I heard the term “Swift Bainers” this morning for the first time, alluding to the Swift Boat ads in Bush vs. Kerry.
Those ads in 2004 were incredibly effective — because all Kerry did was whine about them. I remember when Kerry was on The Daily Show toward the end of the campaign and Jon Stewart served up a ball right over the plate, asking Kerry if he was in Cambodia. It was the perfect set-up for Kerry to knock it over the fence, and Kerry — literally — just sat there and smiled at Stewart. All Kerry had to say was, “I was serving my country in combat, where the hell was George Bush?” Or something to that effect. But, he just smiled, as if defending his record was beneath him.
And that’s what Romney seems to be doing with the Bain attacks, demanding an apology from the president. That’s not going to work.
Kerry held back and lost. If Romney wants to win this thing, he needs to stop the crying in the hope that the MSM will declare him the honest one, and rear back and punch Team Obama right in the nose.