Swiftblogging McCain

Having noted earlier today the left's incessant whining over John Kerry being derailed by his former Swift Boat crew members and the absurd attacks from bloggers and Wesley Clark on John McCain, we figured maybe a new term was in order: Swiftblogging.

Since the attacks on McCain will be coming fast and furious the next four months (and beyond, of course, if he's elected), let's turn it around on the left and call any and all attacks on John McCain's military record Swiftblogging.

Forget comparing his and Kerry's records against each other. Instead, if you're sick like I am over the endless droning about Swiftboating four years later, just throw it back at the left and accuse them of Swiftblogging whenever they besmirch McCain.

Maybe then they'll realize how petty they sound.

Of course, some don't get it.

However, I'm with John Cole when he says that the Rightie-tighties howling in outrage today but geefully [sic] participating in smearing Kerry then have nothing under their feet but swamp.

While I feel he's off-base about Kerry, Andrew Sullivan thinks Clark and his ilk are way out of bounds.

GayPatriot echoes that thought.

Another far-left loon perpetuates the myth the media let the SBVT have their way (do these people even remember how that all went down?), the aptly-named Crooks and Liars and the Kos Kidz eat their own by directing their ire at CNN.

An important point to make is if you recall 2004, there weren't any Bush elected Republicans out there trashing John Kerry for his military service. The SBVT did that on their own.

Contrast that with today when, as Jim Geraghty notes, several elected Democrats have gone after McCain over his service.

John Kerry lost because he was the weaker candidate, not because he was Swiftboated. As ugly as this campaign has already become, John McCain may well wind up winning because he'll be Swiftblogged.

Update: Speaking of the Swift Boat Vets...

Obsession: NY Times Still Whining About 'Swiftboating'

They'll never get over it.

Yes, they even quote someone who wants to--get this--ban the word entirely.

Good luck with that.

To think, it's only been four years. They're still sniveling about Willie Horton 20 years later! Of course, it was Al Gore who brought Willie Horton to the public's attention, but they never mention that fact.

Anyway, this leftwing media obsession with Swiftboating is just pathetic. Now even the slightest criticism of a liberal is met with the pathetic cries of Swiftboating! Get over it, people, your boy John Kerry lost.

Sure, Watergate will never be just the office complex. And the name Willie Horton will always refer to more than just a criminal. But for Swift boat veterans, the name theft is more personal. When they talk about Swift boats, they recall friends and crewmates killed, countless moments of sheer terror in their young lives, the pain of coming home to a country that offered less than a hero’s welcome.

“It’s completely inappropriate,” said Michael Bernique, a highly regarded Swift boat driver who led missions up a canal that became known as Bernique’s Creek. “The word should connote service with honor, which is what was conducted. Anything that demeans that honor is shameful.”

In an April column in Proceedings magazine of the United States Naval Institute, Harlan Ullman, a Swift boat driver in Vietnam and a Pentagon consultant known as a creator of the “shock and awe” concept, wrote: “It is time to ban a word that is at once offensive, demeaning and obscene both to and for anyone serving in the naval profession. That word is ‘Swiftboating.’ ”