Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth Formally Disband.

Early in the 2004 presidential campaign, a group of over 250 Combat Tested and Highly Decorated Viet Nam Veterans banded together with one goal in mind, stop one of their own from ever attaining the highest office in the land.

Initially ignored as a mere nuisance, the group persevered and their words of betrayal by Senator John F. Kerry upon his return from a short 4 month tour in Viet Nam, versus the more regular 12 month or longer, began to spread.

Other Veterans of Viet Nam and other conflicts began to hear of the groups words and migrated to their website and discussion forum. We either recalled when Senator Kerry threw every Viet Nam Veteran under the bus with his outrageous lies of our conduct and actions, or were just learning who the lieutenant we had heard of doing this actually was, and now, he wanted our support for the highest office in the land.

As the group’s popularity grew and more and more Americans took notice of them, the slander by the left and the Kerry campaign began and continue down to this day. Charges were leveled and ignored by the campaign as he enlisted his minions to attack the guys any way they could, save physically.

They were slandered as a GOP Front Group. Senator John McCain, now seeking the presidency, called their ads “dishonest and despicable.” President Bush called upon all such groups to cease. Still, the small band of Veterans pursued their goals, spreading the truth about John Kerry and his traitorous conduct after a scant 4 months in Viet Nam.

John O’Neill, the group’s spokesman and a Democrat up until this election, was shouted down in TV appearances and called “LIAR” continually by outraged liberals who could not refute or discuss the charges made by the Veterans.

Ted Kopel, of Nightline, even went so far as to travel to Viet Nam and interview former Viet Cong and Communist North Vietnamese to dispute American Veterans charging a political opportunist with his treasonous and treacherous activities.

The group was shortly joined by a group of former American Prisoners of War, held many years by the North Vietnamese Communists and who recalled hearing John Kerry’s words being used against them by their captors, in an effort to break their will and join the Communists in condemning American Soldiers fighting for the Vietnamese People in South Viet Nam. Two of that group were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their heroism, the highest Military Award in the United States Military.

They too were not saved from the wrath of the leftist supporting Democrats and Kerry.

Still, the small group kept on and received donations from all over the country, large and small. Donations from wealthier Republicans brought charges of a “Republican funded hate group” by leftists as they ignored the massive donations made to leftist groups in support of the Democrats and Kerry, such as Moveon.org.

In the end, the groups efforts paid off as Kerry’s lies caught up with him and enough questions were asked and went unanswered to convince American voters that Kerry was indeed, “Unfit For Command” and voters rejected him.

Stung by a true grassroots campaign of ordinary American Veterans, the slander and lies against the group continued. Kerry made excuses and his supporters adopted the mantra that all of the charges made by the Swift Boat veterans and POWS for Truth were “disproved,” never offering any substantiation of their claims.

To counter any future efforts by the group, they coined the term “Swiftboating” to indicate unfair charges and lies against their cronies, when if factually defined means, "Exposing the lies, deceit and fraud of self-glorifying public officials or candidates for public office who exaggerate their military service by lying about feats of heroism or combat wounds." They cry about how wrong it is and was to “slander” a “war hero” like Kerry, totally ignoring that their every word slandered hundreds of Honorable and Decorated Veterans whose only goal was to get Americans the Truth.

Some paid dearly by losing their jobs and facing charges. Harassment lawsuits were filed by friends of Kerry, he keeping his distance so as to make it look impersonal, when it was obvious he was directing their moves. Once requests for made for deposing these friends under oath were filed, charges were dropped, but not after running up legal fees against the group.

Democrats even went so far as to file charges against them with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for wrongfully registering as a 527 group instead of a Political Committee, the group and the FEC settling the issue with a fine, which also included other groups like MoveOn.org and the League of Conservation Voters.

The leftist Democrats have feared the group since they succeeded in 2004, even though they ‘stood down’ right after the elections that year. Veterans speaking out against Senator John McCain’s candidacy brought comments of the Swift Boat Veterans regrouping to attack Veterans from Democrats, when we veterans already know today’s Democrats do not honor veterans, just pander to us and treat us as victims.

Fear not, dear leftists, the Swifties have not regrouped at all, their sole job of keeping Kerry from attaining the presidency finished. They maintained a loose affiliation in case Kerry made another run, but since he hasn’t and there is no chance he will run this season, they have officially disbanded as a group.

A couple weeks ago the following silently appeared on their “latest news” section of the web site;

June 1, 2008 -- Swift Vets and POWs for Truth has formally disbanded and ceased all operations as of May 31, 2008. SwiftVets.com will continue to be maintained for historical purposes only by New American Media Online Services (NAMOS).

The group may have disbanded and ceased all operations, but they left a good lesson for all America. Common people can stand up to the power elite and make change, or defeat unfit candidates who have the favor of the media.

I have been disheartened many times as people call on the Swifties to regroup and take a stand, when it is they who should be taking the stand along with their friends. The Swifties were just common ordinary men who performed their duty in Viet Nam and when America was threatened by one of their number, even if a brief member, stood up and once again performed their duty with dignity and honor, in spite of the slander leveled against them.

They showed us that we the people do count. We can stand together and stop the liberal socialist takeover of America, but we have to commit ourselves and be subjected to the left’s hatred in return.

Still, Freedom is not Free, never has been. It costs and if we want it, we need to be prepared to pay the price.

Conservative Americans, Moderate Democrats, we outnumber the socialist left and can oppose and defeat them, if only we take a stand. We cannot look to others to do it for us any longer.

Our freedoms and liberties are at stake. President Bush, as disappointing as he may have been, isn’t the problem; the left is, as they waste our tax dollars on senseless investigations on settled and known matters. As they convince many that bans on legal conduct and restrictive punitive laws for the “good of all,” as they pervert the traditional meaning of marriage of one man, one woman, as they restrict what values we may teach our own children and as they continue disarming us, our freedoms and liberties are slowly sliding away, as their power and riches grow.

Take a stand, America. Oppose liberal socialism and reinstate conservatism. Don’t buy into the feel good lies they speak to you.

Your own fragile freedoms are at stake.

The Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth gave us an excellent example of how we can persevere. Let’s not waste it.