Beware the swiftboaters bearing tydings of wrong doing . They
may be trying to sink your candidate.
Swiftboaters have been in business ever since politics in a democracy and
a free press existed but they did not get their name until the 2004 Presidential
campaign. It has become the modern word
for unfair campaign smear tactics.
In 2004 a 527 political group ”Swift Boat Veterans for
Truth”, drew on a book by John O’Neill,
political activist supporting the Viet Nam War since 1971 and a long time
antagonist of John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for President. The Swiftboater
group ran ads near the end of the campaign
which attempted to defame Kerry’s war record in commanding a swift boat
operation in Vietnam. It was a very important
element in Kerry’s defeat. It was after the election all but one of the crew members who actually served under Kerry
in the swift boat came forward to attest to Kerry’s deserving the medals , the
supportive Navy Inspector General’s Report was released on Kerry’s request, and
admission by his Commanding Officer, the chief accuser, that he had of no
direct personal knowledge of the events leading to medals. Kerry made a
strategic error in not requesting release of official military records earlier
in the controversy.
Given the GOP’s evident strategy of assassinating Hillary
Clinton’s character, expect the GOP dominated Congress and their media partners
to keep the issue alive by dragging out further investigations, rehashing and
digging up more allegations.
Making a candidate out
as personally untrustworthy is a time honored political strategy when opponents
are neither unified or have strong issue messages appealing to those beyond
their base, like this year. It is
possible for perception, right or wrong, of character flaws to drown out the
issue debate in a general election as it did to in 2004. It is particularly
effective when the attack is launched nearer election day, giving little chance
for lining up friendly witnesses, documents, and other refuting proof.
There is a possible swiftboat
attack in the making. The pre- release
of a book by Peter Schweizer, Clinton Cash, to Fox News and the New York
Times, alleges suspicious links between donations by foreign governments to the
Clinton Family Foundation and State Department decisions made by Clinton when
she was Secretary of State.
Liberal watchdog
Media Matters traced Schweizer, the president of
the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), to a conservative group
with close ties to the billionaire Mercer family funding Sen. Ted
Cruz's presidential run. Per Media
Matters, GAI has also received substantial support from groups backed by
Charles and David Koch.
The Clinton Family Foundation appears to have used those donations
for humanitarian aid, though speaking
fees and unreported donations definitely deserve scrutiny. Digging
by the New York Times has just begun. Their purpose is to find proof if Clinton
helped Foundation donors get favorable State Department decisions. The smoking
gun was missing from Schweizer’s book. Unlike Kerry, Clinton has eighteen months to
fight back and to be prepared for nth hour surprises. She must deal with each
allegation quickly and she should hold nothing back that would clear her.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/04/21/who-funds-peter-schweizers-government-accountab/203355
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