re: #88 Jay C

Well, IIRC, Kerry and the Democrats DID respond, and the national media pretty much tossed everything back on the MBF, and what-if’ed and whattabout’ed and gave the Swift Boat liars the benefit of the doubt on virtually everything (I recall some big hoo-ha about “Kerry’s hat” somehow “proving” that everything he said about his service in Vietnam was a lie: the most fearful bullshit, to be sure, but the SBVT were taken near-absolutely seriously, Kerry’s denial were lucky to get a mention).

I’ve always thought the Swiftboating of John Kerry was the last gasp of Vietnam-War politics: that Kerry became a prominent anti-war activist after his service (and specifically as a leader of anti-war veterans) was, I think, the main thing that sparked the big smear campaign against him: if he had been a pro-war cheerleader after Vietnam, he still might have gotten ratfucked by the GOP in ‘04, but I don’t think the charges would have had the same “righteous” outrage….

And…welp…we see the same thing going on, except applied to just about everything: right-wing attacks treated with the utmost seriousness and credulity and given all the oxygen they need. Dem responses are so much likes spitting in the wind, and then the usual suspects wonder ‘Why don’t Dems respond? Maybe the allegations are true!!”. And the only time Dem responses do seem to peek through, it’s because it’s a negative response that hurts another Dem somehow (regardless of veracity).

There’s no way to win the game: they own the narrative, every time, from the outset, because they own all the fucking megaphones.