Rolling Thunder replay on C-SPAN now...There are about 75

[rasputin1952]

people listening to these guys, I think there are more speakers than there are people in the audience.

FWIW, the speakers are pretty bad, but BG Flowers is bringing up good points about POW/MIA issues.

On edit: camera just panned, about 250 people there, most look bored and many more mingling on the mall leaving.

[Eagle_Eye]

1. I don't think I would want to be in a group named 'Rolling Thunder'

What a fine example of a name Rolling Thunder.
The name Robert S. McNamara chose to demonstrate that killing the population of third world countries does not make good foreign policy.
Killing the locals did not work in Vietnam, it won't work in Iraq either.

[rasputin1952]

2. Yep...and it kind of reminds me of Irritable Bowel Syndrome...

but it is exceptionally important the POW/MIA issues be resolved. These guys are just a tad too RW for me...

[DemoTex]

4. "Rolling Thunder" consists, for the most part, of Viet Nam Vet wannabees.

Few RTers have the intellectual capacity to understand Iraq, much less Viet Nam. It's all just an excuse to convert fuel into noise.

[Eagle_Eye]

5. I wish they would stop contributing to converting living people into dead bodies

[Bigmack]

3. I heard there were 300,00 bikers...

in the "rally". Can that be right?

Anyhow, there was a lot of "non-political and non-partisan" disclaimers while RT leaders met with Dumbya. I heard their leader say, as he walked along with *, "This is our man... president Bush."

[lynne]

7. Sounds more like 500,000 -

- I'm in the region and the bikes start pouring in on Friday and pouring out on Monday. It's deafening and you have to be cautious on the road because of all the motorcycles. But - if you like bikes - it's damn impressive. The 300,000 number is probably right.

[mediawatch]

6. NPR says thousands

a bit more than 250

[alphafemale]

8. Probably most people that attended the event didn't attend the rah-rah rally.

Just like only a tiny fraction of people who take part in the anti-war marches in DC ever attend the ANSWER rally.

[rasputin1952]

9. That's what I was thinking...seems to me like it goes back to my

Army days..."Oh! It's Thursday, time to party!"

If there were 250-300 G, they damn sure didn't wind up at the "rally"...:shrug:

Looking at the ribbons some were wearing, I saw 2 Purple Hearts, 1 Bronze Star and a few ARCOM's...not like there was a just presence of the highly decorated. But then again, one need not get a medal to be brave...I know plenty that should have gotten higher awards, but for whatever reason, they never got processed...:(

[alphafemale]

10. Isn't Rolling Thunder is a group for remembrance of POW/MIA's that's been around years?

Aren't these reactionaries a fringe element?

I also think hundreds of thousands at the ride, compared to dozens at the FReeper Rally shows this to be the case.

[rasputin1952]

11. These people that were talking that I saw on C-SPAN might well

have been a fringe element, but there was nothing else I could see that showed Rolling Thunder as in it's hey-day. They have been around for many a tear, and indeed are involved w/POW/MIA issues, but things change over time, and from what I saw, the speakers were essentially RW thinking. They have every right to express their opinions, but they spent a lot of time discussing the fact they got an audience w/bush and felt this war was the right way to go.

Maybe I'm nuts, but if you want to avoid POW/MIA issues, it is probably a good idea to oppose this war...:shrug:

[alphafemale]

12. Their website still seems mostly benign.

I think looking out for veterans who have served and POW/MIA issues is a good thing.

http://www.rollingthunder1.com/

Sadly, I don't think there will be any of our POW's to negotiate for in this war.

Not since the Cabal has set as the example of what torture and murder is acceptable. :cry:

[rasputin1952]

13. this is the payment for not looking at the larger picture...

The jerks that speak so righteously of pain, war and torture, have no idea what hell they have opened up for our troops in all future conflicts.

We have lost the moral ground we so preciously tried to protect. In one fell swoop, these idiots have destroyed the work of generations in little more time than it took to open their mouths.

I have always felt that those who require adverse things for others, should be prepared to place themselves in a position where they can feel what they would do to others. Whether is be a mullah in Iraq saying that being a suicide bomber is a "good" thing, ot a president saying torture "works".
The mullah should blow himself up, and the president should be tortured...things would change quite rapidly.