New book exposes little-known facts on presidential candidate John McCain

A just released book about the 2008 Republican presidential nominee takes a critical look at Arizona Sen. John McCain's rise to power and his amazingly successful political career, which continues to draw its inspiration from a questionable military career.

Vetting John McCain is based on carefully researched and meticulously documented public and military records, eyewitness accounts, and on statements McCain made in his book, Faith of My Fathers: A Family Memoir.

Written by Vietnam veteran and former Green Beret Ted Sampley, the book explores McCain's years at the United States Naval Academy, his early career as a Navy aviator, and his exploits before and after his five and one-half years in a Vietnamese prisoner of war camp.

Sampley, a long-time POW/MIA activist delves into McCain's puzzling relationship with his former captors and his apparent abandonment of other Americans left behind in Vietnam as missing or prisoners of war.

Leaders of the POW/MIA movement describe how they fought to have McCain and the U.S. government investigate reported sightings of missing and imprisoned military members, and describe their contemptuous treatment by McCain and his staff.

"My overall impression is that this is the book that needed to be written about McCain 20 years ago, before he became a national political figure," former Rep. John LeBoutillier (R-N.Y.) said. "The public should have known this side of John McCain."

LeBoutillier was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives committee investigating the fate of American POWs and MIAs in Vietnam. His familiarity with the issue, and his personal knowledge of McCain, provides credence to his comments. He said the book contains facts never explored by the mainstream media.

"Obviously, the media has never known or talked about what went on [when McCain was a] POW," LeBoutillier said. "They have embellished for McCain how badly he was treated as a POW. This book will hurt him against some vets. His womanizing, how he treated first wife, will hurt him among women.

"When vetting someone, we know the good things," he continued. "The candidate has bragged about the good things. People have been brainwashed by the media for years. This is a book that will tell the other side of story."

Vetting John McCain uncovers how the senator's impressive family background protected him as the Navy ignored incidents that should have caused the young aviator to be drummed out of the Navy. The book compares McCain's behavior with a similar incident that cost a female Navy aviator her career.

Readers will learn that despite repeated plane crashes the Navy assigned McCain to a flight instructor position to teach aspiring young men and women how to fly aircraft worth millions of U.S. dollars.

They will learn how McCain's volatile temper became legendary in Congress and how he uses expletive-laced words in an attempt to demean and destroy his critics.

They will learn about McCain's cooperation with his captors and realize why many veterans wonder why McCain was not punished for making treasonous statements to the communists.

Vetting John McCain compares McCain's actions with those of other captives who, injured and ill, spat in the faces of their captors and attempted escapes through treacherous jungle territory. It explores his intimate connection to the infamous Lincoln Savings and Loan scandal, his backing by a fraudulent newspaper editor-publisher, and his speedy abandonment of his friend when the fire of public scrutiny grew too hot.

Sampley, publisher of U.S. Veteran Dispatch, plumbs the depths of McCain's character. He presents a smorgasbord of facts that will allow readers to decide whether this unpredictable Navy veteran is mentally and emotionally fit to control the world's most formidable military power.

Whether you are a military veteran or a political junkie, Vetting John McCain is a treasure of little-known and rarely reported facts about a man who has climbed the twin ladder of military service and power politics, and now is reaching for the highest rung. Any reader open to examining the entire record will be spellbound.