Palin talks turkey

Atrios already snagged the best title for this bizarre event -- Slaughterhouse Live. Palin, seeking to keep the spotlight focused on her presidential ambitions, decided to pardon a turkey yesterday in Wasilla. An occassion only notable for her awkward reading of the legalese. However, the press conference afterwards will go down in history as the most tone deaf media avail ever. I wasn't that grossed out by it, but I spent years on the farm. I think most Americans won't find it that, um, palatable. Highlights are at the link or you can see the entire lame event uncut here.

Pardoning a turkey is traditionally done by the President every Thanksgiving but if it's customary for governors to do this as well, I don't recall it being done on a wide scale. I assume she was trying to plant a subliminal message about her future presidential stature. What message she was trying to send with the staging for the avail afterwards is hard to say. Brings new meaning to the idea of tossing red meat to the base.

Of course, the best antidote to this incident is the classic WKRP turkey drop. Still makes me laugh after all these years.

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