Right Wing Scam Artists and MIA/POW Politics

[Procrustes Stretched]

Right Wing Scam Artists and MIA/POW Politics

Ted Sampley

he is only the best known. All the fools who go along with everything Rolling Thunder puts forward as reality are poor souls who have been brainwashed

The right wing politics of MIA/POW issues. I haven't posted about this stuff in a while. There are probably people here who are unschooled in this stuff.

Ms. Keating, while she was a reporter for the Washington Times, was convinced that live American POWs remained in Vietnam. As time went on and she became more and more acquainted with the issue, she discovered the facts of the charlatans who take advantage of MIA families and who flim-flam the public, as well as discovering that the US government could have done a better job of managing the issue.

...

Documents filed with the court revealed the extent to which Sampley had made use of the statue and, indeed, of the entire POW issue.

The material showed that he had created a self-contained financial network that revolved around POWs and MIAs. One of Sampley's companies, Red Hawk, manufactured the POW T-shirts and sold them to his nonprofit Homecoming II, which in turn sold them at the vigil booth. Although Sampley could say he was destitute, with only one personal bank account containing $ 1 00, the organizations were quite healthy. His reported earnings from the cash-only T-shirt concession amounted to nearly $2 million over three years.

The cash flow was 7 abundant. In August 1991 alone, Homecoming II wrote ten checks to Red Hawk, totaling more than $18,000. Some of the checks were written on the same day or only a few days apart.

Ted Sampley was one of those energetic souls who seemed less like a mortal being and more like an immutable force of nature. He was immensely entertaining. He was appalling. He was charming. He was despicable. He was the embodiment of the Native American coyote myth: the Trickster. His antics on the POW/MIA issue were so outrageous that when I wrote Prisoners of Hope: Exploiting the POW/MIA Myth in America, I devoted an entire chapter to Sampley. I christened the chapter - and Sampley - The Merry Prankster. Susan Katz Keating: Ted Sampley: The Merry Prankster Remembered

 

[OriginalShroom]

Why did you forget this part?

Ted Sampley died of heart failure at the VA hospital in Durham, NC, on 12 May 2009

He's been dead for nearly 4 years now.

And did you get the idea he was a "Right Wing" scam artist? I didn't see a political affiliation in your linked article, but I did see where he ...

Sampley placed bamboo cages containing live protestors on the front lawn of the house owned by Ronald Reagan's chief of staff Don Regan.

A "Right Winger" Protesting at President Reagan's Chief of Staff?? Doesn't quite ring true.

Why is it that I have a gut feeling that you are misrepresenting something here in a vain attempt to score cheap political points?

 

[OriginalShroom]

By the way, what is your problem with "Rolling Thunder"?

You didn't present anything in your OP against them.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Why did you forget this part?

Ted Sampley died of heart failure at the VA hospital in Durham, NC, on 12 May 2009

He's been dead for nearly 4 years now.

And did you get the idea he was a "Right Wing" scam artist? I didn't see a political affiliation in your linked article, but I did see where he ...

Sampley placed bamboo cages containing live protestors on the front lawn of the house owned by Ronald Reagan's chief of staff Don Regan.

A "Right Winger" Protesting at President Reagan's Chief of Staff?? Doesn't quite ring true.

Why is it that I have a gut feeling that you are misrepresenting something here in a vain attempt to score cheap political points?

Really? Your poor pathetic and ignorant slob. The right wing attacked Reagan after he left office. George Will

1988: Reagan Abandoned, Mocked by Hardline Conservatives

As the end of President Reagan’s final term approaches, conservatives and hardliners have radically changed their view of him. They originally saw him as one of their own—a crusader for good against evil, obstinately opposed to communism in general and to any sort of arms reduction agreement with the Soviet Union in specific. But recent events—Reagan’s recent moderation in rhetoric towards the Soviets (see December 1983 and After), the summits with Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev (see November 16-19, 1985 and October 11-12, 1986), and the recent arms treaties with the Soviets (see Early 1985 and December 7-8, 1987) have soured them on Reagan.

Hardliners had once held considerable power in the Reagan administration (see January 1981 and After and Early 1981 and After), but their influence has steadily waned, and their attempts to sabotage and undermine arms control negotiations (see April 1981 and After, September 1981 through November 1983, May 1982 and After, and April 1983-December 1983), initially quite successful, have grown less effective and more desperate (see Before November 16, 1985).

Attempts by administration hardliners to get “soft” officials such as Secretary of State George Shultz fired do not succeed. Conservative pundits such as George Will and William Safire lambast Reagan, with Will accusing him of “moral disarmament” and Safire mocking Reagan’s rapport with Gorbachev: “He professed to see in Mr. Gorbachev’s eyes an end to the Soviet goal of world domination.” It will not be until after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the tearing down of the Berlin Wall (see November 9, 1989 and After) that conservatives will revise their opinion of Reagan, in the process revising much of history in the process.

---


Conservative Opposition - Hardline conservatives protest Gorbachev’s visit to Washington, and the signing of the treaty, in the strongest possible terms. When Reagan suggests that Gorbachev address a joint session of Congress, Congressional Republicans, led by House member Dick Cheney (R-WY—see 1983), rebel.

Cheney says: “Addressing a joint meeting of Congress is a high honor, one of the highest honors we can accord anyone. Given the fact of continuing Soviet aggression in Afghanistan, Soviet repression in Eastern Europe, and Soviet actions in Africa and Central America, it is totally inappropriate to confer this honor upon Gorbachev. He is an adversary, not an ally.”

Conservative Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Committee is more blunt in his assessment of the treaty agreement: “Reagan is a weakened president, weakened in spirit as well as in clout, and not in a position to make judgments about Gorbachev at this time.”

Conservative pundit William F. Buckley calls the treaty a “suicide pact.” Fellow conservative pundit George Will calls Reagan “wildly wrong” in his dealings with the Soviets.

Conservatives gather to bemoan what they call “summit fever,” accusing Reagan of “appeasement” both of communists and of Congressional liberals, and protesting Reagan’s “cutting deals with the evil empire” (see March 8, 1983).

They mount a letter-writing campaign, generating some 300,000 letters, and launch a newspaper ad campaign that compares Reagan to former British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Senators Jesse Helms (R-NC) and Steven Symms (R-ID) try to undercut the treaty by attempting to add amendments that would make the treaty untenable; Helms will lead a filibuster against the treaty as well.


Doesn't get any better than that.

They they put forth the Reagan Legacy Project/Revisionist History

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

By the way, what is your problem with "Rolling Thunder"?

You didn't present anything in your OP against them.

A scam artist was a founder. Of course just like those who work at Planned Parenthood, I am sure the people who ride are not as big scum bags as the founder, but besides feeling good....bikers like to feel good...have their books ever been audited going back ???

 

[buckeye45_73]

Dante he was a scam artist....they exist......Bernie Madoff was a democrat one.....I dont see this guys party affiliation.....
What is your point, the RW is someone conning people out of money?

That's what the democrats do every day..........and that is proven.

 

[Procrustes Stretched]

Dante he was a scam artist....they exist......Bernie Madoff was a democrat one.....I dont see this guys party affiliation.....
What is your point, the RW is someone conning people out of money?

That's what the democrats do every day..........and that is proven.

So your position is he wasn't a right winger?

 

[Camp]

Ted answered these allegations long ago, you know, back when he was alive and breathing.

The POW/MIA issue was a political issue with two basic sides. Those who trusted the US Gov't and supported their policys and efforts, and those who believed there was a cover-up to protect powerful interest. It was an emotional issue with both sides having their share of MIA relatives, Veterans and concerned citizens. Both sides used demonizing tactics to motivate their base and attack their opponents.

Sampley was an easy access guy. He granted interviews and loved talking to investigative reporters. He was all about gaining public attention to the POW/MIA issue as well as other veteran issue's. His operations were an open book. He would hold events and demonstrations and announce exactly where he would be available for interviews. He advertised his phone number for anyone to call. He had a public home address and you could go to his home and knock on his door. He wasn't intimidatated by anyone. Ted was a decorated Vietnam Veteran who served with the 173rd Airborne his first tour and came back to Vietnam for a 2nd tour after becoming a Green Beret.

There are plenty of folks around today who faced the same kind of demonization as Ted. The difference is that they are still alive and able to respond and defend themselves if they choose. If the allegations didn't stick when they were originaly made and Ted subjected himself to all the inquiries and investigations when he was in the press and easily available, it would seem highly inappropriate and unfair to regurgitate the subject years after the subject no longer has validity and he is unable to respond.

 

[Crackerjaxon]

Leftists think anyone who makes money in any way is a conservative scam artist. Honest people get their money from the government.