MIA Facts Site

Sampley's Misleading
Misquotes

On February 16, 2000, Ted Sampley again demonstrated his methods -- misquote and make himself appear to be something he is not.  You should have come here from the article describing how Sampley is the primary source of the "Manchurian candidate" attacks on John McCain.  If you have not read that article, it is at this link. 

At 3:13 a.m., February 16, Sampely posted an article on the newsgroup alt.war.vietnam titled Washington Post -- McCain, A Manchurian Candidate?  He went on to quote a February 16 article in the Washington Post that mentioned the "Manchurian candidate" theory.  Well, actually, he did not quote the Post article -- he misquoted it.  I have reproduced below Mr. Sampley's article from the newsgroup followed by the full Post article.   In the text of the full article I have highlighted those items that Sampley did not quote.

When we read the full article, we find some interesting facts.

	The Post article is not describing McCain as a "Manchurian candidate."  Instead, the Post writers describe he attacks on McCain as a sign of desparation on the part of the Republican right wing, which now finds itself in considerable disarray;
	The writers poke fun at and ridicule the "Manchurian candidate" claims.
	The Post writers describe Sampley's  web site (with its attacks on McCain) as "a tad longer on saliva than facts."
	The title of Sampley's newsgroup posting -- Washington Post -- McCain, A Manchurian Candidate? -- is typical Sampley.  He wants us to believe that the Post is accusing McCain of being a "Manchurian candidate."  In fact, the Post writers are ridiculing the thesis -- they also quote McCain mocking himself as a "Manchurian candidate."

This is the article posted by Ted Sampley to the newsgroup alt.war.vietnam on February 15, 2000.

McCain's Khmer Ruse?

Sen. John McCain campaigning in South Carolina: Is he the victim of a
Southeast Asian contagion? Or perhaps a vast right-brain conspiracy?
(Photo cutline)

By Michael Powell and Tom Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, February 16, 2000; Page C1

Et tu, Khmer Rouge?
That John McCain has roiled the Republican establishment is well known.
Each day its howitzers fire new rounds: liar, hypocrite, and God save
his soul closet liberal.

Now Paul Weyrich, a sachem of modern social conservatism, discerns a
novel bat in the attic. McCain, he suggests, could be a Manchurian
candidate, arguably the first Republican presidential candidate
sponsored by Hanoi.

As to his source?

"The Cambodian Khmer Rouge has claimed that 'McCain is a Vietnamese
agent,' for what it's worth," Weyrich writes in a widely circulated e-
mail column for his Free Congress Foundation.

Weyrich briefly forswore electoral politics last year before taking up
the cudgel for the recently expired candidacy of Steve Forbes. His
column is sparse on additional proof. He cites a POW-MIA Web site,
though an examination of it suggests it's a tad longer on saliva than
facts. And he notes, ominously, that there are families of POWs and
MIAs who "accuse [McCain] of being a traitor."

Weyrich, who did not return several calls seeking comment, adds
helpfully in his e-mail column that it is "hard to know who is telling
the truth in all of this. . . . There must be some basis for the
emotions expressed by otherwise rational people."

Snip>>>>>>Snip>>>>>
"You have the conservatives in a deep panic pulling out the most
grotesque and obscene tactics," Wittmann says. "The K Street
establishment and the conservative establishment are united in fearing
someone who they can't control."

Snip>Snip>snip>snip>snip
Yeah, well. Just what you'd expect a Manchurian candidate's supporter
to say, right? Ted Sampley, former Special Forces sergeant and the Web
site author whom Weyrich cites, sees right through it. The Vietnamese,
Sampley says, "know exactly what makes John McCain flinch, what makes
him laugh. They know his personality because they owned him for 5½
years."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
For all the story, see today's Washington Post.


Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.

This is the article as it appeared in the Washington Post.
Text in green is text that Sampley neglected to quote.

Yanking His McChain
Web Site Posits That Candidate Is a Southeast Asia Pawn

By Michael Powell and Tom Edsall
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, February 16, 2000; Page C01

Et tu, Khmer Rouge?

That John McCain has roiled the Republican establishment is well known. Each day its howitzers fire new rounds: liar, hypocrite, and--God save his soul--closet liberal.

Now Paul Weyrich, a sachem of modern social conservatism, discerns a novel bat in the attic. McCain, he suggests, could be a Manchurian candidate, arguably the first Republican presidential candidate sponsored by Hanoi.

As to his source?

"The Cambodian Khmer Rouge has claimed that 'McCain is a Vietnamese agent,' for what it's worth," Weyrich writes in a widely circulated e-mail column for his Free Congress Foundation.

Weyrich briefly forswore electoral politics last year before taking up the cudgel for the recently expired candidacy of Steve Forbes. His column is sparse on additional proof. He cites a POW-MIA Web site, though an examination of it suggests it's a tad longer on saliva than facts. And he notes, ominously, that there are families of POWs and MIAs who "accuse [McCain] of being a traitor."

Weyrich, who did not return several calls seeking comment, adds helpfully in his e-mail column that it is "hard to know who is telling the truth in all of this. . . . There must be some basis for the emotions expressed by otherwise rational people."

All of this does not set McCain to quaking. (And, really, couldn't that be just a sign of his programming?!)

Riding the bus from downtown Detroit to Warren, Mich., recently, McCain and his consultant, Mike Murphy, had a bit of fun with the Manchurian candidate theory. They crafted a fictitious counter-strategy known as "Operation Banjo," in which they would trick George W. Bush into believing the charge and acting on it.

The imaginary plan goes like this: Get a reporter to convince Bush that McCain is a commie agent and that a key word--banjo--would set him off. Then Bush would stalk into the next debate armed for an expose, and, in this shared fantasy, use his opening statement to declare:

"All my conservative compassion goes out to the young, single mother on the outskirts of poverty whose fine, young Hispanic son needs support so he can learn his wonderful gift for the banjo."

At which point Bush would turn to watch McCain quiver and shake. Or not.

"Remember, this was the period when I was crazy," McCain says of the time two months back when several newspaper stories explored charges that time in Vietnamese prisons had damaged his pysche to the point that he could not control his temper.

"McNuts, McWacko, Crazy Times Demand Crazy Candidate," Murphy says in a parody of the headlines at that time.

There is, to all of this silliness, a serious undercurrent. McCain was an early advocate of normalizing relations with Vietnam, and has not displayed great patience for those who claim that the Southeast Asian nation is holding on to prisoners 25 years after the fall of Saigon. So some vets have been unhappy with him for years and the whispers date back to the '80s. A few retired military types have written letters to the Navy, urging officials to revoke McCain's medals for his time as a prisoner.

More broadly, Marshall Wittmann, a McCain supporter and former legislative director for the Christian Coalition, sees a Republican K Street elite and the social conservative establishment facing the same conundrum: their growing irrelevance. For years, Republican candidates kowtowed to them. Now the Republican mainstream is edging toward the center and the shock troops of the conservative movement have scattered. The Christian Coalition is in decline and Bush, the establishment's anointed prince, is scrambling to preserve his crown.

"You have the conservatives in a deep panic pulling out the most grotesque and obscene tactics," Wittmann says. "The K Street establishment and the conservative establishment are united in fearing someone who they can't control."

Yeah, well. Just what you'd expect a Manchurian candidate's supporter to say, right? Ted Sampley, former Special Forces sergeant and the Web site author whom Weyrich cites, sees right through it. The Vietnamese, Sampley says, "know exactly what makes John McCain flinch, what makes him laugh. They know his personality because they owned him for 5 1/2 years."

McCain's bus pulls into Warren. The candidate has already warned reporters that caffeine sets him off, activating those radio waves coming from God knows where in the Vietnamese foothills, where graying former Viet Cong operatives study South Carolina voting patterns and relay instructions for media buys.

Suddenly he's sticking out his tongue, shaking his head back and forth. "Stop those voices," he says. "Stop those voices."

Then he looks at the reporters and cracks up--laughing.

© Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company