Posted on 05/28/2011 10:00:30 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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 touche 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.
Shpak’s appearance on MSNBC denouncing Palin below:
(VIDEO AT LINK)
I wish you’d make a new thread of that.
I'll await more info as searches show no credible sources for the attack on Ted Shpak.
See my comment at #42, please.
Andrea Mitchell works for the DNC. msnbc IS the DNC. How she somehow passes as a journalist is beyond me.
As to an attack on Ted Shpak, regardless of what turns up, I won't view him as evil. No one should. More likely, he's badly misinformed and a person who shouldn't be a spokesperson for Rolling Thunder.
Why on earth would organizers of this worthy demonstration not welcome the exposure of a popular friend (such as Palin, or any number of other high profile individuals)? My guess is they would.
Shpak’s role in being interviewed by a partisan hack like Andrea Mitchell and providing answers which I certainly view as being anti-Palin, has accomplished exactly what he proclaims he doesn't want, a politicized event.
Frankly, I can't see how any veteran can support the leftist cause. When I came home I was 20 years old. When I turned 21, my first vote was for Nixon. But then, I had my eyes opened when I came home to see the demonstrations by the anti-war maggots. Are you the Ted Shpak who works for Raytheon, the defense contractor?
I suppose I'm wasting my time ranting on FreeRepublic. He wouldn't be the type of person who belongs here.
As usual, everyday Americans, as well as Sarah Palin, are just minding their own business, and the MEDIA rolls in and makes it a non-story a story.
Palin is really great at getting this type of free publicity. And the media just seems to fall for it over and over, blinded by their hate of her.
We will likely see this played out 1000 times as soon as Sarah announces, or doesn’t announce. I don’t think it even seems to matter.
Could you instead post some evidence besides poorly worded Google searches? I tried looking at your links and found nothing except the words of one anonymous person on the internet.
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