How to Fight Back! Notes From An Anti Swiftboating Conference Call:

[Tom Rinaldo]

Republicans swiftboaters have aimed their sights this time at Patrick Murphy in PA-08. Murphy is an Iraq War Vet running against, you guessed it, another Republican Chickenhawk who never served, but that doesn't stop the shrimpboaters from attacking Murphy, claiming he doesn't really know what he's talking about regarding Iraq.

The Democratic response this time HAS been swift, and it IS powerful. I direct your attention to the blog by one of several netroots bloggers who participated in that Conference call, PsiFighter37 at Young Philly Politics. Here are the first four paragraphs, but I urge you to go to his blog and read all of it:

"I just got off a conference call with PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy. As I wrote about earlier today, his opponent, freshman GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, decided to open a series of Swiftboat-style attacks on him on Friday. It appears that the Democratic Party has learned its lesson with rapid response, and tonight, the campaign sent out a notice to speak with many prominent liberal bloggers about the upcoming response. The bloggers on tonight's call included Chris Bowers of MyDD, Huffington Post contributor Taylor Marsh, mcjoan and Armando of Daily Kos (yes, that Armando), and Susan Kreuger of Democracy Cell Project. On the other side of the phone with Patrick were Captain Koby Langley and General Wesley Clark. Under the fold, I'll recount to the best of my knowledge the content of the call, which was all on the record.

First, it's a pretty heady experience to say 'hello' and have the first voice come back being General Clark. It's difficult to introduce oneself after that; I stated my name and introduced myself as a blogger and a current college student. "You're not just a blogger," Clark said. "The pen is mightier than the sword." It's apparent that Clark is a clear supporter of the netroots and is quite engaged in what we are doing.

Captain Langley started off by talking about what he and Patrick did while they were in Iraq. Langley had been a captain in the 82nd Airborne Division as well, and he noted that although Patrick was a JAG, due to the lack of manpower in Iraq, they were often pressed into situations totally unrelated to law. For over a month, Patrick commanded over 75 convoys with Langley, ensuring the safety of the transport and. This is not merely a job that is far from the field, as Patrick's accusers have stated; this was a job that made them 'soft targets', to put it in Langley's own words. Other soldiers, whose primary task had been more legal-oriented, had been killed in Iraq before - this was dangerous work that Patrick had been involved in. Captain Langley repeatedly noted that Fitzpatrick has never been a member of the armed forces, and that it was disgraceful for him to be saying such things about Patrick, who earned a Bronze Star for his commendable service in Iraq.

General Clark was the next to speak, and you could hear the anger in his voice. He praised Patrick's service, and although he noted that while there can be different feelings that run between different units in the army, Fitzpatrick has 'no place in saying who's qualified'. He said that the Swiftboating was 'baloney', and that we have got to stand up to it. Additionally, Clark railed against the 'cowardice of the Bush administration and the complete corruption of the Republican Party'. He called Fitzpatrick a 'phony patriot', noting that he had no right to wear the American flag on his lapel after condoning such remarks. The Republicans, the general noted, 'will destroy anything to hang on to power, even the reputation' of a soldier who served America honorably and with distinction. He thanked all of us for being on the call, and he told us not only to raise the outrage meter on the Internet, but to also raise money for Patrick to fight back against these claims and to write letters to the Philadelphia-area papers."
http://youngphillypolitics.com/node/1562


Wes Clark is rallying support for Patrick Murphy on his own web site:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/8404

Wes Clark is by no means alone among leading Democrats rallying to Murphy's support now, as PsiFighter37 details:

"My question was about who might be coming to the district to help give Patrick support. I already had heard of potential names being raised, but I could not disclose some of them (and I believe I still can't mention a couple of them). Bill Clinton is going to be in town for a huge rally Wednesday morning. In addition, Senator John Kerry (D-MA) will be holding a teleconference with the press on Tuesday to counter these charges, and Patrick will also be hosting another teleconference on Wednesday with Senator Barack Obama (D-IL)..."

Way to go Democrats!

See also a current front page blog at Daily Kos that simply devastates the Republican line of attack against Murphy:

"PA-08: On Swiftboating Patrick Murphy"
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/10/9/10926/8851

This is how we will turn the tide against Republican lies and WASH THEM AWAY!