Friday, November 21, 2008

Let's Talk Turkey, Sarah

Folks who know me personally might remember me going Super Nova (just a little bit) over the incredible ineptitude of the McCain-Palin Advance Team.

The Advance Team for McCain-Palin put John McCain against a green screen (making him look like cottage cheese on lettuce), and they put up pictures of tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery behind Mitt Romney while he endorsed John McCain and spoke about our impending "victory in Iraq" during the Republican National Convention.

My personal favorite moment was when John McCain was speaking at the Republican National Convention and they put up a picture of what appeared to be a huge mansion behind him.

What? Is that one of his four, five, seven houses? I certainly did not recognize the building. And how could I have? It turned out to be Walter Reed Junior High School in Beverly Hills, California -- not Walter Reed Army Hospital here in Washington, D.C.

Hey, when advancing a show to be seen by 50 million people, just throw anything up on the screen. Who cares?! Details are for ... Democrats.

So you will forgive me if I thought I had seen it all with team McCain-Palin.

Silly me!

The video, below, comes from a recent Sarah Palin interview.

Watch what is happening in the background. Now that's good Advance Work, eh?

Happy Thanksgiving!


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12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well, on the other hand, the interview serves as an EXCELLENT tutorial on the "cone" method of slaughtering poultry, ideal for the small poultry operation or even for the family that just wants to raise a couple dozen birds for the home freezer.

With economic situation, one never know when information like that will come in handy.

PBurns said...

Indeed it does, and a killing cone is the way to go -- just get a sheet of aluminum, a metal snip, and a nail to hammer it into the wall. The old "string around one foot, over the back, and string around both feet" method works pretty well too. The trick, as you know, is to avoid the "runners."

Did I tell you I used to have about 25 chickens in North Africa? True. Eggs and meat. Chickens are the best bird on the planet, and a lot of them are beautiful to boot.

That said, holding a political TV interview in front of a killing cone is just stupid, especially when the news story is how you just "pardoned" one of them.

Turkey pardons are nonsense anyway of course; the modern birds rarely live 5 months past a normal slaugher period, as they have been bred for HUGE chests which come
attached to MAJOR heart issues.

The heart conditions on modern "big breasted" meat chickens and turkeys, in fact, is so serious that the "death before harvest" numbers for some breeds (Purdue's I am told is one of them) may be as high as 15%, with the died-too-young-to-serve birds recycled into dog food and "pieces."

Patrick

Chas S. Clifton said...

Two points:

1. The election is over.

2. Use a comma before names in direct address: "Let's talk turkey, Sarah."

It's the difference between "Let's eat Patrick" and "Let's eat, Patrick."

Anonymous said...

Gotta love poultry pieces, little of the honey mustard on there and yum.

Back when they picked her, I thought Rove had lined up another coup: somebody as blank and vapid as GW Bush but photogenic and conservative to counteract McCain. I was worried the Obama folks would underestimate her and not treat her as a serious adversary.

Turns out I overestimated her.

Patrick had this race picked a long time ago.

PBurns said...

Yes, the election is over, but this is still news, which is why its featured on CNN and The Daily Show, Rush Limbaugh, Reason Magazine and National Review. Palin is, as they say, is "not ready for prime time" outside of the laugh track of humor shows. She is like a small child and unless we want her back, we need to remind folks of that. And no,. most of the conservatives stil have not gotten that message.

You are right about the comma, of course. On the other hand, perhaps Sarah really IS a turkey. As Rush Limbaugh notes, "Turkeys are among the dumbest birds roaming the earth, and I don't want to hear from turkey farmers about this. Well, they always call to defend the birds when I mention this, but they're dumber than everything else." And Rush is never wrong, LOL.

That said, let me add a comma before someone eats, shoots and leaves. Thanks!

P

Anonymous said...

I could respect this were she making a point that meat does not grow in styrofoam trays. But she's not, and in any case, it certainly is not going to win the hearts of the people. Not that I mind if she works hard at keeping out of the next election.

The video is almost funny to me. She's dressed up real nice, Starbucks cup in hand, laughing while turkeys are slaughtered behind her. And the guy doing it is somehow amusing as well.

thanks for a cheerful start to the day

Anonymous said...

This was a SCREAM! But it makes one shudder to think, with the right set of circumstances, this person could have been our PRESIDENT! How scary is that?.... I had(and hope to have again--waiting for the "bird flu" scare to die down some more--quarantine issues and all for us zookeepers) chickens too--nothing like fresh eggs from happy chickens. I got too attached to mine as individuals, though, and did not kill them and put them in the freezer like I planned when egg production dropped, so I learned that the lifespan of Rhode Island Red and Sex-Link chickens is between 8 and 12 years! And if being dumb justifies the killing of domestic turkeys for food(according to Rush Out-On-A-Limbaugh), we need to make some bigger tin cones for the slaughter of folks like himself!...L.B.

Chas S. Clifton said...

The Palin video serves as a litmus test to determine which omnivores can deal with where their meat comes from and which cannot--that's how I see it.

Say what you like about Gov. Palin's politics, she is someone who knows where the meat on her plate comes from.

Poultry raisers know that the cone works well to calm and hold the bird before its throat is cut.

This interview will probably turn out to have been filmed at the organic turkey farm favored by Anchorage yuppies. ;-)

PBurns said...

I haven't seen or heard of anyone (not on this blog or anywhere else) mention any concern for the turkeys; people are pretty OK with the fact that turkeys are killed, same as they are that there are pelvic and prostate exams, people having sex, Don's John's being cleaned out, deer being shot in the woods, and all the rest.

I think you would be hard pressed to find, however, a politican of any type anywhere doing a standup with that going on behind them. Only Sarah Palin, who is about as self-aware as a three year old.
If she was talking about where meat comes from or working conditions for slaughter house workers, that would be one thing, but as always she's talking about herself.

P.

Anonymous said...

The folks over at Comedy Central have it sized at >> http://blog.indecision2008.com/tag/sarah-palin/:

"It amazes me that conservatives are still apologizing for Sarah Palin, even now that the election is over and nobody has to pretend that she's the brilliant genius of intelligent smartness that conservatives had to pretend she was. Can't we just admit that
she's a train wreck and move on to things that are less blatantly obvious?

"Apparently, not. Here's Redstate's Dan McLaughlin feigning indignation at everyone's amazement over Palin's recently released turkey slasher film...

"Folks, this is how farming works: you raise animals, then you kill them and eat them. Here in New York City, we don't get much exposure to the business end of that process, but people across the country who have farmed or hunted know that it's part of life, and has been as long as human beings have been eating animals.

"It's not a bad thing to have some people in public life who aren't shocked by where our food comes from.

"That's all true. And I am solidly not opposed to killing turkeys for food. In fact, I'm all in favor of it. If nobody was killing turkeys for food, I wouldn't get to eat turkeys as food. And I really like eating turkeys as food.

"The real issue here, obviously, isn't that turkeys are killed for food. It's that maybe turkeys being killed for food maybe isn't the absolute best backdrop for a video interview.

"But maybe I'm over-reacting. If you think about it, it is sort of refreshing in a salt-of-the-earth, mavericky way. After all, it is just a fact of life that we all should be able to deal with.

"You know what? I've changed my mind! I like this. Seriously, I do. In fact, I'd like to see Sarah Palin give more interviews like this. Like, maybe she could give an interview in front of a hospital patient with severe brain damage being removed from life support by her doctor. Or in front of a child being told that he's been diagnosed with Mosaic Down Syndrome. Or in front of a constipated old lady with hemorrhoids trying to move her bowels.

"After all, these are all just facts of life. Nothing to be ashamed of. And why not chose them as appropriate backdrops for the state governors to conduct interviews in front of?

Seems like a no-brainer."

- Bill

Anonymous said...

One report indicated that Sarah Palin told the film crew that anywhere on the turkey farm was fine for filming her, stating, "No worries." So, she either isn't cognizant of her surroundings or is completely tone-deaf about appearances, making her either unaware, clumsy, or both.

As for commentary regarding the election being over, etc., how quickly people on the losing end this time forget the incessant chanting from their side the last couple of elections of, "You lost, get over it", as demands were made for Dems to take down their signs and remove their bumper stickers. I still see plenty of both that say "McCain/Palin". With my blessing, you may display them as long as you wish. ;)

Seahorse

PBurns said...

Check out Letterman's Top 10 on Sarah Palin and the turkey. >> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/24/top-10-sarah-palin-excuse_n_146235.html

P