Ex-Swift Boaters’ Donations and the ‘Swiftboating’ Connotation

In a USA Today story, “Price of Power: McCain accepts ex-Swift Boaters’ donations,” we learn that Senator John McCain, who four years ago condemned the “Swift Boat’s” attacks on Vietnam veteran John Kerry as “dishonest and dishonorable,” has now accepted nearly $70,000 from the top donors of this group.

According to USA Today,

That’s nearly four times the amount McCain received from those donors in the 14 years before launching his current campaign at the end of 2006, campaign finance records show. In 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (later called SwiftVets and POWS for Truth) bankrolled ads charging that Kerry had lied about the incidents in Vietnam that led to his military decorations. The group included former members of the Navy who served in the same kind of river patrol boats as Kerry.

And,

McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said in an e-mail that McCain accepted the money because the donors are “interested in supporting (his) agenda of reform, prosperity and peace.”

Just a couple of observations.

First, is it morally and ethically correct for a presidential candidate to accept campaign contributions from, say, the most heinous organizations or people, just because they support his or her agenda?

Second: Of course, John McCain has every right to accept such contributions from the group that he condemned four years ago for smearing his fellow Vietnam War veteran, John Kerry. Just like he will have every right to –after having pocketed their contributions–once again condemn the group when and if its Swiftboating of Barack Obama begins.

On a related note, The New York Times in an article yesterday (June 30), “Veterans Long to Reclaim the Name ‘Swift Boat’,” describes how “Swift boat” “has become the synonym for the nastiest of campaign smears, a shadow that hangs over the presidential race as pundits wait to proclaim that the Swiftboating has begun and candidates declare that they will not be Swiftboated,” and how the true “Swift boat veterans — especially those who had nothing to do with the group that attacked Senator John Kerry’s military record in the 2004 election — want their good name back, and the good names of the men not lucky enough to come home alive.”

Again, just two observations.

First, it is good to hear from those Swift boat veterans who had nothing to do with one of the most vicious and shameful smear campaigns in recent political history. By their Association’s count, only about 200 of the approximately 3,600 men who served aboard Swift boats in Vietnam, signed the letter that became the basis of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth smear campaign in 2004. It is truly a shame that the actions of a relatively few have so gravely damaged the reputation of so many brave men.

As one of their own–Stan Collier, who according to the Times, served as an officer in charge on a boat based in Qui Nhon–says, “It was unconscionable,” “I thought those boys struck a new low.” And, “We’ve all been attributed to the sleaziness that those guys assigned to Kerry,”. “I think we’ve all been demeaned.”

Second, it is hoped that more and more of these heroes will come forward to disassociate themselves from the group that has brought them so much grief. Harlan Ullman, a Swift boat driver in Vietnam and a Pentagon consultant has written: “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.’ ”

While it is unlikely that the word “Swiftboating” can or will ever be banned, one way for such an “offensive, demeaning and obscene” connotation to gradually diminish may be when and if those who initially brought about such an association discontinue such activities.

But, as Americans get to know more and more about those 3,400 brave people who did not participate in the besmirching of good men and women for purely political reasons, the quicker the original shine will be returned to the name Swift boaters.