When it was announced that potential Presidential candidate Sarah Palin would attend the Rolling Thunder biker rally on Sunday as part of her mysterious political bus tour, some members of the group complained that she would be "a big distraction."

But what's a few extra reporters in exchange for the chance to see the inevitable (though not unwelcome) sight of Sarah Palin riding on a Harley? Apparently, too much. Palin arrived at Sunday’s rally on a motorcycle driven by her daughter Willow, Politico reports, and only drew about 200 people around her, compared to the thousands in attendance. But organizers of the ride were "clearly frustrated by the media attention and fuss brought by Palin... Yelling, and in a few instances, shoving, they tried to keep away press trying to snap photographs or capture a rare quote." As Palin gave no announcement as to when or how she would arrive, security and press relations were left to "a small group of disgruntled bikers."

“I’m very not appreciative of the way she came in here,” Ted Shpak, the national legislative director for Rolling Thunder, told the Washington Post. Palin apparently came in the front of the Pentagon’s north parking lot, where event staff and press were assembled. “If she wanted to come on the ride, she should have come in the back.”

Another attendee said, “I think she has no reason the be involved in this. If she’s launching her campaign to run for president, I don’t think this is the place to start.” And another agreed: “I don’t think she has any business having anything to do with Rolling Thunder. It’s not a political statement, so to speak. It’s not a Republican or a Democrat thing.”

Ah well. But if Palin needs some cheering up, she need only look to John McCain, who said on "Fox News Sunday" that "of course" Palin can beat Obama in 2012. He may have been her biggest fan all along.

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