Leaders of a veterans organization roared through the gates of the White House on their motorcycles Sunday to deliver their endorsement of President Bush for reelection.
Bush greeted the Rolling Thunder bikers, including the group’s president, Artie Muller, who rumbled up the south driveway with singer and veterans advocate Nancy Sinatra on the back of his gleaming Harley Davidson. Sinatra is an honorary member.
While Rolling Thunder Inc. is relatively small at under 8,000 members and backed Bush in 2000, the White House promoted the public show of support as it wages military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“I’m really proud to have you stand by me, but more importantly, I appreciate the tremendous service that the members of Rolling Thunder perform on behalf of our veterans and active duty armed forces,” Bush said in a telephone address to a Rolling Thunder rally in the capital.
As Bush met the group’s leaders, presumptive Democratic nominee John Kerry, a decorated Navy lieutenant in Vietnam, campaigned nearby with other veterans.
Kerry’s campaign was critical of the endorsement, saying Bush wants to cut veterans funding. “The fact is, this White House regularly breaks its promises to America’s veterans,” said Kerry spokesman Phil Singer.
But Rolling Thunder, in a letter endorsing Bush, said the administration has increased veterans’ access to housing and health care services.
“We don’t believe in what John Kerry stands for,” Gary Scheffmeyer, the group’s vice president, said in an interview. ”The country’s at war, and it’s not time to think about changing presidents.”
Muller, a Vietnam combat veteran, founded Rolling Thunder in 1987 to publicize the POW-MIA issue. It later became a nonprofit and helps veterans with benefits and outreach as well as the effort to assist former prisoners and account for missing service personnel.
Rolling Thunder holds its annual motorcycle rally in the nation’s capital each Memorial Day weekend.
