New Group of Viet Vets in Anti-Kerry Ad Push

NewsMax .com ^ | 9/06/04 | Carl Limbacher

[kattracks]

After the stunning success of anti-John Kerry ads produced by the group Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, a separate group of Vietnam veterans is planning to open up a new front - in a move that could leave the Democratic nominee sorry he ever mentioned Vietnam as a campaign issue.

Special Forces veteran Ted Sampley, co-founder with Mike Benge and Jerry Kiley of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, tells Ad Week magazine that his group has launched a local spot buy targeting military family-rich areas in North Carolina. The ads started last week on Fox affiliates in the area, covering key military installations at Camp LeJeune, Marine Corp Air Station Cherry Point and Seymour Johnson AFB.

Sampley tells Ad Week he's currently negotiating further media buys that will reach Fort Bragg and Pope AFB.

While VVAJK has been around for more than a year, the group's entry into the Kerry ad wars is brand new, and could showcase like never before the broad resentment Vietnam veterans feel for Kerry's anti-war activities. with the group Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

Sampley's first ad covers information that's been hushed up by the mainstream press: Kerry's participation in a 1971 VVAW meeting in Kansas City where the assassination of several pro-war U.S. senators was plotted and voted on.

The Kerry campaign at first denied the top Democrat was present, but was forced to retract the claim when the New York Sun unearthed FBI files that placed him at the meeting. Kerry claimed he voted no on the plot and then resigned from the group.

Sampley's 60-second spot blasts the White House hopeful for his leadership role in the organization, calling it "one of America's most radical, pro-Communist, anti-war groups," accusing Kerry of having "marched in demonstrations carrying the flags of the America's enemies, the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese."

The spot also charges that Kerry "used the blood of U.S. service men, still fighting on the battlefields of Vietnam, for his own political advancement."

In a twist that's likely to confound critics, Sampley's group has rejected non-profit status and is not operating as the kind of 527 group that both the Bush and Kerry campaigns have condemned.

Instead, the veteran's advocate says his anti-Kerry ads are for-profit advertising for his newspaper, U.S. Veteran Dispatch.

[sinkspur]

Read a little about Ted Sampley, F16.

Not a good messenger.

And you can SHOVE your ad hominems.

[Larry Lucido]

Could he be targeting servicemen who will be voting absentee in their respective home states?

[BlessedBeGod]

so, did Kerry resign from the group?

He claims he did, but I believe there's a photo of him on Corbis's website from 1973(?) that has a caption stating he's a leader of VVAW. That would conflict with him saying he resigned in 1971.

[Beckwith]

Very cooooooooool . . .

[F16Fighter]

The truth is the truth. That's ALL that matters...

"Ad hominems"??

Don't forget to heat up a cup of chamomile tea while you're at it.

[Wardawg]

I'm not defending Sampley, I don't know him. I do know that his message is more important in this debate since the message is supported by facts like film and FBI files. The first thing they did to the Swifties was try to discredit them and it continues with the little brown books. Let's let the truth prevail regardless of who states it.

[campfollower]

See www.kerrylied.com

Well, ok, that's not Sampley's group, but it's Vietnam Veterans for Truth, and they could use a dollar also.

Please contact local and national media and tell them to cover the rally, next Sunday from 2-4 on Capitol Hill.

Nine speakers, including John O'Neill and Dexter Lehtinen (who purchased at his own expense ads in the Army/Marine Corps Times to tell the truth about Kerry)....

We need your attendence and your dollars. Any leftovers go to Navy Relief organizations (for kids of servicemen).

[cksharks]

I thought Bush and Rove were behind those ads against mccain.

[BlessedBeGod]

If you're interested, go to http://pro.corbis.com/search/search.asp and search on U1763143 (which is the photo number). The caption reads:

"John Kerry Watching Nixon on Television
John Kerry, a Vietnam vet and head of Vietnam Veterans Against the War, watches as President Nixon announces an agreement on a cease fire in Vietnam. Kerry, who lost to Republican Paul Cronin (D-Mass) in the November general elections said, "my initial reaction is thank God that the prisoners are coming home and that we at least have stopped American participation in the war."

Date Photographed:
January 24, 1973

[MinuteGal]

bttt

[tarpon_bill]

If this is true the Kerry camp will go after the messenger. The message seems fine, but ...

Personally I am sticking with the Swifties on this one. They are battle tested and I like theiir style. My fear is you can over do this and end up with nothing.

[MinuteGal]

Re: Assassination plot:

"Kerry voted 'no' and resigned from the group."

Important sentence omitted:

"Kerry did NOT report the assassination plot to the proper authorities immediately."

Leni

[Paul_B]

I found the ad flat and unpersuasive. In fact, if these ads are not done in high quality, they will begin to have an innoculative effect on the middle. No donations here.

[demkicker]

Important sentence omitted:

"Kerry did NOT report the assassination plot to the proper authorities immediately."

***Bingo*** Great point.... That FACT needs to be driven home and repeated like talking points!!!!!

[Quix]

Great news.

Thanks.

[Bruce Kurtz]

Kerry did NOT report the assassination plot to the proper authorities immediately."

I thought Kerry never reported the incidnet, and for the longest time denied being in KC for the meeting.

Bruce Kurtz

[HuntsvilleTxVeteran]

Thanks
Watched and it is good.

[OregonRepublican]

Well they should have from the beginning ran the ads in Battleground states, then they would get more donations

[Leroy S. Mort]

Be prepared for McCain to be all over this. He knows Sampley pretty well. Here's his press release from back in Feb. 13, 2004:

Statement of Senator John McCain:

"I strongly caution reporters who may be contacted by or are interested in Mr. Ted Sampley and the various organizations he claims to represent, and his opinions on the subject of Senator Kerry, or any subject for that matter, to investigate thoroughly Mr. Sampley's background and history of spreading outrageous slander and other disreputable behavior before inadvertently lending him or his allegations any credibility.

I am well familiar with Mr. Sampley, and I know him to be one of the most despicable people I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. I consider him a fraud who preys on the hopes of family members of missing servicemen for his own profit. He is dishonorable, an enemy of the truth, and despite his claims, he does not speak for or represent the views of all but a few veterans. The many veterans I know would think it a disgrace to be considered a comrade or supporter of Ted Sampley."

There's a history there, and having googled Sampley, this may be one cause we want to take a look at before swinging support his way.

[Aetius]

for later