Swift boats are a-comin’
by digby
You didn’t think they were going to take this lying down, did you?
In the wake of a warm conservative reception for a web video trashing the president for “spiking the football” on the anniversary of Osama Bin Laden’s death, the conservative group Veterans for a Strong America plans to gather Navy SEALs and Special Forces operators to criticize the White House during the 2012 campaign.
“We’re looking to [put together] a coalition, to field SEALs and operators that want to come out publicly,” executive director of Veterans for a Strong America, Joel Arends, tells BuzzFeed. “I’ve had a lot of discussions with former SEALs and current SEALs. I’ve been talking to operators in the community. There is palatable discontent.”Arends, a 35-year old Iraq war veteran who has spent the last six years in conservative activist circles, started the group last fall during the Republican primaries.
Previously, Arends worked as a field director for Americans for Prosperity and Veterans for Freedom, two other conservative political organizations.Arends released his first major ad attacking the White House on May 1, titled “Why Does President Obama Take So Much Credit for Killing Bin Laden?”
The video, which took about ten days to produce, went viral. The ad has had more than 250,000 views on YouTube and he’s received some 4,000 emails. Arends was featured on Fox News channel Thursday morning.
Karl Rove also tweeted his support of the ad.
Arends says the group is now looking at airing the advertisement on television in geographic areas with military communities. “Right now we’re going through the process analyzing where we think it would play best,” he says.
“They’re going to have the money” to air the spot, another Republican source told BuzzFeed…
Arends declined to disclose the source of funding for his group, saying he prefers to keep the donors “anonymity,” and that he’s under no legal obligation to do so.
Here’s the ad:
I don’t think it will change anyone’s mind, but it’s just an opening salvo. With all these millions sloshing around there’s no way they were going to leave the national security turf undefended. Along with traditional values and low taxes, it’s what defines them and they’ll spend millions to sully Obama’s claim to toughness. If people are looking for a reason to vote against him, this will be among those on offer. It’s always going to be on offer.
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