We use cookies to enhance your experience on our website. This website uses cookies that provide targeted advertising and which track your use of this website. By clicking ‘continue’ or by continuing to use our website, you are agreeing to our use of cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time.ContinueFind out more
Target (a politician or public figure) with a campaign of personal attacks.
‘when he got swift-boated, his campaign staffers didn't sit silently’
‘organized smearing and swift-boating of public figures’
‘Anyone who thinks he won't be swift-boated is living in a dream.’
‘Maybe swift-boating will disappear this year.’
‘Are you sick and tired of seeing all these Republican candidates swift-boating each other?’
‘However we can also lie, spin, smear, defame, swift-boat, and (in one worrying recent case from the sewer) threaten violence.’
‘It was one of the very first issues to be swift-boated by social conservatives.’
‘In Iowa yesterday, a reporter asked former House Speaker Gingrich if he felt he was being swift-boated.’
‘Obama told reporters he won't be swift-boated.’
‘Both candidates showed that they will not be swift-boated.’
‘It is at least an open question as to whether Democrats this year will attempt to match the Republicans in their willingness to "swift-boat".’
‘This is how swift-boating differs from its cousin McCarthyism, which deals in totally baseless charges that would be deeply serious if true.’
‘The raw material for swift-boating this year is already apparent.’
‘He had been swift-boated in August.’
‘It's good practice for serious swift-boating.’
‘He says his wife is being swift-boated by her opponents.’
‘In the US, swift-boating is now a regular tactic.’
‘He's so competitive, they're now swift-boating him.’
‘Don't argue with them, swift-boat them. Find some embarrassing quote from an old interview.’
‘"There is a feeling that Kerry did not run an effective campaign because he allowed himself to be swift-boated," said Gallagher.’
‘In spite of continued attempts to swift-boat him, he remains one of America’s great naval leaders and patriots.’
‘I think the idea that you can go into the general election and expect there not to be any negative attacks, or any effort to sort of swift-boat whoever our candidate is, is not realistic.’
Origin
2004: with allusion to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a political action committee that funded an advertising campaign criticizing 2004 US presidential candidate Senator John Kerry's record of military service aboard a swift boat, a type of US Navy patrol craft, during the Vietnam War.