Here We Go: White House Official Says Bergdahl Is Being "Swift Boated"
Plus: Hillary Turns Her Bus, Runs Obama Over

The key to successful political prognostication is gathering up all the low fruit possible. As our own John Ekdahl kindly notes, I called this a few days ago. Still, it's rather shocking to hear people who spent the last two-days arguing it was wrong to attack a solider (even though he seems to be at best a deserter) now attacking soldiers who did in fact serve "with honor and distinction".

Here's Chuck Todd on the White House reaction to the talk about Bergdahl.

hey did not expect this backlash on bergdahl himself. I've had a few aides describe it to me as we didn't know that they were going to swift boat Bergdahl. And that's a reference to that political fight back in 2004 over john kerry's military service, so there's some fighting words there.

Todd later confirmed that the White House source used the exact term "swift boating".

Lefties love them some anti-American soldiers who walk away from their squad-mates but are less than enamored with those who kept the faith. Interesting.

Hillary! meanwhile can read a change in the wind as well as anyone.

Here she is on Monday.

She downplayed the criticism surrounding his release and noted some of the benefits his expected return brings the United States.

"We do have a tradition and I ascribe to it," Clinton said. "We try not to leave any of our soldiers on the field. We try to make sure, insofar as possible, you know, we bring them home."

She continued: "This young man, whatever the circumstances, is an American citizens and was serving in our military."

By yesterday, her team had a slightly different version of events of her feelings about the deal when it was first proposed while she was at the State Department.

Despite that the White House’s claim this week that the United States did not negotiate “directly” with the Taliban to secure the Bergdahl swap, the State Department, Defense Department, and White House officials did meet several times with Taliban leaders in 2011 and 2012 to discuss the deal. The negotiations, held in in Munich and Doha, fell apart in early 2012. But before they did, Clinton had a framework deal drawn up that was much tougher on the Taliban than what ultimately got done two years later.

Three former administration officials who were involved in the process told The Daily Beast that Clinton was worried about the ability to enforce the deal and disinclined to trust the Taliban or the Haqqani network in Pakistan, which held Bergdahl until this weekend. Clinton was so concerned, the former officials added, that she may not have even signed off if the negotiations had succeeded.

“She was heavily involved from the beginning, she was very skeptical of the arrangement, she was very wary of it,” one former administration official said. “If we had come to some agreement she perhaps would have backed it, but we never got to that point.”

I really have no idea what the Obama administration thought would come of this deal but it clearly wasn't this.

On the upside for them though, we aren't talking about the VA, how Obama is now endorsing Hamas through his illegal support for a Palestinian government that includes them or the shrinking economy.

So they've got all that going for them.

And just to tie everything together via our own Morning Dump Ben....

Welcome home, Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. A grateful America thanks you for your service.

— Senator Thad Cochran (@SenThadCochran) May 31, 2014

Plus: Hillary Turns Her Bus, Runs Obama Over&bodytext=The key to successful political prognostication is gathering up all the low fruit possible. As our own John Ekdahl kindly notes, I called this a few days ago. Still, it's rather shocking to hear people who spent the last two-days...&topic=world_news"> posted by DrewM. at 11:06 AM

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