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’
‘However we can also lie, spin, smear, defame, swift-boat, and (in one worrying recent case from the sewer) threaten violence.’
‘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.’
‘He says his wife is being swift-boated by her opponents.’
‘It was one of the very first issues to be swift-boated by social conservatives.’
‘He told reporters he won't be swift-boated.’
‘Anyone who thinks he won't be swift-boated is living in a dream.’
‘Both candidates showed that they will not be swift-boated.’
‘He had been swift-boated in August.’
‘There is a feeling that he did not run an effective campaign because he allowed himself to be swift-boated.’
‘He's so competitive, they're now swift-boating him.’
‘The raw material for swift-boating this year is already apparent.’
‘It's good practice for serious swift-boating.’
‘This is how swift-boating differs from its cousin McCarthyism, which deals in totally baseless charges that would be deeply serious if true.’
‘Maybe swift-boating will disappear this year.’
‘In the US, swift-boating is now a regular tactic.’
‘Don't argue with them, swift-boat them. Find some embarrassing quote from an old interview.’
‘Are you sick and tired of seeing all these Republican candidates swift-boating each other?’
‘In Iowa yesterday, a reporter asked former House Speaker Gingrich if he felt he was being swift-boated.’
‘In spite of continued attempts to swift-boat him, he remains one of America’s great naval leaders and patriots.’
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.
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