Taking The Not-So-Swift Boat

After such a long hiatus, most people would have come back refreshed and ready for action. Not McIlheran. After a long absence, McIlheran is back, and fumbles out of the starting gate.

He warns his reader, that with the upcoming election, the term "swiftboating" will be used often. He defines swiftboating as:

It's useful, then, that Henry P. Wickham at American Thinker outlined just what the word meant as it emerged from the 2004 presidential campaign: "The word means, or should mean, the exposure of a fraudulent autobiography of one seeking political office or public influence. It is the correction of a personal and professional record that has been selectively and dishonestly compiled, as the Swift Vets did so effectively to that of John Kerry."

There are some things that PaddyMac is missing. One is that the term has already been used. Repeatedly. In fact, I'm not sure it ever went away.

Paddy also chooses to use a rather skewed view to argue his points. The common definition is rather different that what he would have us believe:

Swiftboating is American political jargon that is used (primarily) as a strong pejorative description of some kind of attack that the speaker considers unfair
or untrue—for example, an ad hominem attack or a smear campaign.

But, for the sake of argument, let us use McIlheran's definition for a moment, and see how it applies to his own bio, which appears at the top of his post. The bio reads:

Patrick McIlheran

Journal Sentinel editorial columnist, generally a right-wing guy, links to good reading on the Web and offers commentary besides

McIlheran technically fits the definition of a columnist, so that is OK, but I would consider him more to be a propagandist. But for him to claim that he is "generally a right-wing guy" is like saying the Iraq War is generally an expensive debacle. In other words, a gross understatement. Why is he ashamed to say what he really is?

And for the good links? Get real. I would hardly consider McBride, THEB, RDW, Sykes, or Harris to be good reading. You could find better writing on the back of a box of a kids' cereal.

Hey, swiftboating, McIlheran-style, can be fun!