Andrea Mitchell is Wrong...Sarah Palin is Welcome at Rolling Thunder

Anyone Surprised  by Andrea Mitchell being wrong?  I didn't think so.

Last night, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell and Lauren Stephenson reported that the veterans group Rolling Thunder had not invited Sarah Palin to their annual ride taking place this weekend and were dumbfounded when Palin announced her participation as the start of her bus tour.   Under the headline “Stealing Their Thunder,” Mitchell suggested that Palin was hijacking their “very serious purpose” with her participation.  The piece hinges on an interview with Rolling Thunder’s Ted Shpak, who called Palin’s announcement “a big distraction”

This Video Report can be Watched at:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/43196296#43195935


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.

There’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.

This was Reported on by Ed Morrissey of HotAir.com at 8:15 am on May 28, 2011 His Article Entitled "Yes, Palin was invited to Rolling Thunder" can be Viewed at: 
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/05/28/yes-palin-was-invited-to-rolling-thunder/

Also Confirmed by Nicole Coulter of Conservatives4Palin.com at May 28 2011 - 1:46 PM

Her Article Entitled "Rolling Thunder Confirms Palin Invite; Andrea Mitchell Demonstrates Journalistic Incompetence, Bias (Again)" Can be Viewed at:
http://conservatives4palin.com/2011/05/hot-air-rolling-thunder-confirms-palin-invite-andrea-mitchell-demonstrates-journalistic-incompetence-again.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Nicole Coulter Writes: 
Remember when Andrea Mitchell attempted to interrupt Governor Palin’s Going Rogue tour in 2009 and got stopped cold by a security guard?


Well, Andrea Mitchell attempted to interrupt Governor Palin’s “One Nation” tour with a false report and has been stopped cold by the facts.

Yesterday, she falsely reported on Andrea Mitchell Reports that Governor Palin was not invited to participate in Rolling Thunder activities this weekend, relying on one disgruntled source to imply that Palin was using the veteran’s group for publicity without their approval. Mitchell’s story has been thoroughly refudiated. Mediaite reports the Hot Air scoop:

Sarah Palin’s “One Nation” bus tour appeared to have gotten off to a false start yesterday as a member of the pro-veterans organization Rolling Thunder went on NBC to denounce her presence at an upcoming event of theirs, claiming no one had invited her. Turns out, as per organization spokesperson Christine Colborne, Palin had been invited, but had RSVP’d too soon for the group to announce her arrival to all its members.

Hot Air’s Ed Morrissey called up the organization and got in touch with Colborne, who explained that the issue was one of “internal miscommunication” and that Palin had been invited by Michael DiPaolo, a retired board member. Ted Shpak, another organization spokesperson and veteran himself, hadn’t been notified of Palin’s appearance by the time he went on Andrea Mitchell Reports and was seriously concerned that Palin would be a “distraction”:

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.

Morrissey adds that, with groups like these, the communication error is particularly understandable because it subsists exclusively on volunteer work– none of the people involved in it get a paycheck, and veterans like Shpak are involved based only on their passion for the job. As for Shpak, he has yet to issue a statement on his appearance given the news that Palin is not, in fact, crashing his event.

In the onlline version of Mitchell’s report, she claims that SarahPAC confirmed the invite as well. Wouldn’t it have been nice if Mitchell or one of her lackeys had asked them to provide the name of someone who could confirm the invite. Moreover, it’s funny how Mitchell never thought to question the motives behind her source, Shpak, who was all-to-willing to bash Palin. Is he a Democrat? We’ll never know, though some are claiming he has appeared with Democrat politicians in the past.

Regardless, Andrea once again shows she wasn’t paying attention in journalism class. And her false report has reverberated throughout the blogosphere. Par for the course in how Palin is constantly smeared.

We’re waiting with baited breath for the retraction.

I’d imagine we’ll be waiting quite a while.

Update: At least ABC bothered to talk to more than one source about Palin’s participation. They have a nice report on the positive things Rolling Thunder members said about Sarah Palin.

So Don't Believe the Hype and Never Trust Andrea Mitchell about anything or any other LameStream News Network when they're talking about Sarah Palin.  It is Obvious to Most Conservatives the LameStream Media has it out for her.  This report is Proof of that.  Double Check everything said and reported on or about Sarah Palin by Hacks like Andrea Mitchell.  That is the Lesson Learned today.

Sarah Palin Will get into this Race to be President in 2012.  She Will Fight, Campaign Hard for and win over the Hearts and Minds of Everyday Americans.  Sarah Palin is Everything that is Good and Right America has to offer.  IF America is still going to reject her, they're Rejecting America's finest Principles,Morals and Traditional Values Most of us grew up with.  That would be a sad day.  Sarah Palin has alot to offer and tons of fight left in here to carry her all the way to winning the Presidency.  She just has to commit to it and go for it.  She will.  Then She Will Show America "How to Fight Like a Girl!"