Posted on 06/02/2004 1:52:23 PM PDT by areafiftyone
Former Green Beret Ted Sampley, who confronted Sen. John Kerry at Washington, D.C.'s Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on Monday, said today that photographers were in the vicinity and may have captured Kerry "flipping the bird" to him.
"There were some cameras," Sampley told WTN-Nashville radio host Steve Gill. "A reporter came up to me and asked me my name."
"I assume it was a reporter. It may have been somebody from the Kerry campaign," added Sampley, who heads up the group Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry.
As reported Monday by NewsMax.com's John Leboutillier, the veterans advocate approached the top Democrat that morning and told him, "I am here to escort you away from the Wall because you do not belong here."
When Kerry turned away and began to talk to a group of schoolchildren, Sampley opened his jacket to uncover a T-shirt reading "Hanoi John."
"Kerry does not belong at the Wall because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam," Sampley told the children.
At that point the presidential candidate allegedly flashed "the bird" at the ex-Green Beret.
Though Kerry's visit to the Wall was widely covered, Sampley said that he didn't think the insulting hand gesture was captured any of the TV new crews on hand. "I did not see any big television cameras," he told Gill.
NewsMax.com has been unable to determine whether the still photographers nearby were press, private citizens or were part of the top Democrat's publicity team. So far, no photograph of the incident has surfaced.
Sampley said the confrontation was inadvertent, explaining that he was there with the veterans motorcycle group "Rolling Thunder," when "someone called to me and told me, 'Kerry's over at the Wall.'"
"Our organization [VVAK], we're advocating that any veteran who encounters Kerry anywhere should challenge him," he told Gill. "Since I'm leading the organization, I had to lead by example."
Sampley said that Kerry initially managed to keep his cool during the confrontation, but blew a gasket after a crowd started to gather.
"He looked around and some more vets were starting to show up," Sampley told Gill. "They heard the commotion. A few more started to heckle him a bit."
As Kerry turned to leave, said Sampley, "he walked by me - he was about 40-50 feet from the kids and maybe 15-20 feet from me - he turned around and after all that coolness and calmness, I guess he just couldn't hold it in anymore."
After flipping the bird Kerry ended the confrontation with a terse, "See ya, Ted" - to which Sampley replied, "See ya, John."
JF'ingK ping
If a bona fide photo ever does show up, Lurch is toast and Hillary will be the nominee.
To be honest I think Sampley is beating a dead horse with this one - The liberal media would never put a picture of their guy out flipping a bird. Unless one decides he is going to make some money off of the deal.
Thanks, I've been wondering if this was photographed. If it gets out it could be pretty devastating for him.
A Presidential candidate who can't deal with a heckler without giving him the finger is not a man whose finger I want on the nuclear button...
I knew it....somebody has pics.
Oh please, please, please let there be a clear photo of this.
Hs actually flopped the bird before he flipped it.
I hope so. That would be terrific. But I think Sampley will have to pay for that picture.
Besides, in today's world a photo doesn't mean anything. I'm sure there are at least a thousand Freepers who can come up with the requisite image in a couple of hours work.
Pretty please. Pretty please with a cherry on top.
He's immature. He epitomizes the immature, aging hippy. Not the person you want leading the free world.
Surely one of the photographers saw Kerry do that. Why are they keeping their mouth shut?
Maybe some photographer is shopping the photo around. It could be worth Buku Bucks. There was also a great photo of Nelson Rockefeller giving the finger to some Lefties. It was late in his career when Rocky got more conservative while Gerald Ford's Veep. Anyway the way he flipped the finger and the look on his face was PRICELESS. I guess by that time Rockefeller knew he had no more future in politics and just let it all hang out. I've seen that photo as a poster but if anybody can find it on the Web, please post it here. It was GREAT for laughs!!!
That doesn't even begin to cover it.
All these photo ops of him in Lycra riding shorts and windsurfing.
He's a bigger horndog than Clinton ever was.
Everything he does is to impress the babes, he thinks.
Even if there is a photo, people will claim it was edited, because of the damage done by other photoshoppers
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