h/t: Heather

Sarah Palin is kicking off her One Nation bus tour this weekend at the Rolling Thunder motorcycle rally in Washington, D.C.

Rolling Thunder spokesman Ted Shpak said Friday that the former Republican vice presidential candidate was a "big distraction" from their mission of trying to bring awareness to prisoner of war/missing in action issues.

"She wasn't invited," he told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell. "We don't endorse nobody. We have our program after our run down at the Lincoln Memorial and she's not invited to speak. We're not endorsing her."

"I know it's an open event," Mitchell noted. "She can get on the back of a Harley but you're not exactly going to have her bus as part of your event."

"Absolutely not. We're here for a reason and in a way this is been taking away from the reason we're here," Shpak explained. "It's a big distraction."