In its September 19 edition, Virginia's Richmond Times-Dispatch devoted 1,700 words on the front page of its Sunday "Commentary" section to spurious charges against Senator John Kerry by “guest columnist” retired Admiral Roy F. Hoffman, the discredited chairman and co-founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.

In his guest column, Hoffman accused Kerry of “gross exaggerations, distortions of fact, and outright lies.” Yet in May, Hoffman "acknowledged he had no first-hand knowledge to discredit Kerry's claims to valor and said that although Kerry was under his command, he really didn't know Kerry much personally," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

As Media Matters for America has previously documented, Hoffman has since changed his story: Despite initially admitting that he “really didn't know Kerry much” in Vietnam, Hoffman has since claimed that he “knew him well.”