Governor Sarah Palin started off her northeast tour in Washington DC, as part of the Pro veteran organization Rolling Thunder's annual bike ride.
She got on her bike ( a Harley, natch) riding behind another female rider but was unable to move because there were so many members of the press snapping photos and such a large crowd who turned out to cheer here and the Rolling Thunder vets. Eventually the police were called also on motorcycles, to clear a path.
After moving just a few feet, Governor Palin dismounted to sign autographs and talk with the crowd. At one point she started discussing “the missing,” a reference to the soldiers still MIA — a key issue for Rolling Thunder.
Todd Palin drove another bike with Piper on the back, and Bristol rode on a third with another driver.
Believe it or not, there was some manufactured Palin Derangement Syndrome surrounding the affair, originating with MSNBC and 'reporter' Andrea Mitchell.She and MSNBC cohort Lauren Stephenson reported that Governor Palin was crashing the event based on an interview with Rolling Thunder's Ted Shpak ( a Democrat, of course) and using the headline 'Stealing Their Thunder' essentially accused Sarah Palin of using the vets group for her own political purposes.
Of course, being Andrea Mitchell and MSNBC, that was all they needed, but Hot Air's Ed Morrisey actually did what reporters are supposed to do and did a little follow up. And whaddya know..Governor Palin was indeed invited by Rolling Thunder's Michael DiPaolo, who had connections in Alaska with a veteran's group there and got Palin to agree to attend.
Morrisey is polite and gives Shpak the benefit of the doubt, writing that Palin's accepting the invitation came late and that Shpak was probably not informed before Andrea Mitchell got her hooks into him. But Mitchel and MSNBC have no excuse whatsoever.
Anyone who know anything about Governor Sarah Palin knows how pro-military and how pro veteran she is. If anyone was hijacking the Rolling Thunder ride for partisan political purposes, it was Andrea Mitchell and the crowd at MSNBC.
Even if she was not "invited", events of this type are generally open to the public are they not? Had someone complained about a favored media candidate not being "invited" to somen thing the person complaining about this would have ben vilified for interfering for the "right of free speech" or somehting to that effect.
ReplyDeleteAnd no we don't know how pro veteral or hoe pro military Mrs. Palin is. To the best of my knowledge, she has yet to call for a total and complete withdrawl from Iraq, Afghainstan, and elsewhere in the Middle East. The military is being worn down from these operations to the point where basic defense of the Americah homlenad is problematic. These men and women need to be redeployed to defensible positions along our borders. At least this way, they would actually have a fighting chance to defend our country. A true supporter of veterans and the military would be calling for this change in strategy. Perhaps she has and I jsut missed it.
Also, by redeploying to our borders the military would actually be doing what most of these men and women signed up to do. Currently their lives and health are being wasted on missions that don't enhance our national security interest or our economic interests and in fact tend to undermine them.
With redeployment troop morale, troop retention, and recruitment would probably go up. After all these men and women would be doing what they singed up to do. This could only help in the above areas.
In addition, I have not heard Mrs. Palin calling for upgrades and expansion of our nuclear arsenal. The major competitors of the US in the 21st century are likely to be Russia, China, India, some combination of Central and South American countries, or all of the above. Since the US currently lacks the strategic depth or the trained personnel to be able to win a conventional war with any of the above mentioned adversaries or potential adversaries and it lacks the financial abiltiy due to its massive debt and crumbling infrastrucre to be able to alter this situation within the next few decades, an enhanced nuclear deterent will be vital.
Since I have not seen Mrs. Palinc call for any of this, the conclusion is she is not a supporter of the military. At the very least, there is nothing about her support for the military that stands apart from any one else currently in office or pondering a run for office.