To Set the Record Straight - July 3, 2008 Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New American Media Publishing, LLC

Contact Audrey Mullen at 703 548-1160

Authors of new book on Swift Boat Veterans for Truth release chapter to counter Kerry claims

Falls Church, VA, July 3, 2008 - As the Presidential campaign heats up, John Kerry and various members of the liberal media continue to wrongly use the term “Swiftboating” as a shorthand reference for false attacks on a candidate’s record. Kate Zernike recently demonstrated the tactic in the New York Times:

“Swift boat” has become the synonym for the nastiest of campaign smears, a shadow that hangs over the presidential race as pundits wait to proclaim that the Swiftboating has begun and candidates declare that they will not be Swiftboated.

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 the implications of the “Swiftboating” meme in a heavily researched 400-page work that provides the first in-depth historical assessment of the impact of veterans on the 2004 Presidential campaign. “The ‘Swiftboating’ slogan is used by leftist politicians and members of the old media to smear the Swift Vets and other anti-Kerry veterans as liars. The truth is that they were effective because they supported their charges with evidence. A second goal of this tactic is to preempt any criticism of Sen. Obama and the other Democrats they are trying to elect – however accurate and relevant such criticism may be,” said Scott Swett, the primary author of To Set the Record Straight.

The authors have made the book's tenth chapter available online. An Incident on the Bay Hap River is a complete account of the “No Man Left Behind” engagement – the centerpiece of Kerry’s 2004 campaign. The event was featured at the Democratic National Convention and in millions of dollars of TV advertising. New witnesses include a former Forward Air Control pilot and the mission’s Special Forces commander. The evidence overwhelmingly supports the Swift Vets’ key contention: that Kerry’s boat was the only one to leave the scene of a mine explosion, rather than the only one to return to rescue an officer in the river.

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 veterans and their supporters delivered the explosive truth about John Kerry’s military service and pro-Hanoi activism to the American public, despite the relentless efforts of old media gatekeepers to silence and discredit them.

Swett said, “In fact, John Kerry lost all the key debates in 2004. Since then, he and his supporters have tried to paper over his failure with sloganeering and empty promises of new evidence.” He added, “The 2004 campaign can now be seen as 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 Swift Vets have disbanded, but Kerry and the old media are trying to use the battle they lost in 2004 as a political weapon in 2008. It’s revealing that when Sen. Obama’s surrogates attack John McCain’s military service, as they have done several times recently, that doesn’t seem to qualify as ‘Swiftboating’.”

To Set the Record Straight is essential reading for those who care about politics, the media, current events or the U. S. military. The book can be purchased online at ToSetTheRecordStraight.com and at Amazon.

Scott Swett is available for interviews via the contact information above.

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