Idiots, assholes, or both? We report, you decide.

[tzikeh]

Continuing his final days' streak of "burn everything to the ground and then salt the earth," Bush is rushing to push legislation through that will undermine the Endangered Species Act, weaken workplace safety restrictions, and give your local police the power to spy on you.

Meanwhile, continuing her streak of having Absolutely No Clue about Any Fucking Thing, Sarah Palin goes on the local news in Wasilla to pardon a turkey for Thanksgiving, and then proceeds with the interview about how brutal politics are for three full minutes while turkeys are slaughtered behind her. (Link is to text, but there is also video if you, uh, really want to see it.)

The cognitive dissonance alone....

Comments

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

I think the best part is how the turkey-guy keeps turning around to look at the camera crew, as if to say, "Uh, you guys? Really? Maybe you should re-think where you're pointing that thing ..."

(I quit watching after about a minute - Palin was getting to me far more than the turkeys.)

[ratcreature]

Well, as a long-term vegetarian I think it is kind of hypocritical when people eat meat, but want the bloody aspect of that practice tastefully hidden so they don't have to see the suffering and pain but get it cleanly from some supermarket. So I find it entirely appropriate that talks about Thaksgiving turkey ("pardoned" or otherwise) take place in a slaughterhouse.

[lanning.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, this is a classic. Honestly, she never ceases to amaze me. I've never before seen such a perfect storm of ignorance, arrogance and insensitivity in the form of a public official. Even Bush can't touch her.

[brak666.livejournal.com]

Well, as an avvowed carnivore I have to say I'm fairly indifferent to the plight of food animals. So I'm having a slightly different reaction than most of my friends. I grew up in a farming town. I've always known where my food comes from. But I still find it amusing that she's talking about how nice it is to get away from the brutality of politics and do something fun and happy while animals are being beheaded behind her.

[jackycomelately.livejournal.com]

Yup. I never get how my co-workers agonize over a bird that just hit the window at lunch while at the same time happily eating wings.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

The point wasn't about the hypocrisy of eating meat but being squeamish about seeing how food is slaughtered, though. The point was that she "pardoned" a turkey so it could live, and then stood there in front of all the turkeys being killed and talked about how glad she was to get away from the "brutality" of politics.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

The point wasn't about the hypocrisy of eating meat but being squeamish about seeing how food is slaughtered, though. The point was that she "pardoned" a turkey so it could live, and then stood there in front of all the turkeys being killed and talked about how glad she was to get away from the "brutality" of politics.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not the killing of the animals that's the point -- it's the cognitive dissonance of *pardoning* a turkey so it can live, while yapping along in front of all of that butchering.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

Palin was getting to me far more than the turkeys.

HEE!!

[lanning.livejournal.com]

You know, the more I watch that clip, the more I'm reminded of that Python sketch where John Cleese is cheerfully and earnestly pitching his design of an apartment building featuring rotating knives and heavy soundproofing.

[ratcreature]

It's great to show how completely ridiculous turkey pardons are though. I get that this is not the most clever setrup from a PR standpoint, but most turkeys are getting eaten, pardon for one or not, so the scenery is honest at least. (And considering how factory farming of poultry is, the death may just be the least brutal part of their lives.) I think the background of turkeys being killed while she talks about other things, indifferent it, is not much different from people being happy eating the turkey that was slaughtered elsewhere, neatly away from the own eyes.

I admit the talk about brutal politics is given unintentional irony through this background. (I haven't watched the video, youtube is screwy for me right now, so I didn't really know about the video's details when commenting.)

[grace-om.livejournal.com]

Yes. It actually looked like a good turkey farm (from what we could see), and the fact that they were slaughtering on site is preferable from a welfare point of view (as opposed to crowded, dirty and long transport to a factory). BUT the point is what she was talking about while in front of that scene. I eat meat, and I understand it means killing animals, but it is not and should not be considered FUN to do or watch. It's about getting it done as humanely as possible.

[klia.livejournal.com]

Ugh, yeah, I called my reps' offices in D.C. yesterday to ask them to please do everything they could to stop this legislation, saying W has already wreaked enough havoc on the environment and workers' and civil rights.

I wish Palin would just crawl under a rock on the tundra somewhere. She drives me bugfuck insane.

[latxcvi.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why Palin is so emotionally tone-deaf. Like, how did she not see the disconnect in pardoning one turkey (which is kind of goofy but the sort of thing you expect from local news stations at the holiday season) but then standing right in front of where several others were being slaughtered. I don't understand why she didn't have the presence of mind to at least, I don't know, step to the right or left so that shit wasn't going on right behind her after she'd just acted in a contrary manner to it! I can't fault the reporter, 'cause hey, that's kind of savvy to just let her stand there like that. But Palin should have known better!

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

But Palin should have known better!

See, before the race, I'd have said "Oh, well, she's a very-small-town mayor and whatever", but now... just the worst handling team ever. There's no other explanation. She's *still* spouting things that are just wrong, and stupid, and stupidly wrong.

What worries me is that her people have been informed by Someone More Important to just let her do and say whatever she likes, because the GOP base *loves* her that way. That part is far more frightening than one lone fucking idiot with a rifle in a helicopter over Alaska.