Swiftboating

What do we mean by swiftboating?

The act of making exaggerated or unsubstantiated allegations to damage the credibility of a political candidate or other public figure. noun

Present participle of swiftboat. verb

Here you will find one or more explanations in English for the word swiftboating. Define swiftboating, swiftboating synonyms, swiftboating pronunciation, swiftboating translation, English dictionary definition of swiftboating.

The process of smearing a military veteran's service record for political purposes. Named after the Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, who discredited John Kerry's war record during the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Urban Dictionary

A political ploy whereby allegations, falsehoods, exaggerations, or distortions are publicized to discredit a person or entity and have the intended effect that public attention is drawn to the ensuing controversy about the veracity of the allegations and away from some other political embarrassment. Urban Dictionary

The act of exposing the exagerated or inflated claims of a person seeking to promote themselves into a position of authority. Urban Dictionary

Swiftboating is a term used to describe the campaign waged by a group named "Swiftvets and POW's for Truth" against presidential candidate John F. Kerry. A swiftboat is a navy craft with a shallow draft used in the Vietnam war (PCF - Patrol Craft - Fast); It is armed with machine guns, usually from two fixed points. It is the type of craft that Kerry served on in the Vietnam war. Many (not all) of the swiftvets served with John Kerry and didn't believe he was presidential material. They went public with their beliefs. Among their claims was that Kerry gamed the system by receiving Purple Heart Medals for minor injuries in an effort to end his tour of duty. Kerry received three Purple Hearts in four months and shows no debilitating injury; which is most unusual. Moreover, he will not release his service medical records. The intersection of this data strongly suggests that the claims of the swiftboaters has a good foundation. The petition from the Swiftboat Vets makes, among others, this claim against John Kerry: ". . .Upon your return from Vietnam, you betrayed your fellow veterans by accusing them of engaging in horrendous war crimes. Through your post-war activities, and during Senate testimony viewed by the entire nation, you created and nurtured the myth that American soldiers in Vietnam were involved in such crimes on a daily basis, and that such activity was sanctioned by our commanding officers. Specifically, you stated that we: "had personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, taped wires from portable telephones to human genitals and turned up the power, cut off limbs, blown up bodies, randomly shot at civilians, and razed villages in fashion reminiscent of Genghis Khan." The above is a matter of record. But, this is the political arena. Swiftboating is defined by some as the unwarranted trashing of a good person's reputation. Those are the people who like Kerry. Others will define it as truth coming forward about a person's character. In the end, a person can fight a swiftboating claim against them by making all their records available for public viewing. For swiftboating to work, it must be stonewalled and the truth hidden. That's what Kerry did. Urban Dictionary

To have your credibility attacked by an a dishonest political machine. Named for four ads run by a conservative group of Vietnam War veterans called Swiftboat Veterans for Truth (SBVT) during the 2004 presidential campaign. The ads featured Vietnam veterans corroborating falsehoods about Kerry's service in Vietnam, and criticizing his testimony as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The accuracy of the ads was discredited by official Navy records, other veterans, and several of the SBVT's own members. In spite of media sources openly questioning their validity, they were effective in raising doubts about Kerry's war record in critical swing states. Bush, a draft-dodger, managed to win his second term in the 2004 election, largely due to the Swiftboat ads. These days, when media figures have their image attacked, they claim they've been swiftboated in order to imply that the attackers are dishonest or using false information. Urban Dictionary

To distort history for political purposes, especially in a vicious personal attack Urban Dictionary

Exposure of a false hero by people who are fimiliar with claimed heroic acts Urban Dictionary

To attack an anti-war politician on the basis of their military service record Urban Dictionary

To be unfairly and inaccurately attacked relentlessly in the media Urban Dictionary

To be smeared by the president or his administration in a tastless and slanderous way. Urban Dictionary

Words that are spelled similarly to swiftboating:
swiftboating.

Words that sound like swiftboating:
suffocating, sedating, subletting, stating, snow bunting, skeet shooting, sea bottom, soft spoken, sabaton, soft water.