A White House Thanksgiving Scandal

From TPM Muckraker:

I think we're all familiar with the big, flashy show that the White House puts on every year when the president pardons his Thanksgiving turkey. In a forced public display of American "mercy," the administration trots out a big fat bird in front of a bunch of cameras, the president makes some funny remarks about democracy and Thanksgiving, and then the bird -- this is key -- doesn't get its head chopped off.

Right?

Think again. Last year, the president pardoned not one but two turkeys on Nov. 22. The next day he was served turkey as part of his Thanksgiving meal, according to White House documents obtained by TPMmuckraker.

That's right: the menu for the Bush Thanksgiving dinner on Nov. 23, 2005, lists "Herbed Stuffed Roasted Free Range Turkey" as its main course.

So maybe "Marshmallow" and "Yam" -- the pardoned turkeys -- didn't get the axe. But some poor bastards did. Is that what we're calling mercy these days? The guilty go free (I assume they were guilty, or else why would they need pardoning), while innocent victims pay the price for their crimes?

Heh, indeedy...