Tom Swatzel Schools Dem Leader in Political Basics

Tom Swatzel

As readers of this website know, one of the brightest, most effective political leaders in South Carolina is the former Georgetown County GOP Chairman and now President of his own political consulting firm, Tom Swatzel. We have highlighted Tom's extraordinary ability to use the media to his advantage and win races against the most daunting odds.

He has shown Republicans throughout South Carolina how to take on entrenched Democrats and win. One would think that after suffering so many humiliating losses at the hands of Tom Swatzel, Georgetown Democrats might have learned a thing or two along the way, or at least would know enough not to tangle with him. But like the symbol of their party, Democrats can be stubborn critters.

When Tom Swatzel launched his new political consulting firm, Swatzel Strategies, he included comments from friends and foes attesting to his political savvy and effectiveness. As former Chairman of the Georgetown County Democratic Party, Jamie Sanderson was one of those foes who has publicly acknowledged what a political master he was up against. Sanderson is quoted as saying:  

"He (Swatzel) had a playbook, he ran it and he won repeatedly.” 

Sanderson also complained about the media coverage Swatzel earned when he asked:

“Isn’t it a fair question to ask why every single press release Swatzel manifests makes breaking news or front page headlines?… What makes Swatzel’s press releases so dire, so important, so needful that it has to make the front page?”

 Apparently though, the frustrated Sanderson hasn't learned some basic political lessons -- what you say can come back and bite you, and the importance of picking your battles.

Sanderson fired off a demand to Swatzel:

Tom,

Remove my quotes. They are not intended to be a testimonial in support of your endeavors. You neverasked for my permission to use as such nor do you have my consent. Thank you.

Jamie Sanderson

Swatzel responded:

Hope you are doing well.

Your quotes are part of the public record and thus available for citation by me or anyone else without your consent or permission.

Perhaps you should seek legal counsel, which no doubt would be a newsworthy item.

Sanderson took the bait and threatened legal action:

In other words, you are saying it's ok to take snippets from a person's writing to benefit you. I got it. You may want to review Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act.

Under Section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, false endorsement occurs when a person's identity is connected with a product or service in such a way that consumers are likely to be misled about that person's sponsorship or approval of the product or service. While most of these cases arise in the context of a popular celebrity, some courts have held that celebrity status is not a necessary prerequisite for a successful false endorsement claim under the Lanham Act. See, e.g. Hauf v. Life Extension Found., 547 F.Supp.2d 771, 777 (W.D. Mich. 2008) and Ji v. Bose Corp., 538 F.Supp.2d 349, 351 (D. Mass. 2008); 540 F.Supp.2d 288, 306 (D.N.H. 2008)

And in response, Swatzel sent a copy of that Sanderson e-mail to all the media in the Grand Strand.  When Sanderson began getting media calls, he realized Swatzel had already beaten him in the media and he backed off his threats.  Swatzel underscored his point to Sanderson:

On my website your quotes from the public record are cited under the banner "What People are Saying about Tom Swatzel."

My recent news release about the launching of Swatzel Strategies said this about your quotes:

"He said the website will include a description of the new firm’s services and also testimonials to Swatzel’s past effectiveness, including from political opponents as well as allies.
              

Former Georgetown County Democratic Party chairman Jamie Sanderson is quoted as saying of Swatzel, “He had a playbook, he ran it, and he won repeatedly.”
              

Sanderson’s unintended tribute to Swatzel’s effectiveness even took the form of a complaint: “Isn’t it a fair question to ask why every single press release Swatzel manifests makes breaking news or front page headlines?… What makes Swatzel’s press releases so dire, so important, so needful that it has to make the front page?”

“Often times the best testimony to effectiveness comes from those who aren’t happy about it,” Swatzel said."

You disseminated those quotes concerning my "past effectiveness" far and wide via various blogs and in some instances, as opinion pieces in newspapers.

Are you now arguing that your words should be stricken from the public record just because I've started a campaign consulting business?

Sanderson had  been shown, once again, the very media savvy for which he had praised Swatzel in the first place.  

The moral of this story:  just because the great ones make it look easy, that doesn't mean that it is. 

Pope Benedict's Urbi et Orbi Message for Easter

“In resurrectione tua, Christe, coeli et terra laetentur!
In your resurrection, O Christ, let heaven and earth rejoice!” (Liturgy of the Hours).

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and across the world, 

Easter morning brings us news that is ancient yet ever new: Christ is risen! The echo of this event, which issued forth from Jerusalem twenty centuries ago, continues to resound in the Church, deep in whose heart lives the vibrant faith of Mary, Mother of Jesus, the faith of Mary Magdalene and the other women who first discovered the empty tomb, and the faith of Peter and the other Apostles.

Right down to our own time – even in these days of advanced communications technology – the faith of Christians is based on that same news, on the testimony of those sisters and brothers who saw firstly the stone that had been rolled away from the empty tomb and then the mysterious messengers who testified that Jesus, the Crucified, was risen. And then Jesus himself, the Lord and Master, living and tangible, appeared to Mary Magdalene, to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and finally to all eleven, gathered in the Upper Room (cf. Mk 16:9-14).

The resurrection of Christ is not the fruit of speculation or mystical experience: it is an event which, while it surpasses history, nevertheless happens at a precise moment in history and leaves an indelible mark upon it. The light which dazzled the guards keeping watch over Jesus’ tomb has traversed time and space. It is a different kind of light, a divine light, that has rent asunder the darkness of death and has brought to the world the splendour of God, the splendour of Truth and Goodness.

A Blessed and Happy Easter to All Our Readers!

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

Sermon of Reverend Franklyn M. McAfee, D.D.

Pastor Emeritus

St. John the Beloved Catholic Church

McLean, Virginia

March 23, 2008

 

Hallelujah Chorus, From Handel's "Messiah," Robert Shaw conducting the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chamber Chorus in 1987.

Homily of His Holiness Benedict XVI for the Easter Vigil

Saint Peter's Basilica

Holy Saturday, 23 April 2010

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The liturgical celebration of the Easter Vigil makes use of two eloquent signs. First there is the fire that becomes light. As the procession makes its way through the church, shrouded in the darkness of the night, the light of the Paschal Candle becomes a wave of lights, and it speaks to us of Christ as the true morning star that never sets – the Risen Lord in whom light has conquered darkness. The second sign is water. On the one hand, it recalls the waters of the Red Sea, decline and death, the mystery of the Cross. But now it is presented to us as spring water, a life-giving element amid the dryness. Thus it becomes the image of the sacrament of baptism, through which we become sharers in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Yet these great signs of creation, light and water, are not the only constituent elements of the liturgy of the Easter Vigil. Another essential feature is the ample encounter with the words of sacred Scripture that it provides. Before the liturgical reform there were twelve Old Testament readings and two from the New Testament. The New Testament readings have been retained. The number of Old Testament readings has been fixed at seven, but depending upon the local situation, they may be reduced to three. The Church wishes to offer us a panoramic view of whole trajectory of salvation history, starting with creation, passing through the election and the liberation of Israel to the testimony of the prophets by which this entire history is directed ever more clearly towards Jesus Christ. In the liturgical tradition all these readings were called prophecies. Even when they are not directly foretelling future events, they have a prophetic character, they show us the inner foundation and orientation of history. They cause creation and history to become transparent to what is essential. In this way they take us by the hand and lead us towards Christ, they show us the true Light.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen Interviews Pastor Richard Wurmbrand

This is a an extraordinary meeting of two of the twentieth century's great spiritual figures -- one a Protestant, the other Catholic -- who were close friends and dynamic collaborators for Christ and His gospel for much of their lives.  Each drew their worldwide influence from holiness forged in the furnace of suffering.  Each brought countless souls to Christ, and continues to do so.  Their friendship is witness that true followers of Christ cannot help but be close to one another.

Archbishop Fulton Sheen, the first of the televangelists, continues to be the most influential Catholic evangelist of the past 100 years.  His books, videos and recordings remain best sellers more than 30 years after his death, and his cause for canonization is underway.

Pastor Richard Wurmbrand suffered intensely in Communist prisons for his Christian beliefs.  In the depths of brutal torture and years of solitary confinement he had a vision like that of the Apostle Stephen.  Wurmbrand wrote:

We didn't see that we were in prison. We were surrounded by angels; we were with God. We no longer believed about God and Christ and angels because Bible verses said it. We didn't remember Bible verses anymore. We remembered about God because we experienced it. With great humility we can say with the apostles, "What we have seen with our eyes, what we have heard with our ears, what we have touched with our own fingers, this we tell to you."

Pastor Wurmbrand dedicated his life to the cause of martyrs throughout the world and founded the international organization, Voice of the Martyrs. One of his many books, Tortured for Christ is a Christian classic.  We frequently post stories about Voice of the Martyrs, and our post this past week about 50,000 imprisoned Christians in North Korea makes clear that Christian persecution continues on a massive scale in our own day.

On this Good Friday, these saintly men remind us that a Christian must take up one's cross and ascend Calvary; but where the cross is, there also is the resurrection.

Good Friday and the Story of a Father's Love

Holy Thursday

Written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this hymn is considered the most beautiful of Aquinas' hymns and one of the great seven hymns of the Church. The rhythm of the Pange Lingua is said to have come down from a marching song of Caesar's Legions: "Ecce, Caesar nunc triumphat qui subegit Gallias." Besides the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, this hymn is also used on Holy Thursday. The last two stanzas make up the Tantum Ergo (Down in Adoration Falling) that is used at Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament.

SING, my tongue, the Savior's glory,
of His flesh the mystery sing;
of the Blood, all price exceeding,
shed by our immortal King,
destined, for the world's redemption,
from a noble womb to spring.