John McCain and "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth"

In 2004, the Republican Party's "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth," acting as a surrogate for the George W. Bush reelection campaign, launched the sleaziest, most despicable smears against a veteran's war record ever undertaken during an American presidential campaign. This well-heeled group of extreme right-wing Nixonians who were still smarting over John Kerry's work in the early 1970s with Vietnam Veterans Against the War, deployed a tapestry of lies and innuendo to make a mockery out of the United States Navy's decision to award Kerry the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts for his service in Vietnam. So caustic and over-the-top were the Swiftboaters' attacks on Kerry that both George W. Bush and John McCain were forced to squeak out tepid, half-hearted criticisms of the group. But only a couple of days before McCain gushed loving praise for Bush at the Republican National Convention, he blamed Kerry for eliciting the Swiftboat attacks himself because he had made his Vietnam record a political issue in the campaign. That's the way McCain showed his solidarity with a fellow navy vet who served in Vietnam.

The Swift Boat smears against Kerry were qualitatively light-years beyond anything ever cooked up even by Joseph McCarthy or Richard Nixon. The moment the group emerged the New York Times exposed its ties to the Texas GOP and to Karl Rove and the Bush campaign. But the mainstream press gave Bush a free ride to pretend he had nothing to do with his own surrogates.

"Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" was so abrasive and sleazy that the term "Swiftboating" has earned a place in our political lexicon denoting lies aimed at smearing an opponent in a political campaign. The right-wing Regnery publishing house produced the Swiftboaters' hatchet job on Kerry. John O'Neill, who had a 30-plus year grudge against Kerry from the time he worked for Nixon, made the rounds on ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NPR pissing all over Kerry's war record while eager "journalists," including Jim Lehrer on PBS, lapped it up and dedicated weeks of "coverage" and commentary. The new meaning of the word "Swiftboat," for which we can thank Rove and Bush (and the media), has had a disparaging effect on the vast majority of real swift boat veterans who served honorably and did not agree with the Swiftboaters' methods or motives. "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" has forever tarnished these veterans' names, and ultimately their service.

At the 2004 Republican National Convention hundreds of people sported purpled band-aids on their fingers mocking Kerry's war wounds that earned him three Purple Hearts. The corporate media thought it was funny.

More than any other act of rank hypocrisy that we have grown accustomed to expect from John McCain his recent embrace of the Swiftboaters to help his presidential campaign is beyond astonishing, especially for someone who is running in large part on his Vietnam record. McCain's new love affair with the Swiftboaters should expose to the mainstream press once and for all that their man -- their father figure and "hero" -- their "maverick" -- is nothing more than a Karl Rove-George Bush clone, a human-political/animal hybrid who jettisoned his ethics and integrity the minute he realized he was poised to become the heir to the glorious Bush legacy.

John McCain has happily accepted large campaign contributions from the following Swifboaters: Bob Perry, T. Boone Pickens, Carl Linder Sr., Harlan Crow, Jack E. Caveney, Albert Huddleston, and Sam Fox. He has even recently added the prominent Swiftboater, Bud Day, to his stable of war veterans who are currently shilling for his campaign. According to the Federal Election Commission, McCain has raked in over $600,000 in cash from former members of "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth."

McCain is running for president largely on his "experience" that his Vietnam service gave him. But unlike the treatment his Swiftboating friends and allies dished out to Kerry in 2004 McCain wants discussion of his military record to be sacrosanct. He and his surrogates are whining about recent statements by Wesley Clark and Jim Webb about whether McCain should keep on beating Barack Obama over the head with his military experience. General Clark simply questioned whether the type of experience McCain had in Vietnam automatically qualifies him as an expert in foreign policy and gives him the judgment to be commander-in-chief. All Webb said was that McCain might want to "calm down" a bit his pounding away with his putative monopoly on patriotism and pointed out, correctly, that not everyone who serves (or has served) in the United States military is a Bush-McCain Republican.

If elected president, McCain will use the troops, as Bush has done for almost eight years now, as nothing more than elaborate stage props for his own political propaganda. His junkets to Iraq where he "strolls" in markets with 100 soldiers covering his ass have already shown that he's willing to put American troops in Iraq at risk to stage his own photo ops. That kind of exploitation to serve a right-wing nationalist/corporatist agenda, Bush has clearly shown, is not good for the United States military or for the country. McCain has once again exposed the fact that he is running for Bush's third term.

I guess the main difference between George W. Bush and John McCain is that if McCain becomes president the next time we see a televised "Mission Accomplished" spectacle on board an aircraft carrier he might even be able to really fly his own plane.

Comments

[MilitaryBrat]

I'm glad Mr. Palermo mentioned Bud Day's presence on McCain's so-called "Truth Squad." This is a man who tarnished his Medal of Honor by wearing it for a televised ad smearing another veteran. And not only was he a prominent member of SBVT, he founded another attack group www.vvlf.orgg) that used SBVT money to fund harrassment suits against Kerry and his supporters.

It's bad enough that Day represents McCain in any fashion, but he has actually praised SBVT and its tactics on McCain's behalf to the national press.

Where is McCain's integrity?!

[beachmom]

Thank you for telling it like it is, Mr. Palermo. I wrote a full history of Kerry and McCain; Kerry defended McCain for years -- in the '90s and in 2000 -- and he didn't get a whole lot in return.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/23/112348/698/437/540609

[Joseph A. Palermo - Huffpost Blogger]

HuffPost's Pick

What I meant by the Swiftboat tactics being lower than McCarthy and Nixon is that I've never seen in the history of American politics a group smear a candidate's war record like that. I mean they were wearing purple band-aids at the Convention-- Kerry was on a Swift Boat in 1968 in the Mekong Delta, he was shot at constantly, risked his life for his country, was wounded, the Navy gave him medals, end of story -- just read Douglas Brinkley's book about it if you don't believe me -- you rightwingers don't understand that if one soldiers' Purple Heart is questioned as being illegitimate then it calls into question all of your medals that any one of you received. It made receiving a Purple Heart a big joke. Now I've heard my Vietnam vet friends say that the Gulf War I soldiers got Purple Hearts just for getting sand in their eyes, whereas the Vietnam vets were really grunting it out -- is that fair to the Gulf vets? Nixon never implied that JFK didn't deserve his medals in WWII. McCarthy went after civilians in the Army Department, not officers or former officers. Some of you people need to do your homework before offering bogus criticisms.

[wwsword]

"The Swift Boat smears against Kerry were qualitatively light-years beyond anything ever cooked up even by Joseph McCarthy or Richard Nixon."

Please, Joe, yes, it was despicable, but worse that McCarthy and Nixon's tactics? Come on now. McCarthy destroyed how many people by accusing them of being communists or having communist sympathies? Nixon's dirty tricks team, among other things, broke into doctor and campaign offices and forced a vice presidential candidate off the ticket. A propaganda campaign challenging Kerry's record of military service is small potatoes compared to what McCarthy and Nixon did.

You say that the campaign against Kerry was so bad that "swiftboating" becomes a term we use to describe similar tactics. Have you not heard of "McCarthyism" and the use of "gate" as a suffix for any and every political scandal du jour.

Exaggeration only weaken the legitimacy of an argument. It was a terrible thing that happened to Kerry, but let's at least try to have some sense of proportionality, okay?

[Gma11]

"His junkets to Iraq where he "strolls" in markets with 100 soldiers covering his ass have already shown that he's willing to put American troops in Iraq at risk to stage his own photo ops. That kind of exploitation to serve a right-wing nationalist/corporatist agenda . . . "

Fully agreed. Now we'll see what the corporate media has to say . . .

[Cassandra3]

Considering the company he's keeping, maybe McCain should make his campaign song, "How Can You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been A Liar All My Life?"

[Insideout143]

I pray that McCain never gets an opportunity to ever proclaim mission accomplished. His mission, in my view, should never have a chance to be accomplished; the presidency would not suit him at all. He needs to leave well enough alone.

[FullChat]

"I guess the main difference between George W. Bush and John McCain is that if McCain becomes president the next time we see a televised "Mission Accomplished" spectacle on board an aircraft carrier he might even be able to really fly his own plane."

I wouldn't want to be on any plane (or country) that McCain pilots!!

[TomWright]

Mr.Palermo's description of SwiftVets is a complete fabrication. I served on Swift boats in Vietnam with John Kerry and I participated in SwiftVets. No one, no one told me what to say, how to say it or what to do. I told the truth as I saw it. I never saw or met Mr. Palermo during any of the election activities and do not believe there are any actual facts that would support his views and opinions.

[beachmom]

Ah, the same Tom Wright fabricating stories on the NYT blog of getting Kerry kicked out of Vietnam. No one will back up your claim, and it flies in the face of the facts as detailed in Naval records. And seeing that 3400 out of 3600 Swift Boat vets don't like your tactics, maybe you should give it a rest.

[MilitaryBrat]

" I told the truth as I saw it. "

Too bad your "sight" was so distorted.