Posted on 12/07/2007 8:39:54 AM PST by Interesting Times
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 hundreds of in-depth interviews with key participants and two years of meticulous research, the book tells the inside story of how a group of Vietnam vets and their supporters delivered the explosive truth about John Kerry's military service and pro-Hanoi activism to the American public, despite relentless efforts by old media gatekeepers to silence and discredit them.
Swett said, "John Kerry lost all the key debates in 2004 to the anti-Kerry veterans. Since then, he has tried to paper over his failure with sloganeering and empty promises of new evidence." He added, "The 2004 campaign was a watershed in American political history, marking the first time that online forums and blogs were able to have a real impact on the national conversation. These new media outlets made it impossible for the liberal press to hide or dismiss what the veterans had to say."
The foreword for the book was written by John E. O'Neill, the lead spokesman for the Swift Vets and POWs for Truth in 2004. One chapter that underscores the impact of the new media on the campaign has been made available online at "ToSetTheRecordStraight.com". "Rather's Ruin and the Rise of the Pajamahadeen" tells how ordinary citizens with computers exposed the phony documents "60 Minutes" used to attack George Bush's National Guard service, effectively ending Dan Rather's career at CBS News.
"To Set the Record Straight" also contains:
o Conclusive evidence that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth acted independently, and were not a creation of the Bush campaign as their opponents repeatedly claimed.
o Detailed analysis of the efforts by the old media to blunt the impact of the anti-Kerry veterans by distorting and misrepresenting their charges
o Previously unpublished information on the "war crimes" propaganda effort that Kerry led during the Vietnam War, including material showing how the antiwar movement worked with the North Vietnamese and the Viet Cong.
o New eyewitness perspectives on Kerry's "No Man Left Behind" engagement from a Forward Air Control pilot and the mission's Special Forces commander.
o The powerful story of a former member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War who testified that Kerry personally pressured him to tell lies about military atrocities and war crimes at the group's 1971 "Winter Soldier" conference.
Ping.
Form 180?
The Swift Boaters DID set the record straight...this is just cashing in...
They couldn't hide it, but they did their darn best to try to dismiss it. Not that they are biased or anything....
Well he partially did, but only to one select member and good friend who would cover for him. Kerry's promise that everyone would soon see his records has yet to be met.
Whenever someone uses the term “swiftboating”, the true translation is “new media exposure of information censored by the old media”
I’m extremely impressed with your effort.
The MSM still believe, as do the dims, that if you tell a lie often enough, it will become the truth. The swiftboaters have proven this a wrong assumption. God bless them everyone of them.
John O'Neill doesn't think so, and I respect his opinion a great deal more than yours.
FRankly, I can’t wait for the day when Karl Rove finally has the common decency to admit that it was the Swift Boat veterans who were the architects of Kerry’s defeat, and not the little round man himself.
Thanks. If the leftist "swiftboating" meme isn't challenged, they'll gradually work it into the language, a la "McCarthyism."
It’s kind of a moot point 3 years after the fact.
Makes me proud to have been a part of “setting the record straight”......I’ve yet to see kerry attempt to collect the million dollars from Boone Pickens....
Just more evidence that Kerry heads the treason branch of the DNC. This branch seems to dominate the DNC. Kerry stands out as the most despicable among despicable for his treasoness activities.
Not really. Nobody has ever told the complete inside story of what happened in 2004, and it needs to be known.
My friend it is never a moot point when honorable Veterans honor is challanged....there is no time line...
Still fighting the Vietnam War.
New media is the Enemedia's biggest nightmare.
Infowar ping?
The 2004 anti-Kerry effort should be Exhibit A in how to do an effective end-run around the old media.
The WND headline is an unfortuant choice of word.
“Review of Swift Boat Activism Reinforces Findings” would be more descriptive of their article.
Wasn’t there something about Kerry and a million bucks to disprove the SB’s???? Has he paid up yet? And what about that 180 thing ...???
Now we need to set the record straight about 2004.
...I’ve yet to see kerry attempt to collect the million dollars from Boone Pickens....
Kerry got real quiet after Pickens asked for his missing records and his Vietnam journal, didn't he?
Great article ping!
John O’Neill to Free Republic — Thanks for everything...
email | November 15, 2004 | John O’Neill
Posted on 11/15/2004 3:02:56 PM EST by Interesting Times
To The Citizens Of Free Republic:
We will never ever forget your support and help. Your threads not only encouraged us but kept the truth alive in a period when Big Media sought to suppress the story. Your e-mails and phone calls to Big Media at least shamed them. The thousands of contributions we got from you helped us to organize our website, produce our earliest ads, and keep the light flickering in the darkest of times. The English at Agincourt would have executed Kerry for meeting with the enemy and betraying them. In contrast, we found a true band of brothers who stood with us and supported us. Thank you. We will never forget it.
John O’Neill
November 15, 2004
I guess I should have read the whole article.
I thought the book was about defending Kerry 3 years after the fact.
I’m just glad democrats are stupid enough to keep reminding voters about the Swift Boaters and John Kerry’s unability to respond to what they said.
see #25
bttt
Thanks for that post. I never saw that before. Very cool.
BTTT
Is there a statute of limitations on treason?
Kerry’s coziness with North Vietnam sure seems like treason to me.
It’s unfortunate that the title they chose for the book is identical to the title of a book about the Watergate Break-in.
To set the record straight : the break-in, the tapes, the conspirators, the pardon / John J. Sirica.
Same guy who stopped by to FReep on the day of the rally in DC?
“Makes me proud to have been a part of “setting the record straight”......I’ve yet to see kerry attempt to collect the million dollars from Boone Pickens....”
Yes indeedy. There has been sparse to no traffic coming out of the J F’n K ofice as of late.
Gee.
I wonder why........
:-)
...the enemedia that lost it for us. Hopefully the end result will be that they don't lose our current conflict for us. They're giving it a go though.
Thanks for the link - I was just getting ready to go find that.
If Kerry had a defense you'd think we would have seen it by now.
I'll give them a million dollars. The Swift Boats could not possibly have been wrong that Kerry is a lying disloyal anti military skunk.
I'm not sure. The reference is to Steve Pitkin, the former VVAW member who came forward in 2004 to say that John Kerry pressured him to tell lies about war crimes at the group's 1971 Winter Soldier hearings.
That headline is mis-leading. I thought I was going to read a slam on the Swift Boaters. Or maybe I have had too many Christmas cookies this morning.
No, lies still work.
They've created a new word "swiftboating" which is understood to mean "lying" about someone's record. Ironically, they've creating the new word by lying about what the Swiftboaters did. Demonstrating that the old adage about telling a lie often enough still works to counter the truth.
The Swiftboaters "won" by defeating John Kerry by telling the truth about him. But in the end they have been defined by the majority who are outside of the new media as the people who defeated Kerry by telling lies.
People around here know the truth. But the fact that people in the MSM can use the term "swiftboating" and be understood to be talking about liars demonstrates that there is more work to be done, and the patriots who wrote this book are doing it. Good for them.
Well, that's NewsMax.
Or maybe I have had too many Christmas cookies this morning.
Not possible.
Yep, that's him! Watched his testimony on CSpan at the rally & it was very powerful, as was the testimony by all of the speakers that day.
If this is true, then US Navy Reserve Lt. Kerry would have committed Treason, and those covering for him (or refusing to prosecute him) would be accomplices. They will never prosecute him, because they would set the ball rolling for themselves to be prosecuted. This ball would continue rolling and expose current day Treason which would involve the Globalist conspirators and supporters of the Cross Border Invasion.
Amen to that, Lapster!
Karl Rove is highly overrated.
The Swifties and their supporters made a huge difference in the month between the Dem and Repub. conventions in the summer of 2004.
It was sickening to hear the President and his campaign disparage these brave veterans.
It may yet be seen that this was the final battle of Vietnam—setting the record straight.
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