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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.
Palin's representatives say they were invited to Rolling Thunder - by a former board member who is emceeing the event.
Mike DePaulo tells NBC News he had a standing offer for her to ride with them from the Pentagon across the bridge to D.C. - and that he got a call from what he called "the Palin campaign" on Wednesday to see if they could take him up on it. He coordinated it with a friend of his, Joe Fields, of the Alaska Veterans' Advisory Council, who had worked with Palin when she was governor.
A spokeswoman for Rolling Thunder says they frequently invite celebrity guests to ride with them.
DePaulo says he has a permit for the Palin bus to be parked on Henry Bacon Drive near the Lincoln Memorial. He acknowledges he didnt tell current leaders of the organization that she was coming, since they were already on the road.
When asked if Palin's bus will be participating in the event, Shpak of Rolling Thunder Inc. responded, "Absolutely not."
Shpak says Palin's attendance "is a big distraction" and that his "phone has been ringing off the hook" ever since she announced her intention to attend the event.
"We're not political. This is not a political event ... Maybe she's coming because she knows we have a half a million people in town and thinking she can start her [campaign]?" stated Shpak.
"We're taking care of our issues and that's why we're here."
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Simply because she and her staff are all Stupid! They are Publicity whores...!
I think that I should share some of my thoughts with you about our nation today, its condition and its relationship with the antagonists of western civilization particularly in the middle east.I believe that you and I live in the finest nation with the finest government (civil servant class) that has ever been designed by collective human thought. We are a young nation with its own unique problems but we have the resources, human and otherwise, to solve all of them in time. The two key behaviors that the American people must permit one another at this time in our history are civility and patience. Sooner or later these behaviors always lend themselves to understanding and convention.
In my estimation there are a number of reasons for the unfortunate decline in the overall quality of life in our country over the last 50 years. The conflict in Vietnam deeply divided and unsettled the American people. We were simply on the wrong side of a nationalist uprising regardless of the involvement by the communists. If Chiang Kai Shek had been a little less of a nationalist, if Ho Chi Minh had been a little less of a communist, if the wealthy and the powerful in the western world had been a little less inclined and eager to meddle in the internal affairs of another nation the entire fiasco in Vietnam likely would never have come about.
Conflict and conformity both will always inflict hardship on the growth and prosperity of a nation such as ours. Conflict destroys lives and when people are taught only to conform (as in our collective workplaces today) they do not create. They procreate but they do not create. At best conformity lends itself to apathy among a people. They become cogs in what seems a mindless purposeless machine. Input and output and from output input again. Conventional wisdom, you see, is not always the best wisdom.
Speaking from a domestic point of view Ronald Reagan was one of the most destructive forces to arrive on the scene in this country since the wealthy anarchists of the 1920s and the 1930s. Reagan assumed that because men and women in this country had become captains of industry they must be all knowing, all wise and capable of collective leadership in fulfilling the needs of our entire nation. This was an erroneous assumption on his part as history has shown us now that his notion of trickle down economics has not worked. It has not worked principally because it was never a reflection of the way that the American people have been led to believe over the generations. The American people have been tacitly lead (taught) to believe that if a person has more they should want more and it should be the other person who gives and not them. This is the way of wealth in this country even today. Furthermore the wealthy families in this country have shown time and again that they can hardly agree on the time of day. The only two things they do agree on are the taking of profit and the control of the thoughts and actions of their own minions. So much for this idea of collective leadership by the wealthy families of this nation. Collectively they want to rule but they are incapable of leading collectively.
It is a curiosity at this time in our history that so many of the republican mouth-pieces for the wealthy families seem to be desperately trying to legislate religious morality for our entire diverse nation of people. Morality belongs to the individual and each person develops their own sense of what is good and bad for them from the time they are born. No two persons are alike because the past of no two persons is the same. In most cultures somewhere along the line of a persons moral development religious values and convention become embedded. This is a good thing and usually leads to general convention in a society but for any one person or group to try to legislate religious morality to an entire diverse nation such as ours is foolishness at the outset. Personally I believe that the root of this argument is the maintenance of the status quo by maintaining division in the sentiments of the people and avoiding the real issues of the day. In short it is a profit making distraction for some among us on the grandest of scales.
Again, speaking from a domestic point of view George Bush Jr. was truly the bane of our nation. He did his best to bring Reagans deranged fantasy to life. He deregulated virtually everything and this put us all on the road to national suicide if we do not turn away soon enough. The very same thing happened in Vietnam in the 1940s and 1950s. A small handful of wealthy families were raping the Vietnamese people until the people decided they had had enough. The fantasy of the wealthy man all too often is the establishment of a "merchant class paradise" where the only laws that matter are those of a would be wealthy ruling class. The translation of this is feudalism for you and I. Feudalism demands the maintenance of private mercenary armies, associated peasantries and eternal conflict. The descent into feudalism always signals the death of any modern nation. Just looking at the Republican party itself today I do not see them as a separate party. Because the democratic ideal in this country is the ideological “mother tongue” I see the Republican party as an excrescence of the Democratic party. I see the constituents of this party as the self-serving anarchists among us. Still they are forced by popular will to accept the Democratic ideal even though I am sure that many of them would rather reject the concept altogether. Even a child understands the concept of Democracy: One man, one vote. One woman , one vote and our Republic is meant to reflect this idea even though historically it has not always done so thanks for the most part to the self-serving anarchists who have always been among us.
Capitalism and commerce in general at this point in history are good things as long as they are regulated for the good of all the people. Personally I would prefer Nationalism over Feudalism because I refuse to be someone elses peasant. For nearly a century now all too many of our wealthy ruling class in this country have done their best to dismantle our unions (believing it is their God given right to ignore the health and well being of their employees), destroy our middle class and of late neglect our educational systems as much as possible. These tactics are not new ones but very old in their origin. They are all based around the idea of feudalism. Too many of these families reason thusly: “Why should we defer to the worker in our employment when we enjoy God given good fortune and should not be compelled to share this with anyone else even with respect to the health and longevity of the workers in our workplace?” Many of these persons and families feel that unions are in defiance of their authority with this line of reasoning. “Why do we need a middle class to protect us from the peasantry we have been cultivating and abusing all along the way when we now have the worlds largest and most heavily armed police and armed forces to protect us from any uprising on the part of the peasantry in this country?.” This line of reasoning on the part of many of our wealthy families stems from guilt and fear over the sure knowledge that they have taken liberty with the poor and working of this country often beyond any reasonable boundary. “Why do we need a progressive educational system with integrity in this nation when an educated peasantry would be a danger to us?” This last line of thought lies at the very root of feudalism: ignorance of the masses.
All of these lines of query and reasoning lie at the very heart of the feudal mentality and this is a mentality that the American people must overcome if we are to survive and progress as a nation. For the last 30 years we have seen that the wealth of this nation have had the best of both worlds. They have pursued a program of less and less pay for the American worker and investment in low paying sweat shops in other nations with whatever profits they generate here. This has been not only a betrayal of the American people but the peoples of other nations as well. This will all lead to a severe decline in the quality of life in our country for the people as a whole and will only keep the peoples of other nations in despair. The term “wealthy ruling class” is not without meaning especially in these times. Especially it is a clear statement of many of these families intentions. These are people who have wedged themselves between the American citizen and their government. This is a most unfortunate circumstance which should be remedied as soon as possible. I am not concerned with the products of human conception such as “private property”. I am concerned with the human condition. Most of all with the condition of my own citizens.
I am a Nationalist. I am most closely an FDR Democrat. I believe in the collective voice of the citizen. I do not subscribe to the paradigm of left wing or right wing seeing this as only another means of dividing the people. Why divide and conquer when you can divide and control? I believe only in fair and just order to a society and that anything less is only dissarray and anarchy. I am one who believes in limited but effective government.This seperates me from the anarchist on Wall Street who in reality believes in no national government at all. I believe in a strong but compact and specialized military and intelligence community. I believe that in these times we need more of an intelligence community and less of an armed forces. I believe in strong unions in this country though I question the need for unions in the government workplace (because I assume the basic goodness of government to begin with). Unions should and must exist in the private sector of this country to guard against the excesses and opportunistic inclinations and behavior of the merchant class as a whole. I believe in strong and healthy religious institutions in this country. These institutions do a great service to the collective spirit of the American people. I believe that too many of our representatives today lie in bed with our captains of industry and too many of our wealthy armaments families presently lie in bed with any number of our generals and this must all end as soon as possible. President Eisenhower himself warned us about these things decades ago. We do not need communism in this country because unlike the Russia and China of old our religious institutions are not wrapped around the finger of our government. Our religious institutions serve the people more than they serve the government. The sum of all of this then is that I believe in a dynamic society whose internal institutions have integrity and are balanced for the good of all of its citizens.
The reemergence of Islam and its extremist elements on the world scene today will likely continue to be a problem for the civilized world for some good time to come (perhaps as much as 50 to 100 years into the future). Surely between Judeo-Christianity and Islam there is a conflict of culture which has already shown itself as persistent. Lately we are witnessing the birth of nations in the cradle of Islam though.We are witnessing millions of young Muslims demanding societies based on Democratic ideals and this is a wonderful thing. We must be vigilant though. We must guard ourselves internally, hold to our own beliefs and maintain an iron clad intelligence gathering capacity around the middle-east particularly. These things can be done cost effectively with very little military intervention. I believe in more eyes and ears and fewer boots on the ground. We need to tend to our own internal affairs as a nation. I myself am a Democratic Republican in the strictest sense. I believe in the ideal of Democracy first and then the Republic I believe that a Republic can be as any people would have it so long as the ideal of Democracy is held as its precursor. I am Judeo-Christian because these modern times demand it and really the times always have. One without the other in these times would be weakened and without context knowing that too many of the opponents of western civilization perceive the Jew and the Christian as one and the same anyway. Now more than at any other time in history the Jew and the Christian must stand together as one. Most of all though I say these things because the great dynamics between Judaism and Christianity are what have given us the wonderful effects of western civilization that we have today. To be sure the Oriental mind, the Persian, Arab and many, many others have contributed along the way but for the most part it has been the Jew and the Christian who have brought everything together and given us the wonderful western civilization we understand today. There is hope but more than this we must have determination in our efforts. We must be vigilant, without promiscuity in our thoughts and willing to work together side by side at all times to see to the needs of our collective future in western civilization.
These are some of my thoughts today about our nation, its people and the problems we face.Thank you for considering them.
---Yoda
As always, Barack Obama will never waste his time going to this kind of events honoring the war veterans even if he is invited.
Instead of being distracted by these undesirable distractions, he has already scheduled a golf game on that day, as usual.
You ARE an imbicile!! Never doubt it fur a minit!!
What do you know - not much! President Bush (Jr) bowed out in 2002, his dad did in "89, 90, 91 and 1992 3 of these years Sr was vacationing elsewhere), and President Regan was missing 4 of his 8 years in office. Facts are hard to deal with for some but our country runs better with them. I think he should be there also but he is at least doing the country's business and not on vacation.
He's going to place a reef at the unknown soldier's tomb. Are you going to do that GOPee?
A reef? As in coral? I know, you meant wreath. Just pickin' on ya.
skpongols
be careful.....your desperation is showing!
he's trolling why bother even replying.
John-273774
What do you know - not much! President Bush (Jr) bowed out in 2002, his dad did in "89, 90, 91 and 1992 3 of these years Sr was vacationing elsewhere), and President Regan was missing 4 of his 8 years in office. Facts are hard to deal with for some but our country runs better with them. I think he should be there also but he is at least doing the country's business and not on vacation.
Reagan wasn't missing (well, he was kinda missing)he was roamimg the Rose Garden. His private duty nurse who was a patient of mine when he had a slight injury told me. Honestly.
It was hilarious from one nurse to another we were laughing so much we couldn't contain ourselves talking about all the ways to restrain him and his diapers.
What a fraud Reagan was he had Alzheimer's while in office.
Rolling Thunder should simply ignore her as the entire United States should. She is nothing but a "media darling", someone to garner attention and give pundits something to banter about.
A situation ignored will eventually go away from lack of attention.
Rolling Thunder : Barack Obama invited, but refuse to come......
there I go hitting the check mark again, sorry. You Lie skgboyituyydls!!
Hey, I just got the travel agenda from Sarah's website:
One Nation tour of historical sites that were key to the formation, survival, and growth of the United States of America.
Starting in Washington BC, I'll be leadin' Operation Rolling Thunder with the minor help of a few of my triker friends. Then off to Lexington, New Hampshire - the site of the "Shot heard by Russia" and the beginning of the Civil War, then on to Gettysburg, Tennessee, where the 11 colonies finally won indepedence from Russia in the war of 1812. It will end in Constitution, Vermont where the Bill of Rights in the Magna Carta were drawn up. You can see Iceland from this site!!
Ha Ha
ya, and then there were 57 states
I'm surprised cesspool was even bright enough to pick that up as sarcasm myself, still not sure he did to be honest.
I'm surprised you spelled "sarcasm" right
Hopefull they will give her a Bright shirt to wear that is emblazened with the word QUITTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah! If she would have stayed on as Governor the Democrats would have kept going on with one ethics violation after another. On alagations brought up by the Anchorage dailey news blurb. (the Alaska ear) You wouldn't have been happy if she stayed or not. She went after Republicans and Democrats in the Alaska Government. In this administration it was found out that they gave the head Bankers of freddie mack and fannie mae 34 million dollars in cash perks. They don't even do that at the big banks. They give stiock. The reason the Obama administration gave them cash is because the stock is worthless. That was just today. Yesterday the DOJ wanted to add more libs to their block. But that's not going to happen until Holder gives up documents of their crooked handling for the Mexican gun program that have been killing our federal agents and citizens. I can go back for a month on the daily non transparant government we have today. Your no Better than Chris Matthews. That warm tingley feeling going down his leg is Obama pissing on him and telling him it's raining. I could write for an hour about the Democtrat hipocracy. But I'll save that for someone smarter than you.
Rolling Thunder is a solemn memorial ride to honor fallen soldiers. It often involves tears and heartache.
She should NOT go to this, with her traveling self promoting circus.
Shame on you Palin
Don't worry Thunder, Americans are quite used to seeing more of Sarah then they need. Our respect for your organization and veterans in general is unaffected by her participation and display of her rolling billboard promoting herself.
This is typical of her snarky arrogance.
non of the nation of liberal anti-war dorks should be going either, but then war is ok with them as long as they are the ones who murdered 63,000
I'm liberal some times, served in the Marines and have had my share of combat. Try hard not to wet your panties over the word "liberal"
I was a General in the Army, got all the medals you could get ,see how silly you sound
I was thinking the same about you and your hang up on liberals
do you "think" the same thing about all the posts with "hang ups" on conservatives?
or your "hang up" on "I was in the Marines" you have only posted it about 5 times
I'm a former Marine myself and the closest thing I've seen to what I am is a Blue Dog Democrat.
As far as I can tell cesspool from everything I've seen you post is completely incompetent moron.
Anyone who immediately throws out the word liberal when someone disagrees with them falls in this category as far as I'm concerned and I usually go to the next post and ignore em.
I'm a liberal democrat, I was a cook in the army and I saved the lives of 50 men, I stopped cooking.
Don lying about military service is just not cool....
Palin/Bachmann in 2012! What a riot that would be!
Dope and Strange 2012
sarainitaly -- I don't think that invitation means what you seem to be suggesting that it means...
Nobody has suggested that one can't attend the ride or even participate in it without an invitation... but "an invitation" could be as simple as one rider asking another rider if they'd like to participate. It sounds like that's what has happened here.
It does not, however mean that Rolling Thunder itself has made an effort to recruit Palin's attendance or participation. She just hyped it in a press release like a frickin' rookie, once again making something bigger look like it's all about her.
It appears to me from the guy saying they hadn't even confirmed with the people sponsoring the event before steering on it, she got the urge to finally say "On memorial day I shall announce to the world I am going to run for President"and jumped on the bus.
The she told them to head towards one of the biggest groups of people they could find and just announce she would grace them with her presence.
If they give her a bike to ride or something or someone does more power to her, I think it's funny as hell they are saying "We all ready had this planned show up if ya want to" more or less.
There is no reason to give her a platform to speak from though, it's just self serving crap on her if they would even promote that, and from the quality of people I get that are involved with this they won't.
I have a friend who is riding and he is going to be soooo disappointed she can't speak.
They should invite Michelle Bachmann and have a mud wrestling event. The bikers would like that. Plus it would be fun to watch Bachmann break Palin's glasses and scratch her eyes out.
Hey Rocco:
Is that how you girls fight?
Andrea Mitchell and Lauren Stephenson of NBC News write, "The tour is to begin in Washington, D.C., where Palin plans to participate in the Sunday motorcycle rally sponsored by Rolling Thunder Inc., ..."
However, I do not see anywhere on the referenced website "Sarahpac.com" indicating "Rolling Thunder Inc." invited her or that the tour is planning on attending or participating in this event.
Naturally I'm curious on the headline "Rolling Thunder: Sarah Palin not invited", content and intention of this story.
Does anyone call this news? Isn't there more important issues and information American's need?
I was in the Marines during Vietnam and felt a need to join Rolling Thunder several years ago - until the then President of RT said RT was supporting George Bush for the Presidency! He did not poll his members. He just felt he had the authority to speak for the group and they were supporting Bush. I did not join for obvious reasons. Now Sarah Palin, who has nothing to do with this group, is honing in on their support. Last Years President invited her to speak and said RT was supporting her candidacy. Thank God this year RT has a male President that has balls. He is not interested in hob-nobbling with the politicians as much as representing the Vietnam Veterans! I still can't believe the past President was wetting his pants over a politician's attention. I certainly hope the new President will stay on as he seems to have the balls required to run this organization. Way to go!
I have to wonder if Sarah even knows what Rolling Thunder is about?
Still praying for all the MIA's.
She's just joining the ride. Can't you read?
Thanks for the background info John. Sounds like it's best to keep the ride non-political.
Once again, Palin is out for attention which = money. That's all she wants. Thanks, McCain, for giving us Palin!!! Palin is a disgrace to women and the USA.
Yeah we need more like nancy pelosi. What a winner. What a joke.
They say that you can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. But, when you put glasses on a cockerspaniel you get Sara Palin.
Yeah and when you put a long nose on Obama you get a Dumbo.
Palin is an unwelcome, political B itch who when the going get's tough, books out so she can go to Neiman Marcus. What a disgusting piece of trash. AMERICANS hate her.
I don't respect her but I don't hate her and I'm on the liberal side. As a VN Vet, I think she is a distraction from the point of the ride. Palin is proof that we live in a classless society as she does not have any.
Here comes da bus....Here comes da bus
Invitation - I don't need no stinking Invitation!
Don't you know who I am?
Aww, how embarrassing!
Bet this dumb broad (sorry REAL ladies, no offense) makes a pass or hint that she MIGHT get into the election. ALL to boost her sagging FAUX TV and media interest ratings. Roger Ailes might keep her on, but she can't see Russia from under his desk, so where is the news, or lack of it? On behalf of her or Ailes reporting about her possible run?
I got a dog that will crap on my patio, me take a video, and will get as much interest as American's wanting to see where the crap comes first. Her mouth, or my dog's puckering hole.
And people wonder why Limblow took a (-) 38% hit in ratings.
Can't figure it out, but sure that some Eleturd's will tell me.
Ha!
Hell, she doesn't need an invitation. She is bringing Michaele Salahi with her.
Bring in Kate Smith to sing God Bless America. No one could hear her speak then.