WASHINGTON — One day after Sarah Palin announced her bus tour, a group sponsoring a Memorial Day weekend event she plans to attend said they never invited her.
"She wasn't invited. We heard yesterday she came out with a press release she was coming to Rolling Thunder," Ted Shpak, national legislative director of Rolling Thunder, told "Andrea Mitchell Reports." Shpak is one of three members of Rolling Thunder's current leadership who says he had no idea Palin was coming until it was posted on her website.
On Thursday, the former governor of Alaska and potential GOP presidential candidate announced her bus tour on her political action committee's website, Sarahpac.com. The tour is to begin in Washington, D.C., where Palin plans to participate in the Sunday motorcycle rally sponsored by Rolling Thunder Inc., a group that raises awareness of prisoners of war and those missing in action.
"She's not invited to speak. We're not endorsing her ... (but) we can't stop her from coming to ride, if she wants to ride," Shpak continued.
Organizers of Rolling Thunder say their guest speakers are Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Rolling Thunder is a very honorable organization that as one of their missions is to look out for any future American soldier taken as a prisoner of war.
I realize being a media whore as Palin is she saw this as an opportunity to get her mug in front of the camera with an American flag. But hopefully she doesn't try to get top billing over the veterans. This event is not for a presidental candidate looking to campaign.
Palin is not a presidential candidate.
Palin is not a presidential candidate.
Yes, Palin was invited to Rolling Thunder « Hot AirThere’s a problem with this story, but to be fair to everyone, it seems to be an honest case of an internal miscommunication at Rolling Thunder. After I read this story last night, I got in contact with Christine Colborne, who handles the media for Rolling Thunder. She explained that Shpak didn’t know that Palin had been indeed invited to ride at the event. The invitation came from a retired board member, Michael DiPaolo, who had connections in Alaska and got Palin to agree to attend.
Requests for high-profile personalities to attend the event are not new. Colborne mentioned that actor Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgment Day) attended at least one of the Rolling Thunder events, as have other celebrities, usually just to ride with a lower profile. Most times, though, those requests don’t even get responses, let alone acceptances. That’s a shame, because the Rolling Thunder event highlights the issues surrounding American POWs and MIAs from the Vietnam War and later conflicts, as well as providing support to their families, who really need the emotional support they get from this group of volunteer veterans.
Colborne spoke with me on the phone in the middle of an all-night car ride to Washington DC, and explained that the last-minute RSVP didn’t get communicated through the echelons of Rolling Thunder. Everyone is either in transit or already in DC, and internal communication broke down as often happens before a major event. Shpak (and Colborne) were taken by surprise by Palin’s announcement. Shpak does have the authority to speak for the organization, Colborne says, but he had no idea that Palin was invited by DiPaolo, and Shpak worried that Palin’s arrival might be a “big distraction” from the issues on which Rolling Thunder wants people to focus. Obviously, Shpak — a Vietnam veteran himself — feels passionate about defending the organization, but went on NBC with faulty information. Shpak, Colborne, and almost everyone else at Rolling Thunder are volunteers, just ordinary people doing extraordinary work, and that means they get the occasional hiccup.
Palin will indeed be welcomed to the Rolling Thunder event. It’s a good organization with a worthy mission, so don’t let a miscommunication distract people from its purpose, either. Be sure to check out the web site, the merchandise that helps support the group, and other ways in which we can all assist them in that mission.
Thankfully there are orgs that DONT get political!
CONTINUED: First Read - Rolling Thunder: Sarah Palin not invited
ABC News' Sheila Marikar [@sheilaym] reports: For the riders of Rolling Thunder, the news that Sarah Palin will participate in their national rally on Sunday came as a surprise. A welcome surprise.
“I think that’s wonderful,” said Gerri Tramel, president of one of Rolling Thunder’s Tennessee chapters. “Anybody that’s involved -- Republican, Democrat, independent, whatever -- if you’re involved with our veterans, I think that’s wonderful. Not just Sarah Palin -- anyone that’s a politician.”
For more than 20 years, as many as half a million motorcycle riders from across the country have descended on Washington, D.C., during Memorial Day weekend to raise awareness about prisoners of war and those missing in action. Rolling Thunder announced Thursday that Palin accepted an invitation to participate in its May 29 rally. She’ll kick off her One Nation Tour the same day, a bus trip along the northeast coast that aims “to educate and energize Americans about our nation's founding principles.”
Palin trying to hang out with bikers is hilarious...
I love it when you folks make a big mistake:
Yes, Palin was invited to Rolling Thunder « Hot Air
Read it, and weep.
Keep on the hate brigade, it's amusing.
Awww, someone looks silly now!
Awww, someone looks silly now!
So if you are calling him silly then you are calling the Rolling Thunder vet who stated she wasn't invited due to miscommunication silly too.
As a vet speaking, we don't need you or the carnival busker.
As a VET, I'm glad she'll be there to help support Rolling Thunder and it's mission.
BS , she is there for only one reason and that is for her purse.
Yeah, you go it. She's JUST there for her purse. That's it. Palin's always been a money grubbing media whore out for herself. I mean, her life has been jsut full of this.
Carry on crosscheck. She's gonna be there, and with the full support of a majority, a few bitter, angry "vets" like you will gnash your teeth and be bitter, but Palin draws huge crowds wherever she goes, and if you cannot accept that the GOOD that will do for Rolling Thunder and it's mission, then it's apparent you care more about blind partisanship then Rolling Thunder. Hell, if Obama were to announce he'd show up I'd say right on. The cause is good, the mission right.
I guess we'll just agree that you'd rather see Rolling Thunder not do with more people showing up to learn and support the mission just because you have a petty hate of Palin.
She quit on the people of Alaska to make money. She accused Obama of being a celebrity and campaigned as an average person, only to shop around big networks for a reality season and have a news studio built inside her house. She lost her principles and stands for nothing now, other than advancing her own wealth.
Yeah, you go it. She's JUST there for her purse. That's it. Palin's always been a money grubbing media whore out for herself. I mean, her life has been jsut full of this.
Carry on crosscheck. She's gonna be there, and with the full support of a majority, a few bitter, angry "vets" like you will gnash your teeth and be bitter, but Palin draws huge crowds wherever she goes, and if you cannot accept that the GOOD that will do for Rolling Thunder and it's mission, then it's apparent you care more about blind partisanship then Rolling Thunder. Hell, if Obama were to announce he'd show up I'd say right on. The cause is good, the mission right.
I guess we'll just agree that you'd rather see Rolling Thunder not do with more people showing up to learn and support the mission just because you have a petty hate of Palin.
Rolling Thunder Riders Praise Sarah Palin's Participation in Rally - The Note
Taking bets on if Giant Noodle or any of the others that posted in this thread will even bother to respond. I thank you TGN for giving me this golden chance to correct your... silliness.
You can stop putting words in my mouth and try to speak for yourself for a change. I already stated the mission of Rolling Thunder. If they want to bring in elected government officials then fine.
We just don't need campaigning politicians there for photo ops. Send her "I love Alaska" butt back to Arizona.
Sarah Palin’s One Nation bus tour is apparently kicking off with a backfire.
Responding to what he said was a press release announcing Sarah Palin would visit the annual “Rolling Thunder” veterans’ bike run in Washington, D.C., as part of her bus tour along the East Coast, a spokesman for the group says she was never invited.
“This is not a political event—maybe she’s coming because she knows we have half a million people in town,” Ted Shpak, legislative director for Rolling Thunder, told MSNBC. “The way it came out she’s saying we endorsed her. We’re not endorsing anybody, and she’s not speaking on our stage during our program.”
As a VET, I'm glad she'll be there to help support Rolling Thunder and it's mission.
How is she supporting them? She give them money? Did she raise money? Did she do work for them? Or did she get pictures taken with them to benefit HER? :roll:
I love it when you folks make a big mistake:
Yes, Palin was invited to Rolling Thunder « Hot Air
Read it, and weep.
Keep on the hate brigade, it's amusing.
Either the event is really bad organized, or the guy who invited her has little to no authority or role in this specific gathering... In either case, Palin will probably NOT be treated like an A list celeb or of the importance she is used to when she arrives, because they don't seem thrilled enough to even know she was invited in the first place.
You came up with a number of conclusions in that train of thought. Seems driven by a determination to simply tear down/belittle Sarah Palin.
The obsession the Left has with Palin is both puzzling and fascinating....
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