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.

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.

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

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...