the Greater Nomadic Council

Consider the Source

In discussing the SBVT claims, it's important to recognize that:

A lot of the crucial reporting about Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (SBVT), the group trying to dirty up John Kerry's Vietnam record in order to neutralize a great and obvious advantage he has over the incumbent, has already been done -- by Wayne Slater of the Dallas Morning News, UPI's Thom J. Rose, Salon's Joe Conason, and David Brock's Media Matters For America. So the reporters and editorialists at our major papers should know, for example, that Pat Runyon, who was on Kerry's swift boat, says (to Slater) that an SBVT investigator named Tom Rupprath interviewed him and then distorted what Runyon said to presenting a less flattering portrait of Kerry. They should know also that of the $158,750 the group declared in its latest IRS filing, fully $150,000 came from three men -- two Bush and Republican Party backers in Texas, and longtime Kerry antagonist John O'Neill. Finally, they should know that virtually none of the SBVT members actually served with Kerry on his boat, while 10 of 11 men who did serve with Kerry fully support the record that has been in existence for more than 30 years -- the official Defense Department record that supports Kerry's version of events and claims to heroism.

Insert standard caveat about possible truthfulness despite, mix with platitude about grains of salt.