Editing Swift Vets and POWs for Truth (section)

===First television advertisement===
SBVT first went public with a May 4, 2004, press conference declaring opposition to Kerry. When the press conference garnered little attention, the organization produced television advertisements. On August 5, 2004, SBVT began airing a one-minute television spot<ref>{{cite web|date=2004-10-12|title=Any Questions (script)|publisher=SBVT website|url=http://www.swiftvets.com/script.html|archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20041002115932/http%3A//www%2Eswiftvets%2Ecom/script%2Ehtml |archive-date= October 2, 2004 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|date=2004-11-08|title=Any Questions (video)|format=WMV|publisher=SBVT website|url=http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/anyquestions.wmv|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041130023658/http://swift3.he.net/~swift3/anyquestions.wmv|archive-date=2004-11-30|url-status=dead}}</ref> in three hotly contested states in the ongoing presidential election. The advertisement, entitled "Any Questions?", was a collage of short clips of 13 SBVT members, many of whom stated they served with John Kerry or had direct contact with Kerry during his service in Vietnam. The veterans appearing in the ad said Kerry was dishonest, unreliable, unfit to lead, and had dishonored his country and fellow veterans. Only one of the men in the advertisement (Steve Gardner) served under Kerry, but some sailed on other boats grouped with Kerry's.

Among the first to denounce the first ad was Republican Senator [[John McCain]], a Bush supporter, Vietnam veteran, and former POW. He said, "I condemn the [SBVT] ad. It is dishonest and dishonorable. I think it is very, very wrong".<ref name="morningshowwrap">{{cite web|title=Broken Heroes on a Last Chance Power Drive|website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |url=http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote_Aug0604.html|date=August 6, 2004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050417134522/http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/politics/TheNote/TheNote_Aug0604.html|archive-date=April 17, 2005}}</ref> Senator McCain would be criticized four years later during his own presidential campaign for accepting money and support from many of the same Swiftboaters.<ref>[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/john-mccain-and-swift-boa_b_110428.html John McCain and "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth"]; ''Huffington Post''; Joseph A. Palermo; July 10, 2008</ref>