Oh NO YOU DON'T, Swift Boat Assholes

Not. Again. 

The founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, John O’Neill told Fox News’ Hannity that if Barack Obama nominates John Kerry to Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense the group will “do the very best we can” to protest the appointment.

Twitter is full of this bitchery this morning, armchair warriors yelling about the sacredness of our military and how JOHN KERRY IS A GAY FAGGORT and all manner of other oldsauce nonsense. 

The only saving grace in trying to re-run smears is that in our brand-new information superhighway magical mystery Internet wonderland, anything we've heard more than twice is ancient history and an official Nobody Cares is decreed, and then a Kardashian does something somebody deems slutty and we're all on to the next thing.

This is a distinct disadvantage when trying to point out, say, that somebody took the country to war and lied about why, or blew up the whole economy and then tried to blame poor people and union workers. However, it can just as well work for making sure we don't re-run the greatest hits of the Bush Administration's surrogates. 

Also? Happy Kerry photo: 

A. 

Comments

[Dan]

I believe the word you were looking for was fagatoni.

[Athenae]

That Adam Lambert freakout is still my most favorite thing ever.

A.

[MapleStreet]

I'm confused on several fronts here.

*) Notice that the reporting story is Breitbart.com showing a clip from Hannity. Is this a desperate / pitiful attempt for the Breitbarts and Swiftboaters of the world to try to keep some of their importance. Kind of like Trump's last-minute pre-election amazing announcement.

*) How does this jive with the repubs trying to reinvent themselves as new and improved, kindler, gentler form of racists / facists ?

*) The swiftboaters have already hit Kerry with their best shot. The best they could do was to try to call into question the circumstances of Kerry's commendation. That was damaging for a prez election, but hardly seems like something that is big enough for his potential nominations. (Of course, that doesn't mean that with all the important things that a Sec of State or Defense is needed for **IMMEDIATELY**, that the repubs won't try to showboat and stall the nomination. Just ask McCain about Benghazi.)

*) I've always been confused by the swiftboating. We are at a point in time where there are few vets alive who were pre-Nam (Even the Nam vets are pushing 60 years old now). Unlike WW II where there was a massive outpouring of support, most everyone alive now remembers a highly divisive time. Kerry served his duty (unlike so many repub chickenhawks); received decorations for his service; and his "sin" was to then testify to Congress against the war.

Who can remember a relative wrestling with what to do about the draft and not admire someone who loved their country enough to do their duty while also trying to better the situation ?

[Dorothy]

I'm not sure that will work this time. In the election, they could say whatever they wanted and nobody could call them on it, and it was Kerry's choice whether he responded.

Here, their options are to try to swiftboat him in the nomination hearings, thus risking the whole "lying to congress"/perjury issue OR to just play the media again, thus making people wonder why they don't go testify at the hearing.

Even if they just play the media, "putting the story out there" allows Dem senators to ask Kerry about it, so he can respond--forcefully--without worrying about "being mean". Also, Kerry won't be surprised by the power of bullshit this time around.

(I always felt sorry for him in 2004. Honestly, who would believe that "he shot himself with a grenade launcher" would have been taken seriously by anybody, much less reported on the news? How do you even respond to that?)

[mapleStreet]

@Dorothy - not to mention that if they try to swiftboat, a forthright answer by Kerry will inevitably be put side-by-side with all the hearings in the Bush II years answering, I don't remember.

[pansypoo]

i guess the election taught them nothing. lets hope 2014 is a very good year.

[BlackSheep0ne]

I so want President Obama to find a hi-profile job for Sen. Max Cleland, too.
In your face, rightwing GOP douchewads.

[Jonathan]

I like John Edwards. I liked him in 2004 and I like him now. I like that he is talking about prveoty when no one else will. I think he was a good choice for the VP slot and I believe him when he says that he was restrained by the Kerry campaign knowing what control freaks they are. But let me make a quick point about Gephardt for a minute: Gephardt would have been a better choice for the presidency than Kerry never mind the VP slot. Not only would Missouri been in play but probably Iowa and Ohio too. In fact, every place which saw a closed factory would have been in play. Gephardt would have campaigned in factory lines and everywhere else during the campaign, going after the free trade policies which have decimated our manufacturing sector here in the United States and killed yeah, killed working class folks in this country, most of whom have historically voted for Democrats on economic issues. Gephardt would have pulled over so many Reagan Democrats back to the Dems something windsurfing, Vail-skiing, yell at my butler, soulless yuppie couldn't do in a million years that the election would have been a walk. And, the anti-war folks, not unlike with Kerry heading up the ticket, would have had nowhere else to go.

[adrastos]

@Jonathan: I agree about Gephardt BUT he and Kerry were and are on very good terms. Dick was Kerry's first choice for Veep but he was talked out of it by Shrummy. I think a Kerry-Gephardt ticket would have won in 2004.

As to Edwards, I cannot stand him. He made a show of declaring his candidacy in NO for the 08 race, made promised to help even if not elected and broke them.

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[Luisa]

Dr.,You are exactly right. But what pains me is that we have 300 mioilln people to choose from. Charlie Rose interviewed Al Hunt the other night, and Hillary's prospects came up. Hunt didn't give the idea much credence. I think if she's under even remote consideration for a cabinet post, it's just so they don't have to deal with her grandstanding in the senate.