Sampley Disgusting

Scoobie Davis also points us to a Joe Conason column on Ted Sampley, the scumbag behind the Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry website. Here's how Sampley smeared John McCain, a Vietnam P.O.W. when McCain ran against AWOL Bush:

"Sampley ... accused McCain of being a weak-minded coward who had escaped death by collaborating with the enemy. Sampley claimed that McCain had first been compromised by the Vietnamese, then recruited by the Soviets.

"To those who know McCain and are familiar with his behavior in captivity, the charge is ludicrous. McCain resisted his captors to such a degree that he was isolated in a special prison for troublemakers. He repeatedly refused special favors, including early release, and emerged as a spiritual and religious leader for other prisoners. Nonetheless, Sampley was persistent enough in his claims that the press in McCain's home state of Arizona picked up on the KGB story."

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.

Conason points out that Kerry defended McCain against these smears, calling Sampley a stupid ass. I hope McCain will return the favor.

In the meantime, expect other stupid asses and chinless idiots to link to Sampley's scumbag website.

Update (2/11): A reader e-mailed a link to a page reprinting the chapter on Sampley from the book Prisoners of Hope by Susan Katz Keating. (Conason links to this site as well.)