The Swiftboating of Bowe Bergdahl Turns Into a Republican Disaster With Torture Revelation

The conservative media operation to swiftboat Bowe Bergdahl in order to create another Obama scandal turned into a disaster for the Republican Party after media reports that Sgt. Bergdahl is telling doctors he was tortured by the Taliban.

The AP reported, “U.S. Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has told people treating him at an American military medical facility in Germany that he was tortured, beaten and held in a cage by his Taliban captors in Afghanistan after he tried to escape, a senior U.S. official said Sunday.”

Republicans have been carrying out a swiftboating media operation that is being led by a former Bush administration official that is designed to smear Sgt. Bergdahl in order to create an Obama political scandal. The revelation that Bergdahl was tortured means that Republicans are not only attacking the credibility of a soldier, but they are attacking a soldier who was tortured by the enemy.

Even by the new Obama era standards for conservative hate, this is low. The possibility that Sgt. Bergdahl was tortured confirms the White House’s reasoning for making a deal to bring Bergdahl home. Republicans have painted themselves into a corner with their attacks on Bergdahl, and they are now showing signs of looking for a way out of their latest self-induced political disaster.

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While the attack Bergdahl to make Obama look bad gambit plays well with Republicans, it is making the right look bad with the rest of the country. As usual, Republicans are playing their base as they ignore the rest of the country. They are the ones who decided to attack a POW without knowing the facts.

Republicans politicized something that should have never been political, and now they are going to pay a heavy price for shameful attacks.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association