Palin vs. PETA

To round out this week’s Palin-tastic coverage, a note on her latest foe. The PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) crew objected to the most recent episode of her reality show, Sarah Palin’s Alaska. In a statement issued this week, VP Dan Mathews said this about Palin’s caribou hunting, which PETA called “Sarah Palin’s Deadly Bid for Attention”:

“Sarah seems to think that resorting to violence and blood and guts may lure people into watching her boring show. But the ratings remain as dead as the poor animals she shoots.”

Sassiness points may have been achieved (me-YOW!), but the attack is pretty flimsy. The debut of her show set a record for TLC viewership. Ratings took a fall and then bounced back somewhat during the following weeks, but that still hasn’t quite put Alaska at “dead” on the TV scale. (And there are certainly some timing issues, if Mathews is indeed suggesting that this is a ploy to combat bad ratings, as he implies: The show finished filming at least a month ago.) In terms of PETA’s more central objection, Palin had beaten them to the punch with her retort, dished out Dec. 5 on her Facebook page:

“Tonight’s hunting episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska “controversial”? Really? Unless you’ve never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather couch or eaten a piece of meat, save your condemnation of tonight’s episode. I remain proudly intolerant of anti-hunting hypocrisy. :)

PETA picking a fight with someone certainly isn’t new. That said, knowing Palin’s uncanny ability to turn attacks/weaknesses/note-taking controversies into strengths, they’re likely only making this particular foe more adored by her fans.

Related Topics: Uncategorized
  • Latest on Swampland

    Audacity of Dope: Tales of a Toking Teenage Obama

    We knew Barack Obama smoked weed in high school because he wrote about it in his books. What we didn’t know until Buzzfeed posted these choice nuggets (I’m so sorry) from David Maraniss’s new book on the President’s younger years, is the giggle-worthy details of his “Choom Gang” lifestyle, which are right out of a buddy stoner flick. Obama and his friends drove around the lush Hawaii countryside, hot-boxing their VW bus and re-upping with a long-haired pizza-tossing dealer named Ray, who Obama thanked in his yearbook “for all the good times.”

    Obama Administration Blocks Global Health Fund To Fight Disease In Developing NationsHuffPost Politics

    Obama Stumbles? Why the President’s Right to Talk About Bain

    The meme of the day in journo-world is that President Obama has stumbled at the outset of the general election campaign. The evidence for this? Well, uh, there isn’t very much, really–except that a few Democrats have criticized his campaign’s attacks on Mitt Romney’s record at Bain Capital and that Obama’s fundraising is merely humongous, instead of obscenely humongous. The two phenomena are linked, of course: Obama isn’t getting the usual haul from Wall Street because he has outrageously–outrageously!–tried to regulate the bankers who did so much to crash the economy in 2008. The handful of Democrats squawking are people who either (a) get money from private equity firms or (b) have retired and joined Mondo Casino. But there is another side to this story:

  • textee

    Sarah Palin’s youngest daughter could beat the $r@p out of that little neutered PETA fairy.

  • Paul-no not that one

    Katy-Please stay on top of this very important story.

  • http://therealestamerican.wordpress.com therealestamerican

    While, I’m somewhat confused about the whole neutered gayosexual thing, I agree completely! Beatings all around!
    .
    And thank you, O Swampmasters, for another lovely reminder of the lusciously well-informed Sarah Palin! I am approaching a sea of Sarah-filled bliss. And I like swimming!

  • deconstructiva

    Katy, welcome back (you hadn’t posted in awhile). Sarah’s base won’t care what PETA (or anyone else) thinks; your prophecy at end of post will be confirmed. Sarah’s no friend of animal rights. Her ’09 battle with Ashley Judd over shooting wolves from planes is but one example –
    .

    .
    (this video is graphic) This fight also included Palin’s use of “starlets” (sound familiar?). Katy, if you have other examples of Palin feuds or more thoughts, bring ‘em on. Thanks for your thoughts.

  • deconstructiva

    To balance out graphic Judd / Palin video (we must be fair and balanced here), here’s the classic PETA video with Pam Anderson at the TSA screening –
    .
    http://features.peta.org/CrueltyDoesntFly/default.asp
    .
    YES, that is Steve-O in the video.

  • Katy Steinmetz

    Thank you for the welcome. I’ve been dabbling over in Healthland, but there should be some fun inter-blogging happening with the two before next week is through.

  • powerpoultry

    Sarah Palin’s Alaska is the best program on TV: and Sarah is right: People who eat meat or use animal products such as wallets, shoes, or handbags should sit down & shut up.

  • np042

    I feel so dirty; I actually agree with Sarah Palin on something. It took PETA to make it happen, but it’s still………..ughgh

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    Wow PETA or Palin competing to be the world’s most annoying voice in politics….

    You’ve got me. I’m stumped as to which one is more annoying or less significant.
    .
    I can say this for PETA, they do expose some of the unsanitary conditions animals are raised in. It makes me think twice before eating chicken with broccoli from the Chinese restaurant down the street.
    .
    Done.
    .
    Thought twice.
    .
    I’ve got to go pick it up before it gets cold.

  • deconstructiva

    Hope your dinner’s entree is really chicken. Some other cusines do serve up rats.
    .
    http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120222488938344263.html
    .
    Hope they’re NOT intentionally feasted on here. Are there restaurants in NYC that serve real fugu? I’m in no hurry to place a reservation. If fugu is served in the US, I sure as hell hope chefs are licensed as mandated in Japan. Sometimes socialized government regulation is a good idea, like with fugu.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    NYC’s health department is one of the best in the country since takeout is almost a way of life for many – not all – who don’t have any children yet.
    .
    I’m not making this up: the fortune in my fortune cookie was “Made in the USA”.
    .
    LOL.
    .
    I knew fortune cookies were American and not Chinese and most on the East Coast come from Brooklyn, but, I wasn’t expecting that as my fortune.
    .
    When I was a kid I used to wonder if people in China had their Mom’s make fortune cookies, what would they read?
    .
    “You will do your homework and become a star student.”
    .
    “A Saturday with a lawnmower can lead to great wisdom.”
    .
    But, yes, decon, even if they farm raise them in Vietnam, rat meat would be hard to enjoy.
    .
    On the other hand, as long as I know it was farm raised and inspected and end up traveling to Vietnam… I think I might try it.
    .
    Fugu?
    .
    No.
    .
    I don’t want written on my headstone, “adventurous eater”. Licensed or not, even if it is one in one hundred thousand… that is not how I am going to die.

  • apr2563

    Having been around hunters and having cooked and eaten wild game, what Sarah Palin did was not hunting. I took 3 people to help her site her gun and then have the animal herded into her line of site.
    I doubt Sarah has ever hunted to sustain herself or her family.
    .
    Reporters are such shmucks.

  • rdw56

    I don’t know anything about hunting. But I know cutting up an animal you just killed isn’t for sissies or city folk. At katy pointed out PETA is a great enemy to have as are citified liberals who think their meat died of old age surrounded by family and friends in the old age home. She baited you and you took a huge bite.

  • 3xfire3

    Apr,
    .
    You have one of the worst cases of Sarah Palin LWDS that I have ever seen. You should seek medical help immediately before in is too late. I will pray for your recovery.

  • allthingsinaname

    Beyond the PETA thing, if dressing a kill isn’t for sissies does that make Sarah a Butch?
    .
    Just asking.

  • allthingsinaname

    “Tonight’s hunting episode of Sarah Palin’s Alaska “controversial”? Really? Unless you’ve never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather couch or eaten a piece of meat, save your condemnation of tonight’s episode. I remain proudly intolerant of anti-hunting hypocrisy. :) “”
    .
    Ever watch a movie with a rape scene? Do you remain proudly intolerant of the anti-rape hypocrisy?
    .

  • deconstructiva

    Katy did not point out that PETA is a great enemy. Don’t put words in her mouth (especially with yours).

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    Don’t tell me 3X.
    .
    In the middle of Toledo, back when you were a self made multi-millionaire CEOs, you used to have to hunt to feed your family and, therefore, know all about hunting far more than anybody else here could possibly know, right?
    .
    I know that I do not know about hunting. You’re immodesty is ridiculous.

  • deconstructiva

    3x probably has his own horses and hounds for hunting, great for scouring Toledo suburbs for foxes, esp. when wearing bright red English outfits w/ black pointy hats and riding crops. No doubt his Toledo polo team is of Premier League-level caliber. Can he also harvest his own caviar from Lake Erie? Or he just uses his fleet of planes and helicopters to shoot foxes and wolves from the air, like Palin endorses.

  • rdw56

    She look butch to you? Guess all of those kids gives it away?

  • rdw56

    You need adult supervision. That makes no sense.

  • rdw56

    That’s exactly what she is Saying. PETA is itself a zoo. Full of a variety of whackos.

  • 3xfire3

    Patrick,
    .
    I have never been hunting in my life. I love animals but I do understand that hunting is necessary to control the size of the herds.
    .
    In Ohio our deer population for example was [150,000] 20 years ago. Today it is 650,000. Ohio geographically is not a large state. Whenever I drive on the highway I see several dead deer alongside the road. They have become a real danger to motorist. If we did not have people who hunt the deer population in Ohio today would be several million.
    .
    Patrick, I never lie. I do often state my opinions and perceptions which you often disagree with, but I do not lie.
    My wife says I think I’m always right and I usually am. When you combine my analytical nature with my very extensive experiences and education, it allows me to be right most of the time when I take a position on something. At 72 I still have a great hunger to learn new things which I do every single day.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    “I have never been hunting in my life. I love animals but I do understand that hunting is necessary to control the size of the herds.”
    .
    You, apparently, did not read much of my responses with rdw56.
    .
    If I were your age and had not done so by then, hunting would be on my “bucket list” (things to do before one kick’s the bucket) but, being 33 years younger than you, I will not worry about it.
    .
    I love animals – they taste delicious!
    .
    I, also, said that it was when I was a teenager in NYC suburbs when deer hunting in other parts of Connecticut was more limited to a shorter hunting season that caused deer which, otherwise, would starve to come into my town. If you were a deer you wouldn’t like my town. Too much traffic with less than 1% of the land public parks leaving all land owned by people who do not want the deer eating their wife’s flower bed as well as three golf courses where deer are not welcome.
    .
    So, if the alternatives are starvation, being shot or life in the suburbs, I’d do a deer a favor and take him out of his misery.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    “She look butch to you? Guess all of those kids gives it away?”
    .
    Saying that she is butch does not mean that she is a lesbian any more than saying that William F Buckley having been very effeminate acting really meant that he was anything other than heterosexual.
    .
    From what I know of Buckley, who’s primary residence was only a few miles away from where I grew up, there is no way I would believe that he is gay just as there is no way I would believe that Palin is lesbian. But, Cutting up deer is butch and Buckley’s mannerisms were very effeminate.
    .
    I never held it against hm that he crossed his legs like a woman or had a fake, affected English upper class accent nor did I doubt that he was both heterosexual and monogamous.
    .
    Now that I think about it, grizzle bears are very macho creatures so a mama grizzle is a very butch heterosexual woman.
    .
    A mama rabbit is more feminine.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    rdw,
    .
    Very few things make sense to you.

  • rdw56

    perhaps you’d like to explain that stupidity? Start with what exactly what is anti-rape hypocrisy?

    What is this twit trying to say? There is an authentic argument over hunting. There are respectful positions for and against.

    Sorkins soaring hypocrisy is he’s against killing animals for food and furniture unless it’s his food and furniture.

    Who supports rape? It isn’t that the analogy doesn’t work. It’s brain dead.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    Fúck PETA.

  • rdw56

    butch is the term for the more masculine side of the lesbian pair.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    “butch is the term for the more masculine side of the lesbian pair.”
    .
    Or the more masculine of a male gay pair.
    .
    Or just a masculine woman.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    And God save me, for I’m agreeing with RDW and 3X3…
    ~
    The rape scene analogy is puerile, at best. People who use/consume products that come from animals, yet vilify hunting are hypocrites. Full stop. People who watch a movie with a fictional rape scene are not condoning rape, nor demonstrating any tangible hypocrisy. Such fúcking imbecilic reflexivity is annoying.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    The point, as I understand it, is about how the right is hypocritical.
    .
    Obviously nobody supports rape, but, if it is in a movie where it is significant to the plot and not an actual rape happening nor in hard core pornography, liberals will say that it would be an awful thing to happen, but, it is artistic freedom while the right wing protests against it.
    .
    When PETA gets offended, the hypocritical right attacks PETA for being offended.
    .
    I do think PETA is very extreme and do not support them in any way whatsoever. But, they have the right to say that they are offended. Being offended is not just a right wing thing. I, myself, am not offended by much at all except real life violence such as losing thousands of American lives and hundreds of thousands of Iraqi lives so that GWB would gain the 3% to 4% popularity he needed as a “wartime president” to beat John Kerry by 2% (after cheating in Ohio, of course).

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    “And God save me, for I’m agreeing with RDW and 3X3…”
    .
    LOL

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    rdw56,
    .
    Also 2002 through 2006 was a rape scene when Republicans set up the financial collapse while giving away goodies in tax breaks to buddies, exemptions to environmental rules for Haliburton and earmarks for Republicans skyrocketing our debt during a part of the business cycle when Keynesians support both – get this, you might need a cold shower after this – big cuts in spending and, sorry, high taxes paying off debt.
    .
    Our collective butt is still soar from 2002 through 2006.

  • rdw56

    patrick,

    your analogy didn’t help.

  • http://milascurtains.wordpress.com milascurtains

    how about youngest son?

  • allthingsinaname

    Is that so? I am sure that cussing is also proof of your statement
    .
    Here is the deal. We all must eat. Most acknowledge that something must die if we are to eat. What some are against is the wanton, unnecessary, slaughter of an animal for sport. Face that is what it is for, not for the meat, it is all about the size of the rack etc.
    .
    Watching a Rape scene for entertainment , in my mind, is worse. The violence spewed on TV and the movies either sexual or physical is epidemic. If watching it and being entertained by it, is not condoning it, what in God’s name is?

  • allthingsinaname

    And if you believe that Sarah went on that hunt, on national TV, for the meat, you are delusional. And for her to make the statement about hypocrisy, is hypocrisy in itself.

  • rdw56

    You are an airhead. The coolest thing about the clip wasn’t the shooting but her cutting it up. How many citified liberals choked on that scene?

    As far as the rape scenes they’re movies you moron. They’re acting. It’s pretend. Your analogy suggest there was a pro-rape group. It was very poorly thought out.

    Aaron Sorkin got more publicity than anytime since he got busted on coke. He’s writes liberal porn well but that explains his rank hypocrisy. He’s a typical citified liberal. He has no idea how the real world works. What he hates are people who live in that real world. Sorkin got caught with his zipper down and has been shredded all over the media.

  • allthingsinaname

    Did you consume the product?
    .
    It is the same argument that Palin made.
    .

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    Allthings,
    Do you change the channel, walk out a movie theater, or stop your DVD player when scenes conveying actions that you disapprove of come on? What do you watch, feel good fluff pieces? Realism is the only quality worth exhibiting in movies, both positive and negative. Should movie-makers turn a blind eye to the horrors of humanity when making films and have all the characters setting some sort of unrealistic and unattainable moral standard for us all to follow?

  • allthingsinaname

    Actually I watch very little TV or go to very few movies. Yes I have walked out of theaters and turned off the TV at times. The depiction of rape scenes and sexual scenes and, violence have reached levels of reality that need not be depicted to convey the message.
    .
    My point isn’t to list some moral standard here, but to point out that Palin’s argument is false. Just because I eat doesn’t mean that I am hypocrite because I find hunting unnecessary or, oppose it when someone does it for national attention.
    .
    I do not support PETA, I think they are extreme, and in fact I have hunted and, fished, and dressed the kill. I do not hunt anymore and have never hunted deer or big game, I find them too majestic to kill and enjoy their freedom; one I wish I had.
    .

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    To each his own, I suppose. I’ll take realism -even at its grittiest- over fluff any day. Point in case, HBO’s The Wire.

  • allthingsinaname

    Well you can put it that way, but I think you are being too dismissive.

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    I am rather dismissive. It’s in my nature. Pardonne-moi.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    What can I tell ya.
    .
    Just like you do not understand certified conservatives who not only deny economics as you do, climatology as you do, but, also, deny evolution, I do not understand anybody who considers PETA much more than an annoyance.
    .
    BTW: if you get to call PETA a part of being a “certified” liberal, then evolution denying is a part of being a “certified” conservative.

  • http://patricksartor.wordpress.com patricksartor

    “Point in case, HBO’s The Wire.”
    .
    An amazing series. I loved it, too.

  • rdw56

    These comparisons you do are always senseless. But I don’t consider PETA even an annoyance. I think they serve conservative interests much like the anti-war movement, academia, code pink, etc. They’re all flaky movements and if you want to find a holier that thou elitist snob look there. That’s why Palin baited them.

    I’ve been mocking global warming types for well over a decade. Appointing Al Gore ensured your future a failure. You probably think you almost had it, if only Bush wasn’t President. Gore negotiated Kyoto and was so outmaneuvered the Senate voted 95-0 in a resolution to reject it. There was never a possibility of passing it. Liberals burned a ton of energy and time on it and it’s proven to have been a total waste. This is going to linger on getting progressively quieter as the funding drys up. Expect this and a lot of other liberal special interest monies to be eliminated.

  • rdw56

    They’re movies. They’re fake. Those rape scenes you are babbling about. There’s no crime. It’s all fake. They’re called actors. They pretend. That’s what they do. Palin put a real blade to a real dead caribou and cut it’s leg off. No acting. No pretend. All real

  • rdw56

    Just because I eat doesn’t mean that I am hypocrite because I find hunting unnecessary or, oppose it when someone does it for national attention.

    ******************************************
    Of course it’s hypocrisy. It’s the very definition. The hunter kills his own food while sissy Aaron has someone else do his dirty work. The animal is getting butchered anyway and more often than not it’s done more humanely by the hunter. What makes Sorking the fool is Palin did not torture the animal or abuse it in anyway.

    This is why she set you up so perfectly. She knew sane people would respect her side of the argument and the 20% who call themselves liberal would raise a stink generating her priceless advertising.

    This is precisely what Jay was referring to. Her critics serve her well. Sorkin is the guy who made the term ‘ fly-over country’ so powerful. There are still a enough people who hunt or know hunters and know them to very decent people far more aware of the environment that city-slickers. it’s a nice cultural rift for Palin to exploit. A plurality of new yorkers have never been in the great outdoors but will tell you they know a lot more about environmentalism than the rubes who live and/or visit frequently Of course they’re ignorant.

  • 3xfire3

    Patrick,
    .
    “rdw,
    .
    Very few things make sense to you.”
    .
    That’s because the insanity of the Left makes no sense to anyone.
    .
    Liberals are a bunch of low achievers who want help from the government to accomplish goals in life they don’t have the talent or work ethics to achieve on their own.

  • tanboontee

    Who is actually paying for the excessive and countless media exposures of Palin?

    What is the motive behind the intention of whipping up a craze to plant a mediocre at the Oval Office in 2012 in the already messy and pathetic nation?

  • FlownOver

    Shorter, and more comprehensive, Palin:

    “I remain proudly intolerant.”

    Get your “reporter” @$$e$ out of the cable teevee world and finds us some news.

  • 3xfire3

    tanboontee,
    .
    “What is the motive behind the intention of whipping up a craze to plant a mediocre at the Oval Office in 2012 in the already messy and pathetic nation?”
    .
    Messy and Pathetic Nation?
    .
    Only a Total Fool or a European would make such a statement. Which are you?
    .
    In a very short 240 years, the United States have become the greatest nation the world has ever known. It has provided more opportunity for its citizens and millions of immigrants to achieve a life that was not available anyplace else in the world.
    .
    America and it citizens have done substantially more to help the poor and needy of the world than any other nation. America is still the best and most noble country in the world.
    .
    America is not perfect but it is closer to being perfect than any other nation in the world.

  • rdw56

    We should all be so tolerant as sorkin. It’s a good thing if hunters shoot each other in the face. Time is not about journalism. You just figuring this out?

blog comments powered by Disqus