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Swift-boat is shorthand for the brilliant, despicable Republican campaign strategy in 2004 that turned John Kerry's honorable service in Vietnam into a negative factor in his campaign. The phrase has become more broadly the term for a particular category of campaign tactics and has even become a verb. To "swift-boat" somebody is to use these tactics against him or her. If you remember the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign and don't see anything wrong with it--or if you believe it was the work of "independent" operatives unconnected to George W. Bush's campaign...
...these junior Machiavellis are right, there is no hope for a civilized campaign. McCain will do what Republican candidates always do, and Obama will use skills developed over the long primary season. Or is there hope in the fact that decency is a big part of both candidates' "brands"? If so, swift-boating could backfire. But it never has before. And the most enthusiastic and skilled swift-boater so far--George Bush the Elder, who built his campaign against Michael Dukakis around the Pledge of Allegiance and a furloughed convict named Willie Horton--was also someone peddling decency as part...
...George W. Bush, he's not just blowing smoke, especially when it comes to economic policy. Yes, McCain is a very different kind of man, with a different history, who will face a set of challenges and opportunities that are different from those confronting Bush. But look through the Republican candidate's campaign pledges on the economy, and you'll see that they really do add up to a continuation of Bush's focus on cutting taxes (especially taxes on corporate and capital income) and moving economic decisions (and burdens) into the hands of individuals...
...taken off the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Some analysts suggest that the President may be toning down his rhetoric to soften his image in the run-up to Venezuela's state and local elections in November--and possibly to avoid giving ammunition to anti-Chávez Republican candidates in the U.S. this fall...
...teamed Barack Obama (whom I formerly advised), attacking his willingness to talk to adversaries like Cuba, Iran and Syria. Bush has invoked the "false comfort of appeasement," while McCain has said Obama's approach is "naive" and "shows a lack of experience." McCain is generally seen as a centrist Republican, but in this attack he appears to have embraced the view of a minority contingent of militant conservatives who over the past 60 years have howled virtually every time a President has taken the risky step of engaging hostile states...