Ted Sampley - who smeared Kerry and McCain died this week -

[karynnj]

Here is his local paper's write up - that though kinder than deserved - even at the time of his death ends by saying,

" Ted Sampley has every right to express his opinions, extreme though they may be.

Too bad he and others don't recognize that Sen. Kerry, when he returned from Vietnam, also had every right to express his opinions about that war."

He did a huge amount of damage to the country - not just in any marginal impact he had on 2004 - which was so close that many can claim they (or the lack of voting machines) made the difference. The hurt of families holding out for a false hope because of him is every bit as bad.

[MH1]

1. Thanks for posting, I missed that

It's kind of conflicting when someone like that passes. They must have people who will grieve for them and I am sorry for their loss ... but it's hard to feel anything positive for Ted himself. I guess he was a sick and confused human being.

[karynnj]

2. I thought the same as I posted that

It also may be slightly more ambiguous in that at some points, he likely did believe there were soldiers left behind. Had that been the real case, anyone "knowing that" should have spoken out. It is possible that he was completely sincere in the beginning, but then refused to accept that he was very likely wrong after a major effort was made.

[JI7]

3. also, there was no excuse to smear Kerry and McCain

he went beyond the issue itself .

[karynnj]

4. Exactly

Even if he thought their committee did not do all it could, that should have been the only attack. Instead he was willing to say anything.

[sandnsea]

5. Oh my

My first instinct was "good". That's not a nice feeling.

Somewhere along the line we've got to get the notion of a "lie" back into the public discourse. The man wasn't expressing "opinions", he was lying. Big difference. Hopefully without him out there to stir the pot, the truth will have a chance to start getting through.

[karynnj]

6. Good point - I realy didn't catch that and I should have

His "accepting" Senator Kerry's right to speak out (and tell the truth) is not equivalent to what were lies, not just extreme opinions.

[ladym55]

8. Amen to that

I think discourse would be far more reasoned and sensible if we based our opinions on things like "facts." None of us has the right to say whatever we want because we want to. Lies are not opinions. They are lies.

[karynnj]

7. CSPAN has the text of a very strong, emotional, but JK, the prosecutor, speech

defending what they did in their investigation. This would be useful the next time someone - even on DU- buys the garbage that they did not make a serious effort in Vietnam.

He goes through a detailed description of what the situation was before the POW/MIA commission, what they did, and then a detailed examination of one of the people claiming people were left behind - the latter especially is incredibly powerful.

(They do not have the video of this - which is too bad.)
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/congress/?q=node/77531&id=7838816