Calling "Swift Boat Vets" a "veterans group" is like ____

[minnesota_liberal]

Over the weekend I could hardly believe my ears when I heard a reporter on National Public Radio describe this organization as a "veterans group" - as if their focus was actually on veterans and their background relatively benign.

I kid you not. The reporter was referring to the anti-John Kerrry 527 group whose organizers and primary contributors are political hit men, whose ads featured several swift boat vets who never served with Kerry and whose claims about him were eventually discredited.

A veterans group. Right.

So, in honor of NPR, how about some creative analogies where a loaded subject is being cast as something mainstream?

Here's one to get started:
- Swift Boat Vets is a "veterans group" like ... Jim Jones Kool-Aid is a refreshing beverage.

[NJmaverick]

1. What bothered me is all the free press the MSM gave this group of liars

they got more free press than they will get with their crappy lie filled ads.

[MiniMe]

2. Well, they are a group of veterans

However, they are wrong on everything else.

[hendo]

4. Yeah

They were veterans. Just Swift boat Veterans for Lies rather than for truth.

[MiniMe]

7. Well, most of them were in Viet Nam

at the same time Kerry was. They are vile people

[hendo]

8. no denying that they were vile

Nobody's military service should ever get the "swift boat" treatment. Nobody. And yes, that even includes McCain.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

11. I know a guy who says they lied about their service.

[MiniMe]

13. I think some of them lied about their time in Viet Nam, but

I think they were all really vets. However, some of them had never met or known Kerry.

[Buzz Clik]

3. ... like Mitt Romney is a Mormon candidate.

... like John McCain is a military veteran candidate.
... like Barack Obama is a mixed-race candidate.
... like Milla Jovovich is a Ukrainian actress.
... like Jeremy Wariner and Lolo Jones are fast white people.

The Swiftboat Veterans for Truth were swiftboat veterans with a political agenda. The fact that they were veterans is undeniable. They weren't a "veterans group", they were a group of veterans. It's a subtle difference that is important in some contexts.

[karynnj]

5. There seems to have been a recent creep on this to giving them credibility

I was angered last year when the AP routinely defined them as a group that "questioned" Kerry's service record - without saying the Navy stood by Kerry (including Republican Senator Warner, who as Secretary of the Navy, reviewed Kerry's Silver Star}.

Recently, they not only used that line, but went on to say that they claimed that Kerry had lied about events for which he was given his medals - where it was not Kerry's accounts, but the Navy's 35 plus year old record of his service. This is the difference between questioning some saying that they had all As in college - and someone having an award from the college that says that. The Navy gave Kerry those medals and in 2004 said they were properly vetted and awarded.

The pathetic thing is that there were NO holes in Kerry's records - none. My guess is that the media needs to continue sliming Kerry because as the public now knows that they lied to make the Bush administration look better, many Bush voters console themselves that Kerry was worse. In fact, the media promoted a corrupt administration, while trying to destroy a decent man.

[Vickers]

6. Ask them what percentage of swift boat veterans are in their group.

NOBODY has ever asked them that.

And if a pro-Kerry swift boat vet asked to join...what then?

And what *are* the mechanics of joining their group? For instance, when you went to their website, their was no place to JOIN. There was a place to CONTRIBUTE, but not to JOIN...what the fuck kind of group is that?

So, to answer your question: Calling Swift Boat Vets a "veterans group" is like calling George Bush a Texan.

:P

[Occam Bandage]

9. Calling the RNC a collection of patriots.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Calling the KKK a civic service club n/t

[singilarpoint]

12. calling fox news fair and balanced

[CatWoman]

14. calling Bush a "compassionate" conservative.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

15. Is like calling the Philadelphia Eagles contenders for the Stanley Cup. n/t

[sakabatou]

16. Is like calling Pat Robertson sane