Swift Boating Cindy Sheehan

The left is great at establishing urban myths and turning them into slogans. Democratic sloganeering was the thing to do in the 60s and 70s - like the classic "hell no we don't want to go" and others. They haven't lost their creativity with recent slurs such as -"Bush was selected not elected" and "Bush lied and people died."

While not a slogan yet, liberal columnists are adding a new term to the political lexicon. Frank Rich in the New York Times used the new "verb" in a recent op-ed when he claimed that the right was "Swift Boating Cindy Sheehan." But his use of the term "Swift Boating" wasn't original. Methinks he stole this slur from Scott Lehigh who, in a Boston Globe op-ed published August 12, reached back to the Swift Boat Veterans expose' of Kerry's military record to draw a parallel between what he considers to be the smearing of John Kerry and the smearing of John Roberts by the NARAL TV commercial. Lehigh tells us that; sure, the NARAL commercial was a smear, just like the Swift Boat Vets smeared Kerry.

The SBVet's expose' has to be a smear, otherwise there would be yet another very strong case of bias against the MSM - one that would be hard to spin. Because Lehigh slips in his Vets' smear as an aside, he doesn't justify his assertion - he just presents it as a fait accompli.


You see this tactic used by liberals on cable talking head debates. A Democrat may refer to an issue as a fact although it has nothing to do with the subject in debate, but it slip by unrefuted.

Will we see more headlines like: GOP Swift Boats Hillary or Swift Boating Ted Kennedy (Ted could have used a boat in the past). Stay tuned.