Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Veteran’s groups as Political voices

Recently I came across several articles on Ted Samply dealing with his recent campaign opposing John McCain. As I read further on about this veteran, I see that he is a decorated Vietnam Veteran that somehow has lost connection with a purely veteran’s advocate roll he purports and has become a veteran’s profiteer.
Ted Lane Sampley has been the publisher and writer of the internet-based The U.S. Veteran Dispatch since 1986 and It seems that he is or was a vice-president for Rolling Thunder. Sampley co-founded Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, now described as "part of the editorial division of the on line US Veteran Dispatch newspaper", with Mike Benge (Michael D. Benge) and Jerry Kiley 9 (Gerard W. Kiley).
Ted is A former Green Beret with multiple Bronze Star awards from Vietnam, Sampley has the outward appearance of the stereotypical downtrodden veteran outfitted by the local Army surplus store. But he is in fact a savvy businessman who is forth- right about earning money off "the cause" and is a key figure in the MIA issue. Currently this guy is a participant in a site that is railing against John McCain

I appreciate an honest effort to work veteran issues, support veteran causes, but something about this guy doesn’t seem right… his methods and efforts are somewhat extreme. I know that we all are free to voice our opinions, but don’t do so on the same stage with veteran’s groups.

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