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Who knew? (Even presidential turkey pardoning is BS …)

Who knew? (Even presidential turkey pardoning is BS …)

by digby

Sigh. I’ve kind of loved the Turkey pardon thing because well … I’m a sap. But my Thanksgiving bubble has been burst once again:

Ronald Reagan was technically the first president to “pardon” a Thanksgiving turkey, in 1987 — but he did it as a joke to distract the press from scandal. Reporters had been asking the president if he planned to grant a pardon to key Iran-Contra figures such as Oliver North and John Poindexter, and Reagan quipped that he would have pardoned that year’s turkey had it not been en route to a petting zoo already.

Eventually, Reagan’s successor George H.W. Bush made the turkey pardon an annual ritual in 1989. But it all started as a glib one-liner meant to deflect attention away from White House lawbreaking. Hardly a sacred convention.

Reagan was actually quite a jerk.

But nothing will ever beat this horrific — and hilarious — turkey pardon event.

“I’m in charge of the turkey …”
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