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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o Previously unpublished information on the "war crimes" propaganda effort that Kerry led during the Vietnam War, including material showing how the antiwar movement worked with the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.
You said — “It’s kind of a moot point 3 years after the fact.”
Not really. If the liberals try to use it as a “code-word” for “political dirty tricks having no basis in reality” but simply something that someone does to smear and — that very thing works its way into the public consciousness as really meaning that — then they will have succeeded in repairing Kerry’s infamous history, in spite of the fact that he lost. That shouldn’t be allowed, so this book is useful for answering back those who wish to make “swift-boating” mean “political dirty tricks that have no basis in reality” — versus — “getting the truth out in spite of mainline media suppression of the truth”.
It’s not quite the moot point that you think...
Regards,
Star Traveler
Hillary’s laughing all the way to the Oval office.
That’s nice to have that kind of statement from John O’Neill...
“Still fighting the Vietnam War.”
More a matter of still fighting the same enemy that appeared in the Vietnam War. It was never really about fighting Vietnam, but the Kerrys and Fondas of that country. Now they’re firmly entrenched here as part of the power elite.
Thanks for the link! I just ordered 4. All best!!!
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Few, but powerful. ;*)
Here's my project." So what are you doing?
Congrats buddy! This story is worth repeating over and over again. Kerry is still trying to thwart the truth.
Thanks for your visual reminder of what happened and the need to be vigilant. Thanks also for your support of our US military.
My son, at 17, joined the Navy yesterday under their deferred reporting program. He will report for active duty after graduation.
I am so proud of him I am about to bust (always have been but this take the cake)
Herewith a plug for a new book, “Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies,” by M. Stanton Evans.
I long ago concluded that the real problem with McCarthy (once my senator) was that he was correct on his main points of concern.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart for your efforts.
mrs
My son, at 17, joined the Navy yesterday under their deferred reporting program. He will report for active duty after graduation.
I am so proud of him I am about to bust...
God Bless him!!! Thank him and thank you for raising such a man as this at this historic time in our history. Bravo!
Oh man...you had my heart beating fast there for a minute, until I got to the end! ;*)
Good afternoon, smooth. Glad you finally woke up and joined us. ;*)
Still too much ambiguity. How about...
Swift Boat Vets Allegations Re Kerry Proven Accurate
One of Paul Weyrich's senior staffers mentioned the book to me the other day. He called it "unanswerable." I'm hoping to get a chance to read it once the dust settles around here.
Thanks for keeping it out there, IT!
All JF’nK has to do is sign his SF-180 and make it available for all to see; that will clear everything up.
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