The Inside Story Of The SwiftBoaters Finally Told

Not only will you learn the inside details of the only book – Unfit For Command -- that ever decided a presidential election but, especially for those who have any doubts, you will learn about how the peoples' democracy can still work in the United States.

For those inclined toward political science, the book is an important contribution to understanding how political mobilization actually works and to seeing how the major media lost its Delphic grip on America's political fate to the remarkably democratic new media of the Internet. Vietnam veterans took it away.

Fellow blogger Lorie Byrd credits me with knowing more about the SwiftBoat story than any other blogger. She’s correct, as far as that goes. I founded the Vietnam veterans organization in 1971 that John O’Neill joined to confront John Kerry’s fabrications. I was very active in the 2004 Vietnam veterans campaign for truth. I’m friends with all the Vietnam veterans and others who led in the 2004 campaign, that in a post-election MSM op-ed I dubbed, “The Revolt of the Vietnam Veterans.” (These are described in the book.)

But, there’s someone else who knows more about the 2004 Revolt, Scott Swett. I learned much about the Revolt from this book that even I didn’t know. So will you.

The 389-page book is very well-written and documented, based on virtually every public source and on extensive exclusive interviews with all those involved. Footnotes abound, and there’s an excellent index.

This is not a partisan diatribe, though of definite views, but an invaluable basic resource to anyone regardless of their politics. It’s all true, and the truths – the depths to which the Kerry-aligned media stooped to try to squelch the Swiftees – are all here, and truly shocking when all pulled together in one place.

In early 2004, Swett, on his own, set up the website WinterSoldier.com. The site collected the various articles written over the years about John Kerry’s Vietnam service and his subsequent disservice – in support of the program of the North Vietnamese -- denouncing Vietnam veterans as bloodthirsty, out-of-control murderers of innocent Vietnamese.

Once Kerry’s nomination for president in 2004 seemed likely, WinterSoldier.com became a meeting place for many Vietnam veterans and others and provided a wealth of information that for the first time demonstrated how widespread were Kerry’s exaggerations and lies.

John Kerry’s hagiographic biography by courtesan Douglas Brinkley, Tour Of Duty, (A two-part historiographic review I wrote at the academic site H-War is here and here.) contained so many assertions known to be untrue by those actually there -- fellow SwiftBoaters in Vietnam -- that the Swiftees came together to document the falsehoods.

Unfit For Command followed. The destruction of Kerry’s invented heroic image followed.

Swett set up the Swiftees’ website, SwiftVets.com, and was present and involved in most of what occurred.

For the past two years, Swett and co-author former Marine Captain Tim Ziegler, have labored to produce this book. Some other, better known writers wanted to tackle the subject and approached various publishers. Once the 2004 election was settled, major publishers weren’t interested in documenting the Vietnam veterans revolt as key to a watershed election upset, nor in further distressing the liberal narrative of being treated poorly. (See this post about how substantiated the Swiftee’s charges were, compared to the repeated MSM use of the term “unsubstantiated.”) I’ve witnessed these disappointments and the persistence of Swett and Ziegler to tell the story.

Our children may wonder what we did in the war, and what we did in 2004 to set the record straight. The first narrative will have to be done privately. (Actually, Swett shared with me this diary of his father’s year in Vietnam in 1970, as a C-123 navigator and Civic Action Coordinator at Phan Rang. Here’s the letters sent by a young Marine about his feelings and experiences. One among 58,000 who didn’t make it home alive, 2004’s Vietnam veterans revolt was about honoring their sacrifices.) The second narrative, this book, belongs on everyone’s bookshelf. Otherwise, they won’t get it, how we set the record straight, if they depend on the MSM.

This book is an extraordinarily comprehensive, documented telling of the Kerry-aligned media’s losing efforts to squelch the Swiftees (as a Kerry campaign insider said, “The senior staff believes the media is committed to seeing us win this thing…”) and how they were foiled (Kerry partisan Susan Estrich admitted “they’re shell-shocked” at the implosion of Kerry’s mythical self-glorification).

Moreover, this book is an important tale of personal and political heroism, a tale that bears remembering and passing on by anyone who cares for the US and for peoples democracy.

For those who depended upon the MSM-Kerry narrative, there is a big surprise: There was no vast right wing conspiracy, nor was there a Rovian one. Those who need to believe there was such a conspiracy need to believe that in order to avoid the truth.

There was a grounds-up revolt by Vietnam veterans who knew better than the ersatz heroism that Kerry and friends tried to peddle. The facts and details are in this book. Sure, it took big bucks to get the message across. That came from some big donors and 150,000+ other individuals who believed it should be heard and not smothered or ignored. Polls and the election proved them correct. Indicative of who was listening: 80,000 copies of Kerry’s self-glorifying Tour Of Duty sold; over 800,000 copies of Unfit For Command sold. Very curiously, the pollsters didn’t bother to survey Vietnam veterans, but polls of veterans generally – there are over 25-million, plus their families who support them -- found strong opposition to Kerry.

I hope that To Set The Record Straight sells as well. You can get your copy direct from the authors at their website. www.ToSetTheRecordStraight.com. (It won’t be up at Amazon for a few months, so the authors don’t have to prematurely split their needed earnings from two-years’ work.) There, you can also preview the contents, view excerpts and sources, and more.

For those Vietnam veterans, journalists and bloggers who joined in the battle, your contributions are described. Those of us who served in Vietnam needed your support, and are thankful. It took heroism on many’s part for this victory – yours no less than the Swiftees.

The old media, however, is not grateful. The continuing decline of their reading and viewing audiences is partly due to Americans turning away from their repeatedly exposed sloppy and biased reporting.

The Vietnam veterans revolt, so well-documented here as it overcame MSM obstacle after obstacle, awakened millions of Americans to the MSM at its crudest and energized the new media to new heights. If Watergate spurred young journalists to be “investigative” to demand honesty from those in government, today’s young journalists will hopefully find in To Set The Record Straight a new spur to demand honesty from those in the media.

John O’Neill and I had a better experience in 1971 with the major media than in 2004, which highlights how the major media has changed, and not for the better. As O’Neill is quoted from an interview:

For example, on May 13, 1971, I had an op-ed in the New York Times disputing Kerry’s maligning of Vietnam veterans. By contrast, in 2004, as Kerry campaign insiders at Newsweek exposed, the New York Times acted as a conduit for Kerry releases. (So did the Boston Globe and Los Angeles Times, perhaps leading to both being exclusive post-election recipients from Kerry of what he purported to be his military records, which they refused to publish for public scrutiny, even on their no-cost websites.) Otherwise, the major media ignored the Swiftees’ evidence or maligned it while almost without exception refusing to actually investigate the charges and evidence. (See, for example, my correspondence with the New York Times’ ombudsman.)

As “Captain” Ed Morrissey sardonically notes, “The Boston Globe has put a lot more effort and resources into staking out the house of Mitt Romney [to investigate illegal aliens mowing the lawn] than they ever did on resolving the controversy over John Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia fables.”

A notable MSM exception was Thomas Lipscomb, formerly founder and president of Times Books, who managed – with difficulty – to publish several devastating investigative columns on Kerry’s mendaciousness in newspapers other than the New York Times, Boston Globe or Los Angeles Times. Lipscomb succinctly summed up Kerry’s mode of defense:

The book takes us step-by-step from 1971 to the present in a level of detail that most readers under the age of 60 probably never saw before. The “Aftermath” chapter is worth reading in and of itself, if only for bringing us up to date from 2004 to now. As Scott Swett wrote me thanking me for my help, “On reflection, I think the best thing about this book is the happy ending.” The book concludes:

As someone who has been there from the beginning, fighting every step of the way for this day, I say Amen.

FROM THE OTHER SIDE
By Patrick Camunes

At first there was no place for us to go until someone put up that Black Granite Wall. Now, everyday and night, my Brothers and my Sisters wait to see the many people from places afar file in front of this Wall. Many stopping briefly and many for hours and some that come on a regular basis. It was hard at first, not that it's gotten any easier, but it seems that many of the attitudes towards that war that we were involved in have changed. I can only pray that the ones on the other side have learned something and more Walls as this one needn't be built.

Several members of my unit and many that I did not recognize have called me to the Wall by touching my name that is engraved upon it. the tears aren't necessary but are hard even for me to hold back. Don't feel guilty for not being with me, my Brothers. This was my destiny as it is yours, to be on that side of the Wall.

Touch the Wall, my brothers, so that we can share in the memories that we had. I have learned to put the bad memories aside and remember only the pleasant times that we had together. Tell our other Brothers out there to come and visit me, not to say Good-Bye, but to say Hello and be together again, even for a short time and to ease that pain of loss that we all share.

Today, an irresistible and loving call comes from the Wall. As I approach, I can see an elderly lady and as I get closer, I recognize her......It's Momma! As much as I have looked forward to this day, I have also regretted it because I didn't know what reaction I would have.

Next to her, I suddenly see my wife and immediately think how hard it must have been for her to come to this place and my mind floods with the pleasant memories of 30 years past. There's a young man in a military uniform standing with his arm around her.....My God! It's...it has to be my son. Look at him trying to be the man without a tear in his eye. I yearn to tell him how proud I am, seeing him standing tall, straight and proud in his uniform.

Momma comes closer and touches the Wall and I feel the soft and gentle touch I had not felt in so many years. Dad has crossed to this side of the wall and through our touch, I try to convey to her that Dad is doing fine and is no longer suffering or feeling pain. I see my wife's courage building as she sees Momma touch the Wall and approaches and lays her hand on my waiting hand. All the emotions, feelings and memories of three decades past flash between our touch and I tell her that it's all right. Carry on with your life and don't worry about me......I can see as I look into her eyes that she hears and understands me and a big burden has been lifted from her.

I watch as they lay flowers and other memories of my past. My lucky charm that was taken from me and sent to her by my CO, a tattered and worn teddy bear that I can barely remember having as I grew up as a child and several medals that I had earned and were presented to my wife. One of them is the combat Infantry Badge that I am very proud of and I noticed that my son is also wearing this medal. I had earned mine in the jungles of Vietnam and he had probably earned his in the deserts of Iraq.

I can tell that they are preparing to leave and I try to take a mental picture of them together, because I don't know when I will see them again. I wouldn't blame them if they were not to return and can only thank them that I was not forgotten. My wife and Momma near the Wall for one final touch and so many years of indecision, fear and sorrow are let go. As they turn to leave I feel my tears that had not flowed for so many years, form as if dew drops on the other side of the Wall.

They slowly move away with only a glance over their shoulder. My son suddenly stops and slowly returns. He stands straight and proud in front of me and snaps a salute. Something makes him move to the Wall and he puts his hand upon the Wall and touches my tears that had formed on the face of the wall and I can tell that he senses my presence there and the pride and the love that I have for him. He falls to his knees and the tears flow from his eyes and I try my best to reassure him that it's all right and the tears do not make him any less of a man. As he moves back wiping the tears from his eyes, he silently mouths, God Bless you, Dad..... God Bless, YOU, Son..... We WILL meet someday but in the meanwhile, go on your way..... there is no hurry..... There is no hurry at all.

As I see them walk off in the distance, I yell out to THEM and EVERYONE there today, as loud as I can, .......THANKS FOR REMEMBERING and as others on this side of the Wall join in, I noticed that the US Flag that so proudly flies in front of us everyday, is flapping and standing proudly straight out in the wind today...
THANK YOU ALL FOR REMEMBERING.

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