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Incensed by the negative ads that have spoiled his campaign, Newt Gingrich recently complained he’d been “Romneyboated,” an allusion to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, whose ads helped derail Sen. John Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004. John O’Neill, the swift-boat captain who led the anti-Kerry movement, is none too pleased with the comparison. “To me, it reflects Gingrich’s very cynical hypocrisy, which he shares with Kerry,” O’Neill tells National Review Online. That hypocrisy “is the reason why he can appear with [Nancy] Pelosi in climate-change ads and why he can take money from Freddie Mac: If you’re part...

A Vietnam veteran who defended Sen. John Kerry against "Swift Boat" attacks in the 2004 presidential race has been stripped of his Silver Star by the Navy -- more than a year after he was sentenced to prison on a child pornography charge. But the Silver Star wasn't stripped from Wade Sanders because of the child porn conviction, per se.

ABC News White House reporter Jake Tapper wrote on Twitter this evening:"Talking to a Vietnam Navy Vet who says Swift Boat veterans now call themselves "River Boat" vets bc of 2004 campaign."Tapper did not explain what about the 2004 campaign--John Kerry or the group that challenged Kerry's Vietnam service record, the Swift Boats Vets and POWs for Truth--have caused them to change how they describe themselves.

To Set The Record Straight, first pubished in 2008, is much more than a history of the 2004 presidential race, and the effects the Swiftboat veterans had on that campaign. TSTRS uses the Swiftboat veterans' story to focus upon the role the mainstream media has played in shaping American public opinion over the past forty years, from the Vietnam War until the recent past. When Senator Kerry decided to make his military record a central part of his campaign, the Swiftboat veterans who knew him the best were angered and sickened. They had had enough, and they decided literally “to...

I've been invited on Lars Larson's nationally-syndicated show today to talk about my recent article in the American Thinker, Media still lying about the Swift Boat Veterans and the book I co-authored with Tim Ziegler, To Set The Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry.

nfomercial Attacking Obama's Health Care Plan Backed by 'Swift Boat' Financer A group called Conservatives for Patients' Rights has launched an ad campaign attacking the president's health care reform plans drawing strong opposition from the SEIU and Obama supporters. FOXNews.com Saturday, May 30, 2009 President Obama, vowing to succeed in health care reform where President Clinton failed, claimed progress in early May after a meeting with industry officials, who seemed open to his call to reduce spending by $2 trillion over 10 years. But a major new national attack-ad campaign has the potential to put a dent in Obama's plans,...

Five years ago, a group of Vietnam veterans came forward at the National Press Club in Washington to dispute the "war hero" stories that formed the basis of candidate John Kerry's presidential campaign, and to challenge the claims of rampant US war crimes Kerry had used to launch his political career 33 years earlier -- false accusations, they said, that helped to poison the reputations of a generation of American troops. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth included Kerry's entire former chain of command from Vietnam and dozens of eyewitnesses to his actions there. Kerry, the veterans said, was not...

Five years ago, a group of Vietnam veterans came forward at the National Press Club in Washington to dispute the "war hero" stories that formed the basis of candidate John Kerry's presidential campaign, and to challenge the claims of rampant US war crimes Kerry had used to launch his political career 33 years earlier -- false accusations, they said, that helped to poison the reputations of a generation of American troops. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth included Kerry's entire former chain of command from Vietnam and dozens of eyewitnesses to his actions there. Kerry, the veterans said, was not...

Paul Waldman of Media Matters said Swift Boat Veterans are liars.

Just as they sought to destroy John Kerry in 2004, the founders of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth group are aiming their guns at this season's presumptive Democratic presidential candidate. But unlike four years ago, when the Swifties spent millions to discredit Kerry, their hit on Barack Obama so far hasn't cost them a dime. The opening assault came over the weekend in the form of a mass email to would-be sympathizers. "As liberal as Kerry was, America faces an even more liberal threat today: Barack Obama," wrote John O'Neill, a founder of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth...

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have formally disbanded and ceased all operations as of May 31, 2008. I repeat. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth no longer exist. Somebody need to send that message to the New York Daily News because they are creating the false impression that 527 group is still out there as you can see in their completely misleading headline, "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth gear up for 2008 White House race." The strangest thing is that the Daily News article contradicts its own headline (emphasis mine): The swift boats are coming.They'll go by different names this year, but...

The New York Times published an article Monday about the anger some Vietnam veterans feel over the vessel they used to serve on, Swift Boat, now being synonymous with "the nastiest of campaign smears." In dredging up this issue, Times' writer Kate Zernike not only misrepresented many of the facts surrounding the claims made by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, but also completely ignored the mainstream media's role in turning the name of this patrol craft into a political pejorative. In fact, something the Times conveniently chose not to share with its readers was how one of its own...

It's common to see mentions in the press these days about some "swiftboating" of Barack Obama that is allegedly in the works, or might someday allegedly be in the works, or might someday be thought to be allegedly in the works. While I'm sure there will be some hit jobs on Obama — this is a presidential campaign, after all — this talk seems to be based on a fundamental misunderstanding, perhaps willful in some cases, of the swiftboat episode in the 2004 campaign. The swiftboat veterans in that year were the officers who served alongside John Kerry in Vietnam....

Vietnam veterans ask T. Boone Pickens to pay up on Kerry record 02:48 PM CDT on Saturday, June 21, 2008 By GROMER JEFFERS JR./ The Dallas Morning News Ten men who served in Vietnam with Sen. John Kerry want Dallas billionaire T. Boone Pickens to fork over the $1 million he said he would give anyone who could disprove claims that Swift Boat Veterans for Truth made about Mr. Kerry's war record during the 2004 presidential campaign. The men sent a lengthy letter and supporting documentation to Mr. Pickens on Thursday. Mr. Pickens, who helped support the anti-Kerry group, could...

April 20, 2008 Redefining 'Swiftboating' and Rewriting History By Henry P. Wickham, Jr. If the words "swift" and "boat" must be combined and turned into a verb, then let us insist on its proper use. The word as a verb originates from the campaign undertaken in 2004 by the Swift Boat Veterans in response to the John Kerry presidential candidacy. The word means, or should mean, the exposure of a fraudulent autobiography of one seeking political office or public influence. It is the correction of a personal and professional record that has been selectively and dishonestly compiled, as the Swift...

The days of Swift Boating are numbered Friday, April 18, 2008 12:25 PM EDT While the Democrats continue to gnaw at each other for the party’s nomination, there are signs, indications even, that some of the recent methods of electoral success in the past are fading as effective tools. Most notably, “Swift Boating,” may finally be on its way to becoming a historical footnote. Swift Boating describes the effective use on well funded false charges against th

One of the core charges that John Kerry’s media-aided campaign made in 2004 and since to delegitimize the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth is that its leader John O’Neill, who had opposed Kerry in 1971, was a creation of Richard Nixon’s White House. I was there, and know better. Until now, the central purported prop for the charge went unrebutted. Charles “Chuck” Colson has now spoken up. It’s time for reputable media, and even Kerry’s advocates if they have any integrity, to cease this charge. Like a dime-novel legend, based on little, this charge has been frequently repeated and embellished...

WASHINGTON – A group of Vietnam veterans opposed to John Kerry's presidential bid are using a television ad and personal appearances to charge that most of Kerry's image as a thrice-wounded and highly decorated war hero is based on lies. But the attacks were quickly denounced by Republican senator and Vietnam veteran John McCain as "dishonorable." The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which gets most of its funding from Texas Republican activists, launched a TV spot in three battleground states yesterday repeatedly charging Kerry with lying about his Vietnam service. To reinforce the ad, members of the group are touring...

Since losing the 2004 presidential election, John Kerry and his supporters have continued to claim "Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak out against John Kerry" and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have been "discredited" for spreading a pack of lies about Kerry's military service in Vietnam and his subsequent leadership in the anti-war movement....

If John Kerry had been elected President of the United States in November 2004, especially with the incoming majority Democrat Congress, it is highly likely that Iraq would be in the midst of a civil war, Iran’s regional influence would have increased, Israel would be in more jeopardy than it is now, two Supreme Court seats would be occupied by clones of John Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg instead of by John Roberts and Samuel Alito, judicial decisions would have given even more “rights” to enemy combatants, domestic entitlements and earmarks would have skyrocketed, the Bush tax cuts would be...

Swett, Scott and Tim Ziegler, To Set the Record Straight, 2007, New American Media, 389 pp., index, ISBN 978-0-9799841-5-0. $29.95 Full disclosure: The first author's father and I served together at Holloman AFB, New Mexico, 1968 - 1972. I do not recall ever meeting the first author. The thread that runs through this book is how the Swift Boat Veterans attempted to bring out the truth about John Kerry's service in Vietnam and his collaboration with the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese afterwards. However, it covers a great deal more than that. The opening chapters deal with how the...

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. - Barack Obama is being endorsed by fellow Sen. John Kerry, the Democrats' 2004 presidential nominee who lost to George W. Bush that year and gave up his own plans for a 2008 run a year ago.[snip]Besides any potential help for Obama, Thursday's endorsement was a slap at Edwards, who was Kerry's running mate in the last election. The two had their differences during the campaign over strategy and spending. In post-mortem interviews, Edwards said he would have been more aggressive in challenging the unsubstantiated allegations of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, the Vietnam War veterans...

More than three years after John Kerry's bitter defeat, at the dawn of what looks like a far more promising campaign cycle for the Democrats, the party is still haunted by the specter of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Once upon a time, "Swift boat" denoted an obscure military vessel, but thanks to the activities of this group it has come to represent movement conservatism's penchant for ruthlessly (and effectively) smearing any and all political opponents, from a sitting senator and war hero to an 11-year-old boy with a cranial fracture. Research by The Nation into Federal Election Commission...

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." George Santayana... It may be Providential that a book of history is soon to be released dealing extensively with certain shameful events of nearly four decades ago, just as others are now seeking to shamelessly and eagerly repeat those events. Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler have co-authored To Set The Record Straight with the apt subtitle How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry. The book all but begins with details of the Winter Soldier Investigation (WSI) of 1971, an event I wrote about here...

Stephen Braun at the L.A. Times writes: The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth raised more than $25 million for media buys. Some of the money was donated in multimillion-dollar installments from reliable Republican fundraisers, including Texas businessmen T. Boone Pickens Jr. and Bob J. Perry. But last December, the group was fined almost $300,000 by the Federal Election Commission for exceeding spending limits and acting in concert with GOP campaign efforts. Wrong.Here is the December 13, 2006 Conciliation Agreement that sets forth the FEC’s findings (.pdf). In it, the FEC explicitly found that the Swift Vets did not act in...

Scott Swett interview by Thom Hartmann on Air America, December 19, 2007 Hartmann: And greetings, my friends, patriots, lovers of democracy, truth and justice, believers in peace, freedom and the American way. Thom Hartmann here with you. Scott Swett is with us. Scott is the author along with Tim Ziegler of a new book, "To Set The Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry." Scott – ToSetTheRecordStraight.com, by the way, the web site – Scott, welcome to the program. Swett: Hi, Thom. Thanks for having me on. Hartmann: First of all – I...

FALLS CHURCH, Va. -- Last week former President Bill Clinton, John Kerry and various members of the media once again used "Swift boating" as a shorthand reference for misrepresenting a candidate's record. In "To Set the Record Straight: How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry," authors Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler counter that assertion in a heavily researched 400 page work that provides the first historical assessment of the 2004 presidential campaign. "To Set the Record Straight" is the definitive account of the ad hoc political movement that dominated the 2004 presidential campaign. Based on...

This is the most important book you’ll buy this year: To Set The Record Straight, How Swift Boat Veterans, POWs and the New Media Defeated John Kerry, by Scott Swett and Tim Ziegler, with Forward by John O'Neill. 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...

In the spirit of the holiday, we thought we'd organize today's column around some things that we're thankful for. First on the list: John Kerry. When he lost the presidential race three years ago, we had mixed feelings. On the one hand, relief, for Kerry seemed ill-suited for such an important job. (For all the complaints we hear these days about President Bush, we can't remember anyone saying the country would be better off if only we'd elected Kerry.) --snip-- Pickens wasn't born yesterday, however. He wrote back noting that Kerry actually had to prove it. He asked Kerry to...

WASHINGTON - Senator John F. Kerry, in aggressively pursuing a forum in which to disprove allegations about his Vietnam military service, is drawing new attention to an issue that he was slow to address during his 2004 presidential campaign but that he now contends is vital to his political future.

Dear Mr. Pickens, Thank you for your response to my acceptance of your challenge. I’m grateful that you are prepared to make good on your word and fulfill the offer you made publicly at the American Spectator Dinner in Washington, D.C. on November 6th. I must remind you, however, that this was and is your “challenge,” not mine. You are, after all, the one who said explicitly at the dinner — in a way that was calculated to challenge any naysayer — that you would give one million dollars “to anyone who could show that anything the SBVT said was...

T. Boone Pickens Responds to Letter From U.S. Senator John Kerry DALLAS, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a copy of a letter mailed by T. Boone Pickens in response to a letter from U.S. Senator John Kerry regarding the Senator's military record and ads in the 2004 presidential election by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. U.S. Senator John Kerry 304 Russell Building Third Floor Washington DC 20510 Dear Senator Kerry: So glad to hear from you regarding the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth political ad campaign, and an offer I made public at an American Spectator...

Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted a Texas oilman's offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In a letter to T. Boone Pickens, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt." Kerry, a...

Kerry vows to disprove Swift boat claims By GLEN JOHNSON, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted a Texas oilman's offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In a letter to T. Boone Pickens, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can...

BOSTON --Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' offer of $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In a letter to Pickens, who provided $3 million to bankroll the group during Kerry's race against President Bush, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven...

BOSTON - Sen. John Kerry, whose 2004 presidential campaign was torpedoed by critics of his Vietnam War record, said Friday he has personally accepted a Texas oilman's offer to pay $1 million to anyone who can disprove even a single charge of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. In a letter to T. Boone Pickens, the Massachusetts Democrat wrote: "While I am prepared to show they lied on allegation after allegation, you have generously offered to pay one million dollars for just one thing that can be proven false. I am prepared to prove the lie beyond any reasonable doubt."...

Fighting words There's nothing Rush Limbaugh relishes more than getting into the middle of a good verbal brawl, and he's found one with Sen. John Kerry's spokesman, David Wade. It all began when Mr. Limbaugh announced last week on his radio show that the Swift Boat Veterans for President Bush who challenged the Vietnam-era recollections of the Massachusetts Democrat in the 2004 presidential campaign "were right on the money, and nobody has disproven anything they claimed in any of their ads, statements, written commentaries or anything of the sort." Mr. Wade? "At first I thought, that's not Rush, that's just...

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) whose bid for the presidency in 2004 was damaged by attacks on his vaunted Vietnam War record by a group called “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth,” says he is now ready to refute their allegations. “We have put together a powerful and irrefutable rebuttal to the scurrilous charges made against me by these right wing fanatics,” Kerry asserted. Kerry declined to disclose any of his reputedly irrefutable proof at this time saying that “the American people have not yet shown a sufficient measure of regret and contrition for voting against me. They disrespected me—a decorated veteran—and...

11/09/2007 Kerry Spokesman Sets Limbaugh Straight on Swiftboat Smears WASHINGTON D.C. – Kerry spokesman David Wade issued the following statement today in response to Rush Limbaugh, who said on his radio show that Kerry’s Swift Boat attackers in 2004, “were right on the money and nobody has disproven anything they claimed in any of their ads, statements, written commentaries, or anything of the sort.” “At first I thought, that’s not Rush, that’s just the OxyContin talking. Nonetheless, this is a despicable but unsurprising new lie from a man whose closest brush with combat came when customs officials tried to take...

Swift Boat Vet supports Duncan Hunter Chad Groening OneNewsNow.com April 6, 2007 A Naval veteran who co-founded the group "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" says he will do whatever he can to help Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-California) become the next president of the United States. Hear this Report advertisement The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth became a household name during the last presidential campaign when it accused Democratic candidate John Kerry of being dishonest about his service in Vietnam. Many political pundits believe the Swift Boat vets helped defeat Kerry. John O'Neill, a co-founder and member of the group, says...

”His boat took 188 enemy hits”: Another Kerry Swift Boat story surfacesBy Fedora During the 2004 campaign, John Kerry faced a firestorm of controversy over the events surrounding the awarding of his third Purple Heart and his Bronze Star. One inconsistency investigators noticed was that although military documents described Kerry’s Swift Boat team as facing “about 5000 meters” of enemy fire while travelling down a 75-yard-wide stretch of the Bay Hap River, there was no record of any bullet damage to craft or crew. Not publicized in 2004 was another discrepancy magnifying this issue: while Kerry was making his first...

LOS ANGELES Lawyers behind a California ballot proposal that could benefit the 2008 Republican presidential nominee have ties to a Texas homebuilder who financed attacks on Democrat John Kerry's Vietnam War record in the 2004 presidential campaign. Charles H. Bell and Thomas Hiltachk's law firm banked nearly $65,000 in fees from a California-based political committee funded almost solely by Bob J. Perry that targeted Democrats in 2006. Perry, a major Republican donor, contributed nearly $4.5 million to the group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth that made unsubstantiated but damaging attacks on Kerry three years ago. The Perry-financed committee in California,...

Michael Dukakis has seen this script before: a Republican administration besieged by scandal and running out the clock on its second term, while wide-eyed Democrats confidently lick their chops, knowing there’s no way in hell voters will reward the G.O.P. with four more years in the White House. It was around this very moment 20 years ago, the summer when Oliver North told Congress he was “authorized to do everything that I did” and Reagan fatigue took hold, that Mr. Dukakis, then the 53-year-old governor of Massachusetts, emerged at the head of a crowded Democratic presidential pack. By the time...

When will Republicans learn to stop apologizing? The Bush administration is embroiled in the most ridiculous non-scandal scandal in human history ? set off when the administration stupidly apologized for firing its own employees. U.S. attorneys are political appointees who serve at the pleasure of the President. The President may fire them for any reason at all. That includes not implementing the president's policy about criminal prosecutions. It also includes being in the way of someone else whom the president wants to appoint for patronage reasons. Why wasn't a fuss made when Bush fired Donald Rumsfeld? He is every bit...

Kerry grills nominee over Swift boat By SAM HANANEL, Associated Press Writer 22 minutes ago A Senate hearing that began with glowing tributes to a St. Louis businessman and his qualifications to become ambassador to Belgium turned bitterly divisive Tuesday after he was criticized for supporting a controversial conservative group. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., grilled nominee Sam Fox about why he donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential race. The group of Vietnam veterans made unsubstantiated allegations against Kerry — then the Democratic presidential nominee — and charged that Kerry did not deserve the...

The morning of Friday, April 18, 1997, Daniel Wells of McKinney took the stand in his own defense. Charged with aggravated sexual assault for fondling his girlfriend's 8-year-old daughter, Wells explained it was all a misunderstanding. Wells was a decorated Vietnam war hero, with two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Medals for valor. On cross-examination, testimony revealed that even the mother initially hadn't believed the little girl. It was the war hero's word against the child's. In desperation the prosecutor's office tracked down B.G. Burkett, a silver-haired Dallas financial adviser who has obtained a national reputation as a military researcher...

Just announced on the FNC.

video and audio also linked, of John Kerry saying: "“You know, education, if you make the most of it, if you study hard and you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, uh, you, you can do well. If you don’t, you get stuck in Iraq.”"

DES MOINES, Iowa --Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry lashed out Sunday against a group that bashed him during his last run at the White House. Kerry, who made a weekend appearance in northwest Iowa, said he is concerned that Swift Vote Veterans for Truth is again resorting to "the politics of fear and smear." The group, financed by Texas conservatives, ran commercials questioning his claim of being a decorated Vietnam veteran -- the centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2004. "We're not going to give them an ounce of daylight," said Kerry, who is considering another run at the Democratic presidential...

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., lashed out Sunday against a group that campaigned against him during his last run at the White House. Kerry said he is concerned that Swift Vote Veterans for Truth is again resorting to "the politics of fear and smear." The group, financed by Texas conservatives, ran commercials questioning his Vietnam record - the centerpiece of his presidential campaign in 2004. Those same conservatives have formed another group this year - Economic Freedom Fund - to campaign against Democrats across the country. "We're not going to give them an ounce of daylight," said Kerry, who is considering...