Swift Boat Bozo heist on on petard--also went after BUSH I's BAILOUT

[DrBB]

Hey, check this out. Ted Sampley, one of the premier Swift Boat Veterans Against Integrity, turns out to be a bit of a chronic crank on the subject of other people's hero stories.

Anyone else remember those stories that got a teeny bit of play about how Bush I's famous heroic bail out in DubyaDubya Two might have been an act of cowardice rather than heroism? Turns out our pal Ted Sampley was at the root of those stories too:

Here's our buddy's name and link to bio at the top of a Swift Boat Bimbos for Big Lies web page: http://www.vietnamveteransagainstjohnkerry.com/

And here he is in 1997 taking Bush I to task for having bailed out prematurely--a cowardly act--leaving crew members still aboard his plane in the Big EyeEye:
http://www.usvetdsp.com/story46.htm

Seems like Sampley has kind of an obsession about smearing president's (or presidential candidates') hero stories. I suppose he could claim this shows he's a bipartisan crank. But hey, if he's right now, he musta been right then, too, huh?

edit: changed thread title hopefully to be more eye catchingly descriptive. Probably failed.

[codegreen]

1. and also went after McCain. this guy is a good for nothing nut.

[DrBB]

2. Can you supply a link? Might as well collect 'em all

...in one thread. The more the merrier. Don't think this does their credibility much good.

[codegreen]

4. just google 'sampley' and 'mccain'. plenty to choose from.

[remfan]

5. Conason on Sampley

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/02/10/kerry_smear/

According to author Susan Katz Keating, who has written extensively on Vietnam veterans and the POW/MIA movement for the Washington Times and Soldier of Fortune magazine, deception is what Sampley does for a living. Her book "Prisoners of Hope: Exploiting the POW-MIA Myth in America," published in 1994 by Random House, exposes how Sampley and his allies abused the hopes of grieving families for fun and profit. Their best-known victim, until now, was Sen. John McCain. He first drew Sampley's poisonous attention when, along with Kerry, he debunked the idea that Americans were still being held by Vietnam, and endorsed the restoration of diplomatic relations with the Communist government.

-snip-

In 1992, Sampley wrote a long article that portrayed McCain as a "Manchurian candidate," who had betrayed America to the North Vietnamese and then enlisted as a secret Communist agent. But it wasn't until seven years later that the celebrated Navy pilot and ex-POW found out how much damage such smears could inflict. After McCain declared his presidential candidacy in 1999, Sampley revived the "Manchurian candidate" smear as a convenient weapon for the Senator's political enemies. Some of them, including the prominent conservative Paul Weyrich and Richard Mellon Scaife's Newsmax Web site, didn't hesitate to pick up the slimy stuff generated by Sampley. The fringe assault on McCain, amplified by the likes of Weyrich and talk radio, caused grave injury to his campaign during the pivotal South Carolina primary.

[DrBB]

7. Well, yeah--missed the Conason piece. So let's echo the damn thing

Glad to see it. We need to do our bit to spread the news though--without the Legendary Lefty Echo Machine we are as nothing against the Mighty Wurlitzer of the Right.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. You Need TO E-Mail It To CNN, FOX ,and all news stations

NT

[DrBB]

6. Just started doing that--and so should we all

Figured I'd send it to Al Franken first and branch out from there:

Not really feedback, more informational. Ammunition against the Swift Kick Veterans for Disinformation. Maybe you're aware already, but if not, one of the Swifties, Ted Sampley, is kind of a notorious nutcase on the subject of other peoples' war records.

Specifically, he was one of the guys at the root of the rumors going around since the mid-90s or so saying that Bush One's Illustrious Dubya Dubya Two bailout was actually a bit of a boondoggle. That in fact, Bush Senior hit the silk a little prematurely, leaving crew members stuck in his plane while he dropped the controls and pulled the plug. Not quite how it's supposed to be done. Here's a link to a Sampley piece spreading this smear: http://www.usvetdsp.com/story46.htm

So, I mean, if his current allegations are true, do we also have to believe his old ones? Or do we think maybe he's just got a thing about veterans and medals 'n' stuff?

Cause guess what: HE ALSO WENT AFTER MCCAIN: http://www.miafacts.org/prankster.htm

If this doesn't discredit this worthless punk and all he's associated with, I dunno what will.

on edit: stupid cheesy DU formatting glitches!

[Carni]

8. NOOOOOOOO- I wouldn't do that

This will just make the asshole look non-partisan IMO

[DrBB]

11. I disagree--it makes him look like the sick nitwit he is

His attacks on McCain, particularly, are as sickening as his attacks on Kerry, irrespective of whether you think (as I do) that McCain is a hard-right s.o.b. I have no use for McCain's politics, but I'm goddamned if some lying sack of shit should be getting away with impugning the horrific experiences he went through in Viet Nam. NOBODY has a right to smear such experiences, and I'm quite sure that a lot of people on the RIGHT think so too. To publicize this information should have the effect of bringing out more repudiation and revulsion for this tactic among pro-military voters on the right. The fact that he went after Bush I too just makes it all the more apparent how pathological this guy is.

I would very much LOVE to see any of the Twisted Swifties confronted with this association and trying to spin it as "bipartisan."

[Carni]

12. You have a point BUT

I am just envisioning the media twisting it into how non-partisan the swift boat retards are...but God knows I am not a campaign planner with all the answers, so you may be right.

[Justice]

16. Yes Do It, What Makes It Work is He Went After Bush 1

as well as McCain.

[RobinA]

9. No Freakin' Way!!!

Good catch whoever dug this up. I remember the Manchurian Candidate thing, and I remember the Poppy diss, but I figured Poppy came from Dems. The guy's an equal opportunity basher. I wonder what his ax to grind is. I mean, if he worked for Bush I could see McCain and Kerry, but why Bush Sr.?

[DoYouEverWonder]

10. This story just keeps getting better

Sampley has a hero fixation and the writer, Jerome Corsi, is a raving, card carrying, freeper. What a crew. They should nickname their swift boat the 'ship of fools'.

[yellowcanine]

13. This smear job continues to unravel. By the time the shit is done

hitting the proverbial fan Rove is going to wish he had never heard of these guys. Oops, Rove just polished another entire box of Twinkies.

[mediaman007]

14. Who is Sampley?

Where did he grow up? Where did he go to college? What does he do now?

Anybody know?

[DeepModem Mom]

15. kick

[NewYorkerfromMass]

17. Sounds like WWII Bush killed his 2 crewmates

in an act of cowardice. Thanks for the link which was really another man's account- nothing to do with Sampley.

Here's a much longer account: http://www.tarpley.net/bush6.htm