From the mouths of ideologues born in the shadows of Saul Alinsky:  “Isolate, Ridicule, Marginalize” 

WASHINGTON DC – White House aides have accused members of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl’s unit of “swift-boating” the 28-year-old Idahoan for claiming that he deserted his post in Afghanistan nearly five years ago, MSNBC’s Chuck Todd reported.

“I’ve had a few aides describe it to me as ‘we didn’t know that they were going to swift-boat Bergdahl’,” Todd said Wednesday.

The term “swift-boating” comes from 2004 when members of then-Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry’s Swift Boat unit came forward during the election to accuse him of misleading American voters about his service in Vietnam.  (read more)

Alas, there exists an unknown factor for a White House devoid of understanding military service.    Within the band of brothers there exists a unit cohesion impenetrable to the divisive tactics of Alinskyites.

Every single member of Bergdahl’s unit has said the exact same thing.  Repeatedly.   They have walked together, slept together, cleaned each other, shared fears and deep anxieties together, and relied upon each other for their very survival.   Do you really think a group of politically dependent ideologues are going to break their will ?

A former comrade of Bergdahl’s (with Blackfoot Company, 1st Battalion 501st infantry Regiment (Airborne) 25th Infantry Division in Afghanistan) said he should face the firing squad for what he did.  (link)

Keep up this approach and this is going to get uglier, far uglier, for the White House.

(left to right) Chief of Staff – Denis McDonough, President Obama, National Security Advisor – Tony Blinkin, Communication Head – Ben Rhodes

[Via National Review] […]  But pity Ms. Rice. Like the president she serves, she’s a victim of her class. Nobody in the inner circle of Team Obama has served in uniform. It shows. That bit about serving with “honor and distinction” is the sort of perfunctory catch-phrase politicians briefly don as electoral armor. (“At this point in your speech, ma’am, devote one sentence to how much you honor the troops.”)

I actually believe that Ms. Rice was kind of sincere, in her spectacularly oblivious way. In the best Manchurian Candidate manner, she said what she had been programmed to say by her political culture, then she was blindsided by the firestorm she ignited by scratching two flinty words together. At least she didn’t blame Bergdahl’s desertion on a video.

The president, too, appears stunned. He has so little understanding of (or interest in) the values and traditions of our troops that he and his advisers really believed that those in uniform would erupt into public joy at the news of Bergdahl’s release — as D.C. frat kids did when Osama bin Laden’s death was trumpeted.

Both President Obama and Ms. Rice seem to think that the crime of desertion in wartime is kind of like skipping class. They have no idea of how great a sin desertion in the face of the enemy is to those in our military. The only worse sin is to side actively with the enemy and kill your brothers in arms. This is not sleeping in on Monday morning and ducking Gender Studies 101.

But compassion, please! The president and all the president’s men and women are not alone. Our media elite — where it’s a rare bird who bothered to serve in uniform — instantly became experts on military justice. Of earnest mien and blithe assumption, one talking head after another announced that “we always try to rescue our troops, even deserters.”

Uh, no. “Save the deserter” is a recent battle cry of the politically indoctrinated brass. For much of our history, we did make some efforts to track down deserters in wartime. Then we shot or hanged them. Or, if we were in good spirits, we merely used a branding iron to burn a large D into their cheeks or foreheads. Even as we grew more enlightened, desertion brought serious time in a military prison. At hard labor.  (continue reading)