry, in 2004, formed Vietnam Vets against McCain. As Raw Story revealed, Jerry Kiley, one of the group's founders, says that the Arizona senator "pretends to be a conservative Republican, but he's not the man that people have projected onto him.," and this may be the best thing they have to say about McCain.

In a series of television ads Vietnam Vets plans to air soon, they aim to "expose" his support of the Communist regime in Vietnam, as well as allege that, as president, the presumptive Republican nominee would grant drivers license to "illegal immigrants."

There are others who have gone so far as to allege that, while a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, McCain fabricated his war hero persona, collaborated with the Communists in order to avoid being tortured, recorded dozens of propaganda tapes for the North Vietnamese, as well as provided classified information thereby jeopardizing the lives of other American pilots. These wild-eyed allegations, like those leveled against Senator Kerry, have been largely unsubstantiated, and may, in fact, derive from the same sources as the accusations that not only took Kerry down, but brought us another four years of George W. Bush.

As we later learned, Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was a Republican-funded group that went after then Senator Kerry with claims that he lied about acts of bravery in order to bolster his reputation as a Vietnam War hero, and to get two of his three purple hearts. Navy records repudiate those claims.

What is known is that initial financing for the 2004 Swift Boat venture came from a prosperous Houston contractor, Bob J. Perry, who gave millions to the Republicans, in support of the election of President Bush, and more than $25,000, in 2004, to the campaign of Tom DeLay.

But, who's putting up the bucks this time around? Odds are, it isn't anyone in either the Obama or Clinton camp. Maybe some folks in the Republican Party, fearful now that the neo-cons are on the endangered species list, folks who want to push through a more conservative agenda, and/or a more conservative presidential nominee. Like, for instance, former Republican congressman from Georgia, and newfangled Libertarian, Bob Barr who is now said to be "exploring" the possibility of a White House run.

Yes, the same Bob Barr who has been an outspoken proponent of the First Amendment, but also served as U.S. attorney under Ronald Reagan, and on the Board of Directors of the National Rifle Association. And, let's not forget that Bob Barr has the dubious distinction of being among those who led the call for the impeachment of another president -- Bill Clinton.

Perhaps, this time around, the swiftboaters have an agenda to crash the Republican party, and infuse it with one whose values more closely resemble their own rich, white, Anglo-Saxon, male, conservative one?

But, regardless of their motivations, if allowed into the living rooms of Mr. and Mrs. Undecided, the upcoming effort by the folks from Swift Boat may inadvertently turn the spotlight on what John McCain really stands for, and help end the love affair the mainstream media has had with the Arizona senator. If nothing else, maybe this time around, their hyperbolic, and inflammable ads will call attention to the absence of substantive investigative reporting, in this country, and we may yet come to know a bit more not just about McCain's service to his country, but to the disservice he pays to to returning veterans by not backing programs that will enable them to improve their lives once they return from what can only be seen as a futile, and failed war.

Indeed, maybe a primetime advertising campaign that questions not the honor, but the honesty of his war hero status will bring John McCain back to earth with regard to what are rightfully this country's priorities after seven plus years of ravaging the environment and the economy. If it takes swiftboating to show the Arizona senator is more concerned with what he calls the "calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people" that will result from an American withdrawal than he is for the casualties of this war, which now number more than 4,000 dead, and nearly ten times as many injured, then so be it.

And, if this group manages to take a seismic shift of attention away from Reverend Wright, and make us focus instead on the more than half a million folks who come under the heading of "collateral damage," as well as other issues, posted on Senator McCain's Web site, that deserve our immediate, and undivided attention like his position on appointing judges who will overturn Roe v. Wade, his support of what he considers the Second Amendment right to bear arms, and his position that "gun control is a proven failure in fighting crime," so much the better.

Whatever it takes to ignite a wild fire of righteous indignation on the part of the American public is surely worth the sound byte as righteous indignation is justified when John McCain attempts to pass himself off as Obama lite, and blur the lines between red and blue. Righteous indignation is also a reasonable response to anyone who tries to extend his personal appeal beyond the upper one percent of the population who will benefit from his presidency, and on to our youngsters, especially our youngsters of color.

We already know how much John McCain supports the war in Iraq, the troop escalation, General Petraeus, and the continuation of George W. Bush's legacy as demander-in-chief with respect to the military, but does he support the vets? As a veteran of another less than distinguished battle himself , and a prisoner of war, to boot, he will have to prove his support, as well as stop posturing on where he stands on giving the green light to the CIA to waterboard. It is no longer okay to say we don't support torture, but legislatively allow techniques that can only be called torture.

If another Swift Boat campaign picks up momentum, like it did in 2004, maybe John McCain will be embarrassed into sponsoring a new G.I. bill, the Post 9-11 Veterans Assistance Act, which will help Iraq war veterans out with tuition, room, and board, and provide them with opportunity, a bill he currently has declined to sponsor. Maybe he will also work with Congress to come up with some solution to the agonizing problem of homelessness among returning veterans.

A little air time won't hurt with respect to demanding answers on other issues either like whether or not it's okay for the 44th president of the United States to have to consult an advisor before getting back to us on the economy, as well as whether or not to extend an abstinence-only requirement for HIV/AIDS funding. Which part of the word Africa is not worth saving?

While it may, after all, be child's play to discredit any veterans group that makes such explosive claims about a presidential candidate, the love affair between the media and John McCain must end, and there must be a closer examination of his stand on everything from how he plans to solve the health care crisis, deal with carpetbagger oil conglomerates to his plans for government assistance to corporate America.

It's too bad if it has to take something like swiftboating to set the record straight. That just means those who bring us the news aren't doing their job, or maybe their efforts are being obstructed. Either way, where John McCain is concerned, the hard questions are not being asked, and they're long overdue.

Follow Jayne Lyn Stahl on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jaynelynstahl

Comments

[carfino]

One has to look for the humor here......

Here we have this right wing Senator......pumped up as a "war hero" being carved up like a Thanksgiving turkey because he's not as looney as the guy we have in there now. The Senator is in the hip pocket of big business, he's against everything the middle class has always stood for...he's voted against all sorts of civil rights issues...and what does he get for his troubles....the jihadists in the Repugnant party want him out. When asked what is was that made them so nutty about Senator McBush....they point to the McBush-Feingold Campaign "Reform" Bill.
See, the problem is........any Repugnant worth his salt thinks it's his god given right to be able to bribe anybody he wants. They hate McBush because he once had a minimum of integrity. They should all sit back and take a breath....somehow I think that evaporated back at Liberty College when McBush groveled before Jerry Falwell.

[sarge]

Good article Jayne, as always.

For a change, I'm going to quibble with you a bit (by now you should know that I chivalrously defend you at every opportunity!).

Still, about this:

"If it takes swiftboating to show the Arizona senator is more concerned with what he calls the "calamitous consequences to the Iraqi people" that will result from an American withdrawal than he is for the casualties of this war, which now number more than 4,000 dead, and nearly ten times as many injured, then so be it."

I can't get onboard an ends justifies the means argument here. This is a case where turnabout is not fairplay, and there could be blowback on the Democrats regardless of who is the source.

As you point out, there are many fertile opportunities for McCain criticism without resorting to swiftboating his military service and sacrifice.

Hopefully the Dems can soon stop fighting the Hillary/Obama fight and start making the case to the American public that McCain is not fit for office without diminishing his military record.

Even so, assuming such swiftboating occurs, I suppose there is no harm in looking for, and finding, a silver lining!

[RickO]

McCain must not become president and we must use all legitimate means to ensure that. BUT, to distort his service in Vietnam, where he was simply a pilot serving his country and suffered greatly for his country at the hands of brutal captors, is a line we must not cross. The democratic nominee must come down on him like a ton of bricks for his congressional record, his wrong positions on almost everything, as well as his temper and even his physical ability to be president, but also vociferously condemn any attempt to suggest he did not serve with honor in Vietnam. Being a P.O.W., especially in Vietnam, is one of the worst things a human can endure and while McCain does not deserve to lead the country for lots and lots of other reasons, he deserves our respect for his service.

[jayburd]

So far Vietnam Veterans Against John McCain is nothing more than a crackpot website that looks like an internet porn site. I'd be surprised if they end up having much clout...

[grendl]

We love our heroes, real or fabricated. We need them sometimes to justify doing stupid things like attacking a sovereign nation, under false pretenses.

Anyone who goes to war for this country is a hero. They're making the ultimate sacrifice, putting themselves in harms way out of a sense of patriotism. The least the people who send them into battle can do is pick the battles worth fighting, and those we at least have a chance of winning.

Viet Nam and Iraq are both lost causes, because there's no real winning scenario save for drops in casualties. Yay! No one was killed today in Iraq...we WIN!

Now McCain is changing his tune, by not saying we can be victorious in this war, but successful. The goal posts have once again been moved, as they were in Viet Nam, until the absurdity of taking patches of jungle, only to relinquish them the next day became glaringly evident.

He doesn't need to be swiftboated to be defeated. He need only have his words played back, time and time again. We didn't lose in Viet Nam, he said, we weren't allowed to win. Maybe subconsciously he was talking about himself in that remark. Maybe he saw his own sudden capture as a way to prove himself to his admiral father as a success, and he somehow confuses that with America's inability to win the war. Maybe he can't separate his own failed mission from this country's.

[grendl]

Correction.

He saw his own personal fight in Viet Nam as a way to prove himself to his father the war hero.

When the enemy captured him, he was personally prevented from doing so, something which he seems to have confused with this country's failure to win the war.

So when John McCain says, about Viet Nam, we weren't allowed to win that war, he really means he wasn't allowed to prove himself a hero. And that's why he refused early release, it was his only way of doing so.

He wasn't allowed to win the war in his mind, the war to win his dads approval. But he doesn't realize, on a grander scale, we couldn't win in Viet Nam, because it wasn't a militaristic problem, but an ideological one. The indigenous people could not possibly glean the positive aspects of democracy by the bully who was overrunning their country with such arrogance and outrageous self entitlement ( sometimes to please their fathers ).

[RickO]

Early release was a propaganda tool used by North Vietnam. Many prisoners were offered it but it was rarely accepted, to do so was to leave your brothers behind and as anyone who served knows, your primary concern is for the guy next to you in the foxhole or cell, whichever that may be, even if means giving your life that he may live. That's what goes in war. One notable case of a prisoner taking early release was because he had memorized the names of everyone who was being held and it was thought, by his brothers, that his release would let him bring news home to those who did not know if their sons and husbands were even alive. That was a good reason.

[DemandTruth]

I say bring it on! If it turns out to be lies like the swiftboating of Kerry, that's one thing and McCain should get the chance to prove it and then I'll disapprove. But if it turns out to be shining light on the dark truth (like Rather TRIED to do w/ Bush and his drugging and AWOL record) that is quite another and I'd like more of that please. All they have to do is stick with the truth of McCain's record. That should be damaging enough.

[msemper]

I would not be surprised if the swiftboat attacks him. remember he was not the best of officers in the milarty

1. he graduated 5th from the bottom of his class it was nearly 300 cadets
2. he crashed 2 planes and got shot down
3. he was in a POW camp for over 5years.
4. he was release for POW camp once he agree to the comunist regime, that america was wrong for fight the war.

so it makes sense than mccain will get attacked by the swiftboat. Swiftboad is not all about the president election its about the truth as they know it.

[moda31]

the media's reaction will simply be blind outrage that anyone would dare paint a portrait of mccain that doesn't include his glowing halo. the ads would be attacked and discredited till kingdom come, before mccain barely even lifts a finger to respond.

[Countess]

McCain will be saved by the mainstream moronic media who believe he is the second coming of Jesus Christ on earth.

[gulopartisan]

Let's see, we're talking about a guy who called the wife whose money made him "a c**t" to her face, in front of a bunch of reporters. As someone who has never thought of calling a woman he cared about by that word, much less to her face, much less in public, I honestly couldn't care less what sort of fecal matter McCain's enemies throw at him. That was a career-ending move, as far as my vote is concerned.

[pratliff94]

Jayne,
Thank you for a well written informative article, and thanks for making us think.
Like you, I hate these personal attacks by both the left and the right, and I find one to be as obnoxious as the other.
Like you, I hope the Swift Boater's attacks are successful for a couple of reasons: such as a pay back to John McCain when he did nothing when they were made on another war hero, John Kerry; just maybe if enough good people on both the right and the left can see what we are doing to the people who pay with their blood and guts to defend our country we will finally say enough is enough rising up to exterminate this vermin call Swift Boaters; and just maybe we will vote on what each candidate is promoting without talking about their husbands, their ministers and until we drastically change campaign financing we will shut up about who and how they are supported to be elected.
You play the game you are playing according to the rules of the game, not the way you wish the rules were.
OBHG,
Phil in Norman