NYT Reporter: Swift Boat Vets for Truth 'Ugly Chapter' in U.S. History

Deborah Solomon, reporter for the New York Times Magazine, conducted her weekly Q&A this Sunday with Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens, ostensibly discussing his plan to reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil by harnessing wind power.

But Solomon, who admitted voting for Al Gore in the 2000 election, also posed hostile questions about Pickens's involvement in the 2004 campaign against Democrat John Kerry:

Solomon: You helped re-elect Bush in '04 when you gave $3 million to the Swift Boat campaign to discredit John Kerry's Vietnam service. Do you regret your involvement?

Pickens: Why would I?

Solomon: Because it's such an ugly chapter in American political history.

Pickens: Oh, I see. Well, it was true. Everything that went into those ads was the truth.

Solomon: Really? I thought it was all invented.

Pickens: I never did anything dishonest.