Rolling Thunder: Good guys or not good guys?

[Stinky The Clown]

Poll question: Rolling Thunder: Good guys or not good guys?

I am purposely not saying who/what Rolling Thunder is. You need to know to cast a meaningul vote

[jody]

1. One should know what Rolling Thunder is to ask an intelligent poll question. n/t

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Read the poll ......

I said .... you need to simply know who they are to make a meaningful vote. I think it would skew the poll if you did some research and then voted.

[jody]

11. If you know the several groups that use that title, then you know your question will be extremely

controversial to one or more.

Since you proclaim to have such knowledge, then is your intent malicious?

[Wickerman]

2. Since today is Dylan's birthday, I'd like to assume you mean the Revue

but I suspicion that isn't it, but rather the namesake.

edit, or, perhaps you meant something else that I'll not go into.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. The name sake .... active today in DC

[Enthusiast]

24. Well, did they meet with President Obama?

Like they did with Bush? Maybe they can say Obama is a commie so they won't get labeled as racists.

[Stinky The Clown]

25. My guess is ......

.... we share similar views of them, you and me.

[noamnety]

34. They actually have met with Obama.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/23/obama-privately-meets-rolling-thunder/

[Enthusiast]

37. Good to hear, thanks.

Not so spirited as with Bush and the parade of motorcycles but at least they are talking.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

57. Private meeting at HIS request is what I have heard.

[SpiralHawk]

3. Rolling Thunder, the Native Elder, was a good guy

Controversial, of course, but a good guy...He now Walks the Wind.

"Our religion says that the land—all of Mother Earth—belongs to the Great Spirit, the Creator . . . and that humans are only its keepers, or "trustees", who are allowed to live on the soil and cultivate it. So we don't think we own the land, and we certainly don't believe that anybody else can own it, either."

[sagetea]

14. And a very good friend of mine

I still miss him...the lessons he taught, he understood Quantum Physics, before I even knew the name. He was very neutral, but very good at it. He shaped my life, and it started with a dream.
RIP, Grandfather!
Ho!

[mmonk]

6. Good

[TahitiNut]

7. Ask Fred Phelps.

:rofl:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

49. Rolling Thunder is not the same as the Patriot Guard Riders

though there are common members

[TahitiNut]

53. I know. As a Viet Nam vet and former biker ...

... I know both the original "rolling thunder" (and its progeny) and the group who took on that name (and why). The Patriot Guard is a direct offshoot of Rolling Thunder. I came damned close to being in the original Rolling Thunder ride on D.C.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

54. I am a vet and a life long rider as well

I rode a few Rolling Thunder rides when I lived in the area. Done a few PG rides here in CA. Its an interesting mix of people.

[Taverner]

8. Just a bunch of bikers who honor vetrans

Granted, its kind of a knee-jerk honoring...but their hearts are in the right place

[bbinacan]

12. Actually,

they're not all bikers and being a biker is not a membership requirement.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

58. Riders, not bikers

[Taverner]

62. Ok Riders who honor the troops

Although isn't that a bit like the difference between ketchup and catsup?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

63. No they are not even close

Lots of people ride motorcycles. The term bikers refers to the patch holder gangs (Sons of Silence, Hells Angels etc.)

[NeedleCast]

9. Go in the Good column for me just from what they've done to combat Phelps' bunch of nuts

[imdjh]

10. I voted "good guys", some would say fascists

It seems to be the thing now. If you support border enforcement, immigration laws, and the deportation of illegal aliens- then there are those who would label you as a member of the KKK or Aryan Nations because those groups also support immigration enforcement. Of course, you'll probably find some members of the KKK who also support Everglades restoration as well, but you will rarely see an Everglades restoration supporter branded a fascist because a KKK guy might belong to the same effort.

[noamnety]

13. Depends

on paper, their mission looks great.

In reality they seem to be a bunch of right-wing nationalistic freepers, as evidenced by their determination to "protect" the vietnam wall memorial from anti-war protestors last time I was there.

"Rolling Thunder, the national organization dedicated to supporting veterans and their issues, will be standing guard against anti-war protesters led by Cindy Sheehan and Jane Fonda in Washington, D.C. on March 17. ..."We won't tolerate any destruction," said retired Air Force Col. Harry Riley. "We believe they will try to damage the wall because of their past history. We're not for a confrontation but we will be there to guard. The National Park Police will take aggressive against any attempt to damage the Wall. Still, we need to be there. It's time to fish or cut bait time. We can't allow an environment to continue that basically destroys our troops' morale.""

http://www.usvetdsp.com/feb07/foss_rt.htm

They endorsed Bush over Kerry: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1691429

[bbinacan]

27. They didn't want the wall damaged.

What's wrong with protecting it?

[noamnety]

30. Hmmm.

I'm gonna rephrase that.

What's wrong with creating a national frenzy based on the rumor that anti-war protesters (many of whom are veterans who lost comrades in Vietnam) are planning to vandalize the Wall?

What's wrong with forming a blockade around the wall so that veterans and family members who oppose the war are unable to approach the wall and find the names of people they lost because a line of thugs screaming aggressive shit are forming a blockade around it?

What's wrong with rightwingers acting like they somehow "own" the wall and people on the left are allowed to visit it only on their terms?

What's wrong with portraying people who oppose the Iraq invasion as unAmericans who are destroying the morale of the troops?

Hope that clarifies what's wrong with them.

If they were truly a nonpartisan group - that truly abided by their stated mission - I would support them. What I personally witnessed was nothing I could support.

[bbinacan]

36. And yet they shielded

mourners that Phelps and his group of assholes wanted to protest. Are you so certain that the Wall protesters would have caused no damage. After seeing some of code pink's actions, I wouldn't make that bet.

edit to add: "Rolling Thunder members won't attempt to prevent visitors from going to the Wall. They will react, however, to anyone carrying a can of spray paint or other item that could be used to deface the memorial."

[noamnety]

41. I was there, were you?

They were very clearly hostile, both before the protest (organizing against the protest and spreading false rumors) and during it. It was definitely NOT a case of them being neutral observers. I am not the only one who had that impression:

I had always revered Rolling Thunder — the romantic vision of a Band of Brothers, refugees from a South Asian hellhole whose common experience, really, was the only thing separating them from a certain reckless breed of motorcycle gang. Their annual sojourn to the National Mall for Memorial Day, emblazoned in leather with the simple demand, “Never Forget,” insisted we remember the 58,000 who fell in Vietnam, how they got there and the countless others we pushed away from our consciousness when they came home.

This morning, as I hear the distant roar of their convoys traveling up Route 50 toward the nation’s capital, I am not thinking, as I usually do on Memorial Day, of my uncles and friends who fought in Vietnam. I am mulling over instead the scars of our present war in the Middle East and Central Asia, and how Rolling Thunder disappointed me so, when a large swath of their riders became so patently pro-war under the thrall of rightwing provocateurs like Michelle Malkin, who fueled unfounded rumors that war protesters planned to urinate on The Wall, and deface other war memorials during a 2007 rally on Washington. They proceeded to revel in intimidating Americans who came to the Mall that weekend in peaceful resistance, allowing in effect, Bush Apologists and warmongers to interchange today’s critics of the Iraq and Afghanistan operations with Jane Fonda, Cindy Sheehan and all manner of spitting hippies. Many became tools, wittingly or not, shedding the vestiges of their rebellious origins, for the sake of propping up the Republican Party at a time when most Americans had turned against the war. They allowed their honorable name to be dragged through the partisan muck.

I was at that protest, and watched as these burly guys — and gals — and their friends and followers lined up in menacing gauntlets outside of The Wall to intimidate activists, I was there when they waved the middle finger and screamed f–ck you! at protesters and told me personally, that it was not George W. Bush that got the country into such a mess, but weak-kneed lefties back home, badmouthing the war, not supporting the mission. Just like Vietnam.

http://www.antiwar.com/blog/2009/05/24/rolling-thunder-war-and-memorial-day/

[truedelphi]

48. Thank you. i think some people who were out there protesting the war in 2007 had

These creepie dudes try and drive into them.

The OP is confusing though - the shaman "Rolling Thunder" (now deceased) is one of my faves.

And it is a Dylan band or tour name also.

[cherokeeprogressive]

28. I wouldn't hesitate to challenge anyone I saw defacing The Wall, anti-war protester or not. n/t

[noamnety]

31. And the people who were protesting the war feel the same way.

I would do the same.

The issue is not "protecting the wall."

The issue is that they created a bizzaroworld nasty bit of rumorscaring, trying to convince people that the reason groups like Veterans for Peace were going to DC was to vandalize the wall, and they were the "heroes" who protected it against us.

[Captain Hilts]

15. Weird guys. nt

[tularetom]

16. Started out good, got taken over by wack jobs

When uber patriotism is combined with exclusion of certain racial or ethnic groups, an element is attracted that can only cause trouble.

[imdjh]

18. Where does it say they exclude anyone?

[tularetom]

20. Officially they don't exclude anyone as far as I know

And the sentiment is good.

But there was an incident around here several years back where a group of black bikers was made unwelcome by the organizers of the event.

[Ohio Joe]

17. Good guys

Of course, my vote is not meaningfull since I don't know who they are.

[Dappleganger]

19. The few I know are good guys.

The bikers we tend to ride with are more 'live and let live', however.

[SpiralHawk]

21. Rolling Thunder is also

the name of one of the Painted Ponies. Gud Guys, fer sure.

[liberal N proud]

22. Anything I have seen from them, they are well intentioned

Seen them several times on Memorial Day weekend in DC. Their cause is honorable.

[Enthusiast]

23. For the last few years

they met with and expressed their appreciation for W. Bush. They will not do the same for President Obama. Or, if they do it will be only a very small % of their contingent. Why? Because they are racists.

[bbinacan]

26. Racists?

Can you back that up with some facts?

[Enthusiast]

44. No, I can't actually.

Just the impression I get from reading T-shirts of riders in my area. Sorry if I have misspoken.

[DrDan]

38. racist?

[ProgressiveProfessor]

55. BS, Its a racially mixed group and Obama met with them in DC

[H2O Man]

29. Rolling Thunder Revue

was great. And for a good cause.

[Bluzmann57]

32. Yeah I know who they are

And they are all right. I know a guy who rides with 'em sometimes and although he's an avid RWer, he still means well. I've put him down in front of other people so many times that he likely thinks that I'm no good, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

[stevedeshazer]

33. Good guys, good intent, just not most people's thing.

I disagree with most of 'em on political matters, but their cause is a good one.

[ima_sinnic]

35. I associate Rolling Thunder with Jim Hightower's Rolling Thunder Down-Home Democracy Tour

--but that was apparently a one-time series of events back in 2003. DUers even posted a little about it, that it was coming to NH:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x2388

There thus appear to be references to three different "Rolling Thunder" groups in this thread.

[Bjorn Against]

42. That is what I associate with Rolling Thunder as well, and that is why I voted for good guys.

I saw Jim Hightower speak at labor day festivals here in Minnesota a couple different years, and I thought that both of them were part of the Rolling Thunder tour but perhaps one of those times it was called something different. It appears that people on this thread are thinking of some biker group that I have never heard of so my vote is not meant to be associated with them because I don't know enough about them to have an opinion.

[ima_sinnic]

43. lucky you got to hear him!

Rolling Thunder may have been in 2002 and 2003, not sure. When I read "Rolling Thunder" and then saw nobody had mentioned Jim Hightower, I googled to see whether i was imaining things, lol. Both 2002 and 2003 were mentioned in the list.
I don't really know about this biker group, either.

[Peacetrain]

39. Rolling Thunder is a huge mix.. and God Bless them

for coming and protecting the funerals of our troops from that crazy pastor Phelps who stands out side the funeral homes and churches and tells the families their loved ones deserved to die.

They have their sides to them I do not agree with either,and I mean that emphatically. but as a person who has had to see Phelps in action.. let me just say.. Thank you Rolling Thunder

[riverwalker]

40. The pack thing

is what I never understand (it's just me). When one can only express themselves if in a pack, I always question their authenticity. I always thought these were the same types who go to Sturgis, except now they have the facade of a "cause".

[ProgressiveProfessor]

50. Not even close, but thats OK

[arcadian]

45. They are fucking scum.

I saw them intentionally attack single women at anti-war rallies. They would shout the peace activists down and look for people who were marching by themselves to specifically target.

[Thothmes]

46. I thought President Johnson's

Rolling Thunder bombing campaign agains Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam was a good thing. He was a good guy wan'nt he?

[TankLV]

47. I LOVE the Thunder!!!

Yeah BABY!!!

[aikoaiko]

51. straight piped v-twin exhaust at high RMP is "speech".

:applause:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

56. Indeed, just ask Fred Phelps

Though the V-twins are really low RPM engines. 600cc Ninja with racing pipe...now that's a screamer

[Iggo]

52. Wow, I was way off.

The only Rolling Thunder I know is the bombing campaign from the Viet Nam War.

[Canuckistanian]

60. Ha, I didn't see your post

Jinx!

[Iggo]

61. Looks like Thothmes beat us both by a couple of hours...lol.

Oops...spelled Thothmes wrong on the first try.

[Canuckistanian]

59. The Vietnamese bombing campaign?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Rolling_Thunder
Count me against it.