So now another group, Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry is trying to get in on the act. They have an ad they want to run attacking Kery, but the group turns out to be a front for Ted Sampley, a wingnut who is also no friend of John McCain. Check out what he has to say about McCain on his website:
Phoenix New Times, March 25, 1999 -- Two former POWs, Air Force Colonels Ted Guy and Gordon "Swede" Larson, said in a feature article that while they could not guarantee that McCain was not physically harmed, they doubted it. Both Guy and Larson were senior ranking officers (SRO's) in McCain's POW camp at a time he claims he was in solitary confinement and being tortured.
Larson told the New Times, "Between the two of us, it's our belief, and to the best of our knowledge, that no prisoner was beaten or harmed physically in that camp [known as 'The Plantation'].
"My only contention with the McCain deal is that while he was at The Plantation, to the best of my knowledge and Ted's knowledge, he was not physically abused in any way. No one was in that camp. It was the camp that people were released from."
McCain should take note. As Jonathan Chait points out, McCain is truly delusional if he thinks playing the good soldier for Bush now means he won't be facing this exact same kind of vile slander in 2008:
In fact, if George W. Bush is reelected, McCain may find himself running for the nomination against Jeb Bush, and facing advertisements from veterans questioning his war record. Somebody might ask Bush about the attacks, and no doubt Bush will say what McCain has been saying: All the attack ads are just as bad as each other, and didn't McCain just bring this on himself?
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Christopher Hayes is the host of MSNBC’s All In with Chris Hayes. He is an editor at large at the Nation and a former senior editor of In These Times.
