Looks like presidential material to me.


Monday, May 31, 2004 10:53 p.m. EDT
Kerry 'Flips Off' Vietnam Vet

Former Congressman John Leboutillier reports on a Memorial Day confrontation between Sen. John Kerry and a fellow Vietnam veteran:

Democratic senator - and certain presidential nominee - John F. Kerry gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning, NewsMax.com has learned.

Ted Sampley, a former Green Beret who served two full tours in Vietnam, spotted Kerry and his Secret Service detail at about 9:00 a.m. Monday morning at the Wall. Sampley walked up to Kerry, extended his hand and said, "Senator, I am Ted Sampley, the head of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, and I am here to escort you away from the Wall because you do not belong here."

At that point a Secret Service officer told Sampley to back away from Kerry. Sampley moved about 6 feet away and opened his jacket to reveal a HANOI JOHN T-shirt.

Kerry then began talking to a group of schoolchildren. Sampley then showed the T-shirt to the children and said, "Kerry does not belong at the Wall because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam."

Just then Kerry - in front of the school children, other visitors and Secret Service agents - brazenly 'flashed the bird' at Sampley and then yelled out to everyone, "Sampley is a felon!"

Kerry was referring to an incident 12 years ago when Sampley confronted Sen. John McCain's chief aide, Mark Salter, in a Senate stairwell after McCain repeatedly offended POW families at a Senate POW hearing. Sampley, whose father-in-law at that time was MIA in Laos, followed Salter into the stairwell and, when they emerged, Salter had a bloody lip and a broken nose.

Sampley's group, Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, has garnered huge national attention and has been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post and on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country." Tens of thousands of Vietnam vets have registered their opposition to Kerry through Sampley's group.

Clearly Sampley has gotten under Kerry's skin once again

i wonder how kerry is gonna flip-flop on this one when asked about it over the next few days, how he answers will be interesting.

What kind of American wouldn't flip off someone that got up in their grill like that?

Sounds like a good ol' American boy to me.

Hey King,

I'd flip you off and you ain't even a Vietnam vet!

Yeah, and Sampley's one hell of a great American too, I suppose. :rolleyes: Sheesh. Ever read his bio? The guy is a POS.

Funny how you think a guy that takes America to war on false pretenses has a big "sack," yet a guy that flips off an un-American racist gadfly is unpresidential.

Your black and white world on that organic commune has some weird perceptions.

The difference Dan is he is not suppose to be a "good old boy". He is suppose to be above it like all public servants. The only thing John "F'n" Kerry showed was his immaturity at handling confrontation. Not a good sign if you want to handle the rest of the free world, is it?
Not a good sign at all................

I think this "in your face" confrontational junk is not ver classy and probably deserved the bird.

I am amazed though that the "racist" card was once again played by Harley...this is starting to sound like a cliche of the left. You are a racist if you are on the "wrong" side of political debates...I know MoveOn.Org pushes the racist stuff and the Hitler references so I am not too surprised. But maybe you could assess a dumg stunt without that hackneyed label being added all the time.

4salt,

You could always try once .


Harley, I guess it's better than cigars and rim jobs in the O office.

Good for Kerry. The guy sounds like a complete jerk.

Thanks for advertising this TK. I wasn't aware of this. The more I get to know Kerry the better I like him!!!!

Hey Kerry fans what happened to "Let America be America again" does it only apply if your opinions match Kerrys? Oh the guys a scumbag let the SS beat him up and a presidential candidate flip him off? Party of the comman man the little guy my O ring. Does that mean you hold Teddy Kennedy is such contempt ? after all he killed a young lady.

If the bird starts coming out everytime Kerry gets confronted with with a protester, I think you'd have a point. But in this case, he may not have done the PC thing, but again, this guy is a fighter!!!

He's a fighter? Sounds like a coward to me.

He allows some jerk to get under his skin (the guy may or may not be a jerk - I don't know him or his back ground...) in a world full of jerks. It will only get worse if he becomes president. If he can't take a little ridicule now, it's only going to get worse when(if) he's under more pressure as President. And this isn't the first of his outbursts and childist behaviour since running...

Anyway, he lets some guy get his goat, then instead of either being a man and walking away, or being a 'fighter' and actually giving the guy a well placed and well deserved chin shot, he resorts back to the 4th grade and gives him the finger - knowing that his SS agents will protect his pansy a$$. Sure, sounds real tough and brave to me. Walk away or duke it out. Name calling, crying, and flipping the bird are all childish.

Hey king,

Flippin' off some tool that gets up in your grill is the American way.


Oh........and duking it out isn't childish? I think it is.

Dans,

I used to manage 200+ people I would have walked around all day with my fingers up if I thought it was productive.

This world is out of balance because people have lost the fear of a shot to the chops for their actions. IMHO. But then again i grew up in an area and a place in time where fighting was a right of passage and a dang good time. You learned quick or learned the hard way when and where to pop off.

I gave up the scrapping in high school. Face it.......it's an immature way to handle disagreements. It's what kids and immature adults do when they lose their cool.

Flipping someone off is pretty immature as well...........but following someone around so you can get up in their grill all the time is just pitiful. That dude needs to find a job or a hobby.

In any case, it looks like much ado about nothing to me.

Ya know, it's been over three days now since it allegedly happened. You'd think that a presidential candidate flipping off a guy in front of a bunch of school kids would be pretty big news, wouldn't you?

Why aren't any of the other news services carrying it? Not even Drudge.

There had to be chaperones with those kids that could corroborate the story.

You don't suppose..... naw, couldn't be .... Elvis wouldn't post somethin' that was total BS, would he?

when i vote, i will be giving dubya the figurative finger.

its funny how some of you guys think its not a big deal that kerry did what he did, but if bush had done the same thing you would be screaming for his resignation.
:rolleyes:

Oh, BS.

No, but I would give him the finger on principle.