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o Previously unpublished information on the "war crimes" propaganda effort that Kerry led during the Vietnam War, including material showing how the antiwar movement worked with the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.
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.
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