Joe Gandelman received a cryptic email from “a spokesman for Revelation Press” that indicates a major scandal is brewing involving a “Leading US Presidential Candidate.”
One of this year’s leading candidates will be “Swift-Boated†in a new book to be announced next Monday, January 7th at 1:30 p.m. in the Murrow Room at the National Press Club in Washington.One candidate is about to be challenged – with hard and cold facts, presented cogently by an author, former TV business news editor, decorated military hero and college political science instructor who shares this candidate’s party affiliation – and who has known the candidate personally since their college days.
Next Monday, the truth will be revealed when a book that literally gives “chapter and verse†about this candidate’s less-than-candid candor with the American people.
This book is supported by 10 pages of meticulously-researched end-notes supporting every factual assertion about the candidate’s failure to shoot straight with the American people, and this breach-of-faith’s implications for the Presidency.
If you’re serious about covering the 2008 Presidential campaign, you won’t want to miss this news announcement – and you will want to meet the author.
The candidate isn’t mentioned but the military angle would seem to suggest an attack on John McCain.
The same fellow who mounted the Viet Nam Veterans Against John Kerry now has a group called Viet Nam Veterans Against John McCain. Gerard “Jerry” Kiley is claiming that McCain betrayed the United States as a POW and hints that he is being blackmailed even today by the Vietnamese.
I will not sully this site with details of the charges. I will only say that any legitimate news outlet that attends that press conference or runs with any story connected with these folks should be sued by the McCain campaign.
Kiley also has a campaign committee to raise funds and presumably run commercials against McCain.
What has Kiley’s panties in a twist? Apparently, Senator McCain – despite his treatment at the hands of the enemy – was willing to make peace with his former captors, establish normalized relations with Viet Nam, and most of all, wanted to put the Viet Nam War behind us.
I think honest people can disagree about whether it is a good thing to normalize relations with Viet Nam. They are still a communist country with all the oppression and lack of freedom that implies. But not wanting to put the war behind us? I think it is long past time for that to occur. And McCain demonstrated true statesmanship by leading the way in Congress to achieve normalization.
Of course, at bottom, is the POW issue. So many are still listed as missing. To this day, sightings of white men in jungle prisons haunts the dreams of those whose loved ones never returned and are unaccounted for.
But nothing has ever come of those sightings. And while it is not my place nor my desire to close off hope for those with so little of it, I think McCain did well in leading the way to a new relationship with one of the emerging powerhouse economies in Asia. He put aside his personal feelings for the good of the country – a demonstration of leadership.
And the curious thing is that these charges against McCain have been around for years, dating back to the Senator’s 2000 bid for the presidency. I don’t recall hearing anything about them back then but of course, that was the era before blogs and a ubiquitous internet. Now all you have to do is throw a pile of crap out into the ether and someone will latch onto it and run with it. So it will probably be with this rehash of old charges against a courageous man.
Could Romney be behind this coming smear campaign? Not likely because all the principles have been active for years against Senator McCain. Besides, why wait until one day before the voting in New Hampshire to spring this? Anyway, this is pretty much as low as politics gets in America and I don’t think Romney is really that sort of candidate.
For some, the war will never end. Only when the last Viet Nam era American passes on will the War in Viet Nam truly be over. Until then, all we can do is honor the dead, comfort the living, and give thanks that patriots like John McCain – a man whose politics I sometimes abhor – are still serving this country today.
UPDATE
Tommy Toliver doesn’t think it’s McCain who is the target of the smear. I have also received several emails questioning whether or not it’s McCain.
My belief that it’s the Arizona Senator in the crosshairs was on the Viet Nam Veterans Against John McCain website. If you scroll down (no permalinks) you will find an article by John LeBoutillier entitled “McCain Bombs as Candidate.” Directly underneath is the subhead:
“Swiftboating” New American Political Jargon Term Meaning “Outing” the Fraudulent.
Several commenters on this and other threads have complained that by using the term “siwftboating,” the author of the upcoming smear against the presidential candidate is adopting the definition used by liberals; i.e., lies and distortions against a candidate.
But as you can see, they use the same definition that the “Revelations” emailer used when touting their press conference. This is what led me to believe that the Viet Vets Against McCain were behind this effort.
As far as the author knowing McCain back in their “college days” that could very well just be a substitution in order to hide the identity of the candidate to be smeared. After all, the Naval Academy is an accredited college – one of the finest in the country. If they had come out and said the author had known McCain from their days together at Annapolis, that would have let the cat out of the bag.
That was my reasoning for believing the target was McCain. However, other information emailed to me makes me doubt my original hypothesis and it may very well be someone else.
6:48 pm
McCain isn’t serving this country. He’s dis-serving it. I hope the book does talk about McCain’s actions. Combine this with Rush calling him “not conservative” today, he might be sunk.
6:59 pm
Rush said Huckaboob wasn’t a conservative. I don’t see anything anywhere that reports he said the same about McCain.
7:03 pm
Let’s be honest here.
John McCain is a RINO, as in Lincoln Chafee, Olympia Snowe RINO. John McCain ONLY excels in states where Independents (read, Dem’s in sheeps clothing) are allowed to vote in the Republican Party. Without the Independents vote in NH, McCain would stand NO CHANCE.
The MSM (read, DNC) loves John McCain. He has been endorsed by every liberal paper on the planet (while in the same articles, saying they are against every conservative principle).
I have a simple rule. Vote for the guy the Left hates the most. Vote for the guy the Left fears the most. The DNC has put out 1/3 more negative press releases on Romney than any other candidate. It’s clear their internal polling is telling them one thing – this guy Romney could beat us.
If someone comes out with a last minute damning expose on McCain and it is true, I have no problem with it. I doubt Romney will even need it to beat mcCain in NH.
News Flash, McCain will come in 5th in Iowa, behind even Paul! Romney will win Iowa by 8 points (more than expected). Also, you can expect Rush to come out Monday savaging McCain. The Independent voters McCain desperately needs to win in Iowa will be voting for Obama and not him (after Obama wins Iowa).
Romney wins NH by 8 points as well.
7:05 pm
I doubt it’s McCain because of the “college days” reference.
7:05 pm
P.S., Yes today Rush said he does not feel Huckabee, McCain or Giulini are conservatives.
7:09 pm
Why will McCain do so poorly in Iowa (8% max)? His supporters there have NO INTENSITY. To go out when it is 20 below wind chill, you need INTENSITY.
Thompson’s supporters, what there are of them are quite dedicated to him. Ron Pauls supporters are almost rabid. They come out, McCain’s supporters stay home.
P.S., Would you go out in that weather to vote for a guy you KNEW was going to lose by 20 points? I wouldn’t. Also, McCain has NO ORGANIZATION in Iowa.
Last point. A McCain supporter goes to someone’s house for the caucus. he is the ONLY GUY VOTING FOR MCCAIN THERE. Everyone else gives him a hard time for voting for a RINO. He changes his vote.
7:14 pm
Hasn’t Rush said for years McCain is a moderate, Rick?
I’m not saying I support these scurilous attacks against McCain—heck, he’s the candidate I most want to win and, to my surprise, I find myself believing he’s the one likely to win the nomination—but McCain was always, for the most part, a center-rightist like myself, probably a bit more centrist than I, and a moderate. Not a conservative in the mold of Thompson or Reagan. More like George H.W. Bush—even similar careers. Both courageous naval aviators, shot down in battle.
7:16 pm
Where I got the info:
http://race42008.com/2008/01/02/rush-no-to-huckabee-mccain-and-giuliani/
From Politico:
In addition to Huckabee, he singled out John McCain for specific criticism, attacking the senator on immigration, campaign finance reform, interrogation and tax cuts.
“The idea that he’s a great conservative in this race is an affront to conservatives,” Limbaugh said, accusing the media of “pushing McCain hard.”
And from Rush himself:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_010208/content/01125113.guest.html.guest.html
7:27 pm
Notice, the e-mail is tacitly admitting the truthfulness of the Swift Boat Vets. Underneath it all, Kerry’s supporters new the Swift Boaters were on the up and up, but they needed to deny it to further their chosen candidate.
7:42 pm
Good post Rick. Well said.
8:08 pm
[...] But this is all uninformed guess-work. Legitimate? Stay tuned. But no matter what it is, if it was totally legitimate — if the intent was truly to bring new information to the electorate — the announcement would be made way before the day before the election. UPDATE: –Rick Moran believes it’s aimed at McCain and his reasoning is logical. A tiny taste 4 U: The candidate isn’t mentioned but the military angle would seem to suggest an attack on John McCain. [...]
8:17 pm
I have issues with McCain and how he dealt with the POW/MIA issues in his desire to normalize relations with Vietnam. They are spelled out quite well in “An Enormous Crime.” However, he should not be blindsided by last minute attacks. If there are allegations put them out there and let people decide.
Of course, this is speculation because it could be other candidates as well. Some are eliminated by the time line but others could fit in. There is no indication that the news flash involves Vietnam, just that the person is a vet of that war.
9:01 pm
John McCain is not my candidate. Fred is. And in fact, I know little about McCain except the “amnesty” fiasco this past summer. HOWEVER, it really doesn’t seem right to pick on his service to this country ESPECIALLY considering he was a POW for 5 years.
Maybe his actions are his way of putting the bad behind him (psycho babble – my own.)
Do you all remember that disgusting Larry Flynt’s claim that he had the dirt to bring down a sitting US Senator. Could he somehow be involved in this or is there yet another bombshell on the horizon?
9:14 pm
Years ago I got a whiff of something not on the up and up regarding McCain and prison. Something like his cell mates won’t speak bad about McCain nor will they stand up for him either!
Has anyone ever heard from McCain’s Hanoi Hilton roomies? There must be a story to tell and we have never heard it. If someone knows, please post. As far as I know McCain has never spoken their names, pointed them out in the crowd at a rally. There seems to be a blanket thrown over this war story. I have wondered about this since “Keating”
I don’t trust this book coming out at this time. Will have to see if it brings McCain a shunning or bravos.
10:20 pm
I don’t think it’s McCain, either. Joe Carter just put up a post saying that, based on his experience campaiging in Iowa, he expects Mitt Romney to be brought down by an impending scandal by Jan. 8. Yeah, it could be he’s just flacking for his guy Huck, but Joe seemed pretty adamant (plus, he’s not working for Huck anymore).
It’s getting pretty easy to imagine McCain’s “last man standing” strategy can work.
11:17 pm
I for one am still waiting to see a repeat showing of the “60 min” segment that aired some years ago when the “hero’s” ex-wife and clan spilled the beans on the no-so-nice guy jet junker. Speaking of which, besides the two obvious jet fighters he had shot out from under his last in his class hiney (the obvious one that shot him to hero status in Nam and the other A4 that got “friendly fired” upon him on that dreadful USS Forrestal catastrophie, how many more aircraft did this “jet jock” totally lose at taxpayers expense? (Check the 60 min archives)
I am perplexed as to why he didn’t announce his prez run like his senatorial bud Kerry the Swifty did next to the USS Forrestal currently tied up in mothballs next to the USS Saratoga at the former US Navy base at Newport, RI…..Kennedy country? Stoopid Kerry used a diferent carrier in Carolina and not the two he had in his own back yard in RI. DUH!
McCain/Feingold should be the big ZIT on his keester for ever and ever! Shame on those of you who even think of giving the Admiral’s loin fruit the keys to the world’s biggest Cadillac. (and really cool 747)
11:38 pm
But why would they wait until AFTER IA to launch the grenade at Mitt?
1:51 am
McCain’s problem is that he’s against torture. It’s not just a problem because torutre works – but because we need to make sure that the scum who hit us on 9/11 suffers.
2:10 am
It would seem reasonable that if McCain were the target of this that it would have at least been broached in his prior run at the President.
6:28 am
I went to see Senator McCain in SC in October of last year and (Ret)Lt Col Orson Swindle, a man who was interred as a POW with Sen McCain in Vietnam, was campaigning with him. He spoke eloquently of the senator and of their friendship, which has lasted all these years after their horrible experience.
Senator McCain is a man of integrity and honor. That’s a rare combination today…and not just in politics.
6:45 am
[...] As said, I didn’t want to write about it, but since Joe posted it and since others like Pamela, James and Rick have picked it up – making headlines on Memeorandum – I feel the need somewhat to inform you all about it as well (for those of you who hadn’t heard about it via other blogs), but I greatly regret that this is getting any time and attention. We’ll just have to wait until Monday to see what it’s all about. [...]
7:17 am
A scandalous bombshell against Romney? You mean the opposition has had the REAL goods on Romney actually being the Devil aftera-ll and we don;t hear about it until now?
Um, no, I doubt it.
7:23 am
This comment make me believe it is McCain:
“This book is supported by 10 pages of meticulously-researched end-notes supporting every factual assertion about the candidate’s failure to shoot straight with the American people, and this breach-of-faith’s implications for the Presidency.”
It’s the “shoot straight” line. McCain, after all, has the “straight talk express”. Also, why would the press release emphasize the author’s military service if it was Romney?
One note, the author is listed as a “college political science instructor”. We can translate that as “screaming liberal”.
7:54 am
“Patriot Said:
1:51 am
McCain’s problem is that he’s against torture. It’s not just a problem because torutre works – but because we need to make sure that the scum who hit us on 9/11 suffers.”
I’m glad you call yourself a patriot, otherwise I would find your comment quite objectionable. Go die in a fire.
10:24 am
[...] Rumors abound in the blogosphere about John McCain. [...]
11:55 am
I agree with Tommy. It will be Barcak Obama who will be blind-sided as the Clinton team has a book on him the size of a Tokyo White Pages.
McCain will be fine and anything that can be tossed at Sen. McCain will be ‘old stuff’ and heaved with all the force of a five year old girl in the later stages of consumption.
http://hickeysite.blogspot.com/2008/01/john-mccain-running-table-in-new.html
11:59 am
[...] Riehl makes the same connection I did — to those mysterious rumors of a major candidate being “Swift-Boated” at a presser on Monday, the day before New Hampshire. Rick Moran seized on that phrase yesterday and concluded the target must be the veteran, i.e. McCain. Maybe not. [...]
12:20 pm
[...] Rick Moran speculated originally, as I did, that the candidate is John McCain. The military angle suggest the Senator, and there’s currently a movement against him similar to that against Kerry. Obviously, I’m not so sure now. [...]
1:54 pm
A couple of years back, Sydney Schanberg of the Village Voice, a flaming liberal, wrote a take-no-prisoners article about how John Kerry totally deserted the American POWs believed to still be in NVC and Laos. And Schanberg took John McCain to the woodshed along with “reporting for duty” Kerry whose duty seemed to end when he decided to be policial.
I have followed McCain’s career with interest for a long time. And in the process I have come with some points that really bother me:
McCain has never had the backing of Sam Johnson, a POW at the Hanoi Hilton at the same time McCain was there and who was a captive for almost two years longer than McCain. Johnson also disagrees with McCain’s stand on the use of waterboarding (he would know) and says that our reluctance to use waterboarding, claiming the moral high ground, will not save American lives. The jihadist don’t give a damn about our “moral” high ground.
McCain’s years of vitriol against John Kerry only to become hard and fast friends after their joint fact finding mission on American POWs still believed to be in Southeast Asia. It was clear that with nomalization with VN, the cousin of John Kerry came out like a fat cat in a good garbage can with the building of the first deep sea port in VN. Any rational thinking person has to ask; if McCain hated Kerry so badly BEFORE their trip to Vietnam, why the change? Did Kerry take back all the things he said in the ‘70’s that caused McCain so much grief? I don’t think so.
McCain’s stand on IL-legal immigrants and the fact that he has NO SUPPORT from the Tucson sector of the Border Patrol, the largest sector in the U.S. Matter of fact, the BP hates McCain probably due to the fact that McCain refused to meet with the Tucson sector when they reqested it. Seems the Senator was just too damn busy to waste time on those putting their lives on the line every day to keep out the bad guys. You also have to question McCain’s dedication to fighting terroism when he had no problem allowing our southern border to remain wide open knowing that all the experts say that the southern border is a entry haven for terrorists. Not to mention McCain’s amnesty partnership with one of the biggest socialists of the Democratic Party, Teddy Kennedy.
Then let’s take a look at McCain’s latest revelation; that he would again vote against the Bush tax cuts. His reasoning? That the spending should be cut, not the taxes on average Americans. I wonder if he realizes that not everyone marries into money like he, and his butt buddy John Kerry, did? Here is an original thought; cut spending AND taxes.
I have been blessed with the ability to be able to read people. Or maybe it is really a curse, depends on what I read about someone and I have felt for a long time that McCain is not the savior he would have us believe, but rather an opportunistic career pol like his buddy, John Kerry, who has used his military service as a slegehammer. If we are to elect someone who has suffered much for his nation, then Sam Johnson should be your man.
2:35 pm
These nutters have been saying this stuff about McCain for many, many years. The hardcore POW/MIA folks were the first “troofers” complete with the con-artist conspiracy mongering and tactics. They prey on traumatized family members of guys whose bodies weren’t found….terrible stuff.
3:11 pm
funky chicken, are you saying that the families of those who never were returned at “troofers”? How dim can you be.
We lost a home boy in Vietnam. His body was returned five years ago. His family never gave up hope that he would come home although they knew it would be in a flag draped box.
I can tell you from the sister of the Marine who finally came home, that she tried to meet with John McCain about trying to find her brother and at least bring him home to be buried in the family plot. MCCAIN REFUSED TO MEET WITH HER. Sam Johnson finally helped her and six months later, Lt. Marine was brought home.
So a woman who just wants her brother found and returned to his native soil is now a troofer?
Can you explain Sydney Schanberg’s searing article? Are you saying he was lying? That all the facts he presented are dishonest?
I see you don’t address the fact that McCain also refused to meet with the Border Patrol in his own state. Why? When he was pushing his McCain/Kennedy Shamnesty Act was he afraid to take the heat that he would have felt from the agents on the front lines?
You also seem to have no problem that McCain doesn’t want to cut your taxes. Fine. I have an offer for you. Pay mine and you can feel really good about helping another American.
11:36 pm
Rick,
I think you are probably right on McCain being the target here. Leboutillier is a decent enough fellow but the VN POW/MIA’s have been a major bee in his bonnet for, well forever. Not saying it’s unjustified but McCain really ticked a bunch of people off with the VN normalization/trip back in the nineties. Long memories there.
One nit to pick:
“For some, the war will never end. Only when the last Viet Nam era American passes on will the War in Viet Nam truly be over.”
Well, upon re-reading, I guess that quote includes the hippy-dippy protesters as well as the vets. So nothing really to quibble with after all.