Attention Politicos
When you use the term “swiftboating,” you often do so incorrectly. Like a poor little boy that cries wolf too many times, you really need to get a freaking grip on the term.
Swiftboating is not:
- All negative advertising
- A brutal attack on an issue the candidate agrees with
- Sarcasm or mocking of a candidate
- A misrepresentation of a candidates views
- One candidate saying another did something (like sleep with a former employee) that has nothing to do with policy and may be true or false (that’s usually called a smear)
If you are going to use the term, it is typically when a third party group with unlimited fundraising capability smears the “apparent” opponent of their causes with information that is unrelated to policy.
I say “apparent” because these organizations, by law, have no affiliation with any candidate and a candidate, by law, cannot have control over that organization.
If you need a reason to universally hate CFR, I can point to MoveOn and Swift Boat Veterans For Truth as two organizations that can appeal to whatever side of the political fence you are. I hate both of them.
I’d much rather have soft money donations going directly to political campaigns where the campaign would actually have to be responsible for what they say. We can point to instances where it has both mattered and not mattered but giving them a third party to blame it on has changed the dynamics of campaigning in a terrible way.
And yes, I realize I am arguing against the namesake law of the candidate I am supporting. For the last time, politics isn’t about perfect fit. Unless you regularly ride on unicorns, perfect isn’t happening in this world.