Swiftboating: Never Again
[Editor’s Note: A warm welcome for our first guest blogger: Iraq War veteran Pat Murphy, who’s running for Congress in the 8th district in Pennsylvania, shares his thoughts on fighting back against Republican “swift boat” smear campaigns.]
Patrick Murphy and former Georgia Senator Max Cleland
When I decided to run for Congress last year I knew it was only a matter of time until the Republicans tried to do it to me. But no amount of warning can prepare a soldier to watch as his service is publicly smeared by vicious attacks and boldfaced lies.
My parents taught me the importance of hard work, sacrifice and loyalty – values that spurred me to join the Army in 1993. Over the next 11 years I earned my commission as an officer, eventually taught constitutional law to the next generation of military leaders at West Point, and post 9/11 served a tour of duty in Bosnia and deployed to Baghdad, Iraq. There I witnessed firsthand the consequences of our failed policy in Iraq. I felt that I had a duty as a witness to our failed foreign policy to work for a change of direction in our country. <!
Baghdad-2003: Captain Murphy instructing a new class of recruits for the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps
That’s why, after I returned from Iraq, I volunteered my time to help John Kerry for President in Pennsylvania. When they tried to swift boat Senator Kerry at the Philadelphia Vietnam veteran’s memorial, I proudly defended his honor and service. Senator Kerry’s courage, leadership, and commitment to our country helped inspire me to keep up the fight for change by running for Congress.
Now, with one month left in that fight, it’s become apparent that my opponent will let nothing, not even the truth, get in the way of his campaign to protect the status quo. This final month will be the most critical of the campaign, but I will prevail because of the hard work and passion of my friends and family.
The voters of the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania are tired of the failed Bush agenda and the politics of personal destruction. With the help of volunteers, donors, and people like Senator Kerry, I will win this fight and help change the direction of our country.
Patrick J. Murphy
[To learn more about Patrick Murphy and find out how you can help, visit www.murphy06.com ]
And for more information about what the Republicans are doing to smear Patrick Murphy, check out “John Kerry Fights for Patrick Murphy” by Taylor Marsh on huffingtonpost.com, and mcjoan’s “PA-08: On Swiftboating Patrick Murphy” on Daily Kos (Monday, 7:09 PDT).
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Arrggghhh!!! Those swifties really get me going! I am sick of those SOB’s more than you can know. People that have worn the uniforms, should never resort to the lies that have been spewed by these morons. I am really getting tired of it. OK I have to chill for a bit, I am gonna get worked up now!
I’ve spoken with both Max and Patrick, and they are so exemplary.
Amazing these tactics can still work, and political operatives see no harm.
Ahhh…. Home at last.
I too am sickened by the casual nature in which such drivel is injected into the political arena in an attempt to undermine issues and intelligent discourse. What is truly frightening is the casual nature such vile tripe is accepted as fact. It is my hope that in hindsight we can learn something from this. Political operatives that design such smear tactics do so to keep candidates in a defensive posture. Response to such distortions must be equally strong and swift. The high road must not be mistaken for the safe road.
This just makes me so sad and how dare them dishonor another soldier. They say they support the troops, but as we all have seen they only support those who don’t get in their way. How despicable and totally disgusting.
You know it is sad, for the second time in a year, my husband who served for 20 years, said he doesn’t feel patriotic. I looked at him and said oh yes you are, don’t you ever let the cowards running this country take that away from you.
Isn’t that sad, I wonder how many other veterans feel the same. We have got to stop theses despicable attacks.
Patrick hold your head up high, you have got some wonderful men standing by your side, and you also have many Americans who will not let this lying sleazy bunch get away with it anymore.
Thank you for your service and your patriotism.
Truth means nothing to these people. The’d swiftboat their own mothers if it served their purpose.
It is good to know that veterans are standing up in unity against this unpatriotic mud-slinging. When they attack the men and women who have worn the uniform of the United States of America, they attack America. That they do it in the name of patriotism is insult to injury.
Good luck in your campaign, Mr. Murphy.
Posted by DynamicDems | October 10, 2006 2:49 PM
They hate us for our freedom.
I despise them for just being dumb.
G.I. Jokes
The republicans are not going to stop these attacks until all veterans who ever entertained the idea of running for public office (as Democrats) have been intimidated and dissuaded. It’s not in the republicans’ best interest as draft dodgers and service evaders (most of them) to have an opponent who served honorably and bravely.
Captain Murphy, thank you so much for your service to your country, and for reminding us what true service is.
They’re coming after Darlene Hooley in Oregon’s 5th too. They’ve dumped money into an ad that accuses her of voting to “raid the social security surplus” and blaming her for the bridge to nowhere. How many ways do you have to twist your brain to come up with that? And of all the topsy-turvy lies, that’s the BEST they could come up with?? Accuse a Democrat of raiding social security - o-kaaay.
I was watching “Ray” again the other day, his mother said ‘scratch a liar, find a thief’. Yeah, I think we ought to use that line, over and over.
In a Pivotal Year, GOP Plans to Get Personal
Millions to Go to Digging Up Dirt on Democrats
By Jim VandeHei and Chris Cillizza
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 10, 2006; Page A01
Republicans are planning to spend the vast majority of their sizable financial war chest over the final 60 days of the campaign attacking Democratic House and Senate candidates over personal issues and local controversies, GOP officials said.
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which this year dispatched a half-dozen operatives to comb through tax, court and other records looking for damaging information on Democratic candidates, plans to spend more than 90 percent of its $50 million-plus advertising budget on what officials described as negative ads.
The hope is that a vigorous effort to “define” opponents, in the parlance of GOP operatives, can help Republicans shift the midterm debate away from Iraq and limit losses this fall. The first round of attacks includes an ad that labeled a Democratic candidate in Wisconsin “Dr. Millionaire” and noted that he has sued 80 patients.
“Opposition research is power,” said Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (N.Y.), the NRCC chairman. “Opposition research is the key to defining untested opponents.”
The Republican National Committee, meanwhile, has enlisted veteran party strategist Terry Nelson to run a campaign that will coordinate with Senate Republicans on ads that similarly will rely on the best of the worst that researchers have dug up on Democrats. The first ad run by the new RNC effort criticizes Ohio Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) for voting against proposals designed to toughen border protection and deport illegal immigrants.
Because challengers tend to be little-known compared with incumbents, they are more vulnerable to having their public image framed by the opposition through attacks and unflattering personal revelations.
more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/09/AR2006090901079.html
All these comments are so fine and so heartening. Fedupinbushcountry and Thelibertyofmeat, thanks especially.
And,Patrick Murphy, I’ve already donated to you twice, and, not only as an American citizen who wants to restore sanity to our country, but also as an ex-Pennsylvanian (with on-the-ground knowledge of eastern PA politics), I am rooting hard for you to win!
The link to the kos post is not helpful, can’t find it on a search either.
Here are others that have better info than Marsh:
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4409
http://www.patriotproject.com/2006/09/new_frontgroup_1.php
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=4385
NRCC has also been running Turd-Blossom-Swiftboating-Slime ads in Minnesota against some good Democratic candidates. The neoCon Rethuglicans have imported this idiocy for the last two election cycles and it’s depressingly NOT “Minnesota Nice!”
NRCC seems to have a huge campaign war chest, and instead of attempting to run pro-Rethuglican ads, they do nothing but falsely attack Democrats with innuendo and outright lies… although Rethuglicans can’t run positive ads for themselves because they’ve not accomplished anything since 2000… other than lie to us and the world, repeatedly, and run up debts and start wars for no good reason whatsoever, rubber stamp every piece of crappy legislation presented since Bu$h was given his office in 2000, with the latest insult being the so-called Military Commissions Act of 2006 (aka ‘detainee bill’ or ‘torture bill’) - and that last piece of insanity needs to be repealed when Dems get a majority in Congress again!
Rethuglicans haven’t accomplished anything positive since 2000, they have nothing positive to spin about themselves, so the only way they can get elected is if they lie about, insult and slander Democratic candidates everywhere.
I find it appalling that a person who proclaims they are ‘conservative’ does not live the true conservative values. A self-proclaimed conservative can say anything he/she wishes as if it is fact when it is not. However, when someone just disagrees or criticizes that ‘conservative’ , then the comments are considered ‘liberal’ as if it is a dirty word and therefore considered incorrect. Well, I consider myself rather conservative and I don’t agree with Mr President Bush and his pundits half of the time. So now I’m “un-american?” We are loosing our civil liberties for which our men and women have fought and died. It is time the Republicans are taught a lesson for ‘throwing sand in the sandbox’ since they become crybabies when dirt is returned.
Thanks to everyone who stands up for the truth!
Keep on fighting, Patrick. We got your back.
hello Sen. Kerry & all the “old timers” from the original JK blog! So glad to see this one is up & active again! Missed you guys & gals!
Still working for Dem candidates down here in Baton Rouge, survived storms Katrina-Rita, back on board to make LA. BLUE once again!
Good Luck with the brand new Kerry blog and its On.to.Victory4Dems on Nov. 07 and beyond….
Captain Murphy, our country is proud of every vet and every American who stands up and says “No more” to swiftboating tactics, stands up for true American values. We honor your service and we’re working to send you to Congress on Nov. 07.
OTV4D
I have always been amazed at the yellow belly chicken hawk Republicans, who attack our Vets and yet they never served a day in there life. From draft dodger Cheney to I think I served King George the list goes on and on. As a USAF Veteran I salute all who have had the guts to serve and defend this great Country. I listen to Repug spokesman Druggie Limbaugh and I am amazed how he talks about the Democrats who have served, yet he never had the guts. I was so ticked when the Swift Boat Liers began to attack JK in 2004, that I began to go door to door with the facts.
I say once and for all, put a boot in there ass, and stop these lies once and forever.
Thank you for this excellent post, Captain Murphy. You will be a much-needed voice of experience and common sense in Congress!
That is a wonderful photo of two heroes!
Captain Murphy is the soon-to-be Congressman, 8th district, Pennsylvania.
Salute!
Capt. Murphy,
Thank you for your service, for speaking the truth, for being a real patriot, and for sharing your views on this blog.
I find the divisiveness of the republican party just amazing. They will truly say ANYTHING to retain their power. They don’t care whether it’s truth or fiction. They don’t care whether it is right or wrong. They don’t care that people are dying for their lies. They don’t care about anything except power.
As the saying goes, absolute power corrupts absolutely, and we are seeing that in spades right now. I still can’t imagine how we’ve gotten to this place. It sickens me.
Thank you for your prior service in Iraq, Capt. Murphy, and thank you for your pending service in Washington.
The people in my neck of the woods may be diametrically opposed to your district, but we are completely congruent with you when it comes to the principles you espouse.
We may be on the opposite side of the state, but we are completely on the same side as you are when it comes to making America safe for democracy again.
And we may be in the opposite corner from your home base, but we are completely in your corner when it comes to supporting your efforts to unseat your opponent in the Eighth.
best wishes from the third,
Otter
Thank you for posting this Capt. Murphy and good luck in this race. I applaud your courage in stepping up and running for Congress and taking on the RW Smear Machine. (Honestly, is there even a low that these people have, a line they cannot cross.)
Nice to have this blog up. I wasn’t here for the blog in ‘04, but I hope to contribute to this new one. I love the design, it’s very easy to navigate around.
Dick,
So psyched to see the the Kerry blog back up and running!!!
I sent you an email earlier this week. I will be in DC this weekend. Will you be around?
Go JK!!
- Mary from Manhattan
(I had posted this to the previous thread this morning, but I’d like to repost it again here because it’s clearly in context and on-topic for this particular thread—more so than it was for that one, in fact. I didn’t know that a guest appearance by Capt. Murphy was coming up when I wrote this earlier, but hey. Serendipity and synchronicity can be beautiful things sometimes. *grin*)
-
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Sen. Kerry for his prompt and vigorous defense of Patrick Murphy, the Democratic candidate for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 8th District, against the cheap and sleazy low-ball attacks being directed against him by Republican incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick’s minions have been assailing Murphy’s military record as a decorated soldier serving in Iraq. While Fitzpatrick himself has speciously washed his hands of the swiftboatian tactics being used by his field operatives, there’s no secret about his and his party’s continuing complicity in their below-the-belt attacks.
Back in 2004, the Dems That Be tried to hold themselves above the fray when the Republicans used the same sleazy tactics against them. The Dems tried to stay the course that they’d set for themselves (even though that course was widely debated within their own ranks); they tried to stand still on the high ground they held, and they lost their electoral battles as a result.
Sound familiar? It’s ironic that the Repubs in Washington are now using a clearly inappropriate and ineffective stay-the-course, stand-still-and-lose approach to the real-world battles now being fought in their unnecessary and illegal wars of conquest.
Having proven their unfitness for command of the country by the failure of their efforts abroad, the neocons in power are still trying to brand the Republicans as the party of scut-and-scum here at home. They’re trying to regain the ground that their craven manipulation of the hearts and minds of we the people won for them in the last round of elections.
This time, though, the Repos’ lies and low blows are coming back to bite them in their collective butts. Their sleazy swiftboating isn’t working any more. The Dems are not just defending themselves vigorously this time, they’re going out on the attack all across America.
And Sen. Kerry is right there leading the charge. If anyone understands the real value of speaking truth to power, he does. If anyone has the right to address the issues of front-line combat courage and REMF responsibility, he does. If anyone has the experience and the inner strength to hold the dishonest and dishonorable right-wing operatives’ feet to the fire, he does.
So thank you, Senator; thank you and the others who are standing up in the front lines and fighting the good fight for us this time. While it’s fine for us to say that we’ve got your back, it’s even better for us to know that you’ve got our front.
taking back our country one voter at a time,
Otter
Captain Murphy, thank you for your service and thank you for posting here.
It is incredible to me that people continue to give credence to these swiftboat liars. How can anyone who claims patriotism dishonor those veterans who obviously love this country so much that they continue to serve in elected office after they’ve served honorably in the military? It disgusted me when they did it to Sen Kerry in ‘04. It disgusts me to this day.
Our veterans never gave up the right to dissent. It’s one of the things you fought for. How can any American justify attacking veterans for continuing to defend what is a foundation of our democracy? And how can anyone support the truly vile and un-american tactics of the swiftboat liars?
I don’t get it. I’m sure I never will.
Good luck to you from the other side of the state. Let’s make PA bluer!
Well, that’s an illuminating post, Mr Geiger, but not in the way I suspect you intended. How about backing up your baseless assertions with a little more than mere vitriol and spelling errors?
As for who we should or should not support, check the banner at the top of the page. This is a John Kerry blog. I’m guessing no one here will take your advice.
Nice try, but a little obvious, don’t you think? Next time I’d go for something a little more subtle.
Nice to see the trolls back… lame as ever, poor ducks.
I have never affiliated myself with a political party mostly because I believe that I am a true liberal and have always tried to maintain an open mind. During the last few years, it has been very difficult to respect the Republican party policy, tactics, and its leadership. I probably will not vote Republican for a long time. I did vote for John Kerry during the last election and truly regret that he is not our president today. The attack by the “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” was unpatriotic and deceitful. I know it takes real courage to stand up for what you believe especially when it is unpopular amongst your peers. A conservative person does not understand the need to doubt, question, or criticize the establishment, but without that capability we will become no better than our enemies. I am afraid that the Republican party is trying to destroy democracy in America and the Bush administration makes me feel as if I have no voice. I voted for Bush during the first presidential election and I regret it starting with the way he handled the Florida recount. Someone needs to bring down the this Republican dictatorship!
Thank you for your service, Captain Murphy. I really am hoping and praying that come January, there will be Iraq War veterans like yourself in the Congress to have the moral high ground in trying to get us out of this mess in Iraq. I think these Swift Boat tactics have jumped the shark. Nevertheless, we have to fight these people every time and as fast as possible.
Jim Irwin: I love what you wrote here. I admire you for being a good citizen, for examining the facts and making up your mind how to vote based on your concern for our country and our world. Great point about the problem with the philosophy of conservatism!
Thank you for your service to our country Patrick. We are all so proud of you….......
The Republicans have nothing to offer…but more of the same….......that’s why they have resorted to the extreme negativity that they are doing. It is definitely time for a change…and you are abreath of fresh air.
Go Patrick! Take ‘em down Captain!
Patrick certainly had JK’s back when I met him on 10/1/04 and I knew JK would also have his back as well the moment I heard Patrick was running for PA08.
I was thrilled when I heard you’d decided to run for office and have been kicking in some money for you since the primary.
When I heard you speak a couple weeks after you returned from Iraq and then also had a chance to chat with you for a little while afterward, I knew you were a truly good man. Your strong concern and anguish about the direction our country had taken and the damage that was being done to us, both internationally and domestically, was very apparent.
It was crystal clear to me that upon your enlistment when you swore “...that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same…” that it was certainly not mere words to you.
We, along with our future military leaders at West Point, were very lucky to have someone of your caliber as their constitutional law professor.
I may be planning to move in the next year or two and now that Senator “man on dog sex” Santorum will be tossed out shorty, that opens PA as a possible future location. (I refused to live in a state that would make him my Senator.) And if I did decide to move to PA, it would be into Bucks County. It certainly would be a nice bonus that if I was going to lose Rush Holt as my congressman, I would still have another congressman I could respect so much.
Your neighbor on the other side of Trenton,
Dave from Princeton