Murtha “Swiftboated”?
Bruce Kesler
There’s continuing arguments whether the new verb “swiftboating” means a baseless or a well-founded attack on a politician’s purported record. As used by the MSM, it usually infers any attack that liberals disagree with, regardless of facts.
The MSM may have to reconsider its use of the term after John Murtha’s latest use of the term to distract from his trail.
"I thought we were above this type of swift-boating attack," he said… "This is not how we restore integrity and civility to the United States Congress."
John Fund punctures Murtha’s pompous posture with facts as surely as John O’Neill did John Kerry’s. This time, however, with so many of Murtha’s Congressional colleagues being witness to Murtha’s self-awarded earmarks, the MSM must pay closer attention and investigate than their purposeful ignoring of Kerry’s lies when exposed by his fellow Swiftees.
Speaking of which, ...
Murtha Accuses Dems of "Swift Boating" Him
Dafydd ab Hugh
This is almost too weird for the Weekly World News... but it's actually Associated Press:
[Rep. John] Murtha, a decorated Vietnam veteran who favors an immediate drawdown of U.S. troops in Iraq, has fought charges for years of using his senior status on the defense appropriations subcommittee to award favors to campaign contributors. He voted against a Democratic package of ethics reforms earlier this year and was touched by but never charged in the Abscam bribery scandal a quarter-century ago.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Democratic-leaning watchdog group, accused Pelosi of compromising her ethical standards by endorsing Murtha....
"I thought we were above this type of swift-boating attack," Murtha said in a statement issued by his office, referring to unsubstantiated allegations about John Kerry's Vietnam War heroism from a group called Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential race. [Well, that's a nice, unbiased way of describing the controversy.] "This is not how we restore integrity and civility to the United States Congress."
The brouhaha of course is about whether Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD, 95%), the Minority Whip -- which is the number 2 Democrat in the House -- should succeed to the title of Majority Leader (the equivalent position for the majority)... or whether it should be Rep. John Murtha (D-PA, 75%), hysterical anti-war fanatic and Pelosi's puppet [another unbiased description -- but one that at least has the virtue of being true].
I think we're finally zeroing in on the actual definition of "to swift boat":
Swift boat: verb phrase, 1 to level a damaging accusation to which the object has no good response; 2 to produce extensive documentation of same; 3 to beat any Democrat in any election -- general, primary, or leadership. Syn: question patriotism. Ex: You're trying to swift boat me. They're trying to swift boat me. He, she, or it is trying to swift boat me. Don't you dare try to swift boat me. I'll take your swift-boating attacks and cram 'em up your yin-yang. I only lost because the Republicans swift boated me and questioned my patriotism. We will never again allow ourselves to be swift boated.
But here is a very interesting tidbit, unrelated to the actual point of the article but far more momentous:
[110th Congress Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid told The Associated Press that a top priority for the remainder of the lame-duck session will be confirming Robert Gates as defense secretary, succeeding Donald H. Rumsfeld. "The sooner we can move it forward the sooner we can get rid of Rumsfeld," he said.
It looks as if it will be pretty smooth sailing for Gates; the Democrats appear willing to confirm anyone from John Ashcroft to Yogi Bear (or N.Z. Bear), if it will grease the skids beneath Don Rumsfeld. This is as fine a testimony to the value and effectiveness of the outgoing SecDef as any I can imagine. ...
