Suitably Flip

PETA vs. Palin

Long-time readers know there are few things I enjoy more than dumping on PETA - particularly during the holidays, as it's the holidays (Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, et al) when PETA typically tries to spoil the good time for we non-enlightened meat eaters.

True to form, the group recently posted a profoundly boring holiday game in which kids can throw snowballs at famous transgressors who deign to feed and clothe themselves with animal flesh.  One of the villains is a bikini-and-fur-clad Sarah Palin, a casting choice that ultimately led to an entertaining flurry of emails between the Governor's office and Ingrid Newkirk (Queen of the malnourished malcontents, who we've featured in these pages in the past).

There's some debate over the lead-up to this email exchange, but suffice it to say that PETA claims that someone called PETA's office claiming to represent Governor Palin and threatened to sue over the game.  PETA failed to obtain any identifiable information about the caller, but went ahead and published word of the threatened lawsuit on their website, crediting Palin's office with the threat, without bothering to verify any of the details with her office.

Via Politico (as reported to them by PETA), the following exchange ensued.

From: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:26 AM
To: christined@peta.org
Subject: The PETA Files

Your website claims we have threatened to sue you. What do you base this on? Be specific.

Bill McAllister
Director of Communications/Press Secretary
Office of Governor Sarah Palin

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:52 AM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: To answer your enquiry:
Importance: High

Dear Mr. McAllister,

We base this on a phone call. Why don’t you ask in your office and be specific as to on what grounds you can sue us? We know that we can use the game as it’s pure parody. I thought people in Alaska had a sense of humor? Ingrid Newkirk

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 3:54 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry:

That’s not very specific. Who called? Name and title given? Did you even attempt to verify it was genuine? Or are facts just cumbersome?

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:56 AM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry:

Do they train you to be rude?

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 3:58 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry:

OK, so the bottom line is, you have attitude, but no facts. Sounds about right.

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 12:21 PM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: So, are you backing down up there?

No, YOU have attitude, and it’s a bad one, and so did your legal emissary who must have gone to the same charm school.

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:03 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: So, are you backing down up there?

Our still unnamed legal emissary, huh? Whether or not I’m charming in your eyes, at least I’m accountable.

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 1:59 PM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: sorry?

You will be when you die, don’t you think? Did someone put Red Bull in your water cooler? Are you now saying that no one called from your office, that’s my question, or did the person who called overplay his hand, or what, not that I really care any more?

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 6:09 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: sorry?

To answer the question in your subject line, yes, you are sorry.

I wouldn’t know if the person who (allegedly) called overplayed his (a man, then? – still waiting for more details) hand. No one here knows what you’re talking about.

Oh, you used to care? Which decade was that?

Politico adds:

McAllister says he is miffed about the alleged call Newkirk received. "This allegation about a lawsuit is just too much," he said. "No one in our office knew anything about it. And PETA has refused to say who called."

I know I get testy when I'm hungry.  Poor Ms. Newkirk has been hungry her whole life.  If she could only manage to get over her cibophobia once and for all and chow down on a nice, protein-rich Christmas ham this year, I suspect she'd have a much happier holiday season.

Comments

PETA vs. Palin

Long-time readers know there are few things I enjoy more than dumping on PETA - particularly during the holidays, as it's the holidays (Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, et al) when PETA typically tries to spoil the good time for we non-enlightened meat eaters.

True to form, the group recently posted a profoundly boring holiday game in which kids can throw snowballs at famous transgressors who deign to feed and clothe themselves with animal flesh.  One of the villains is a bikini-and-fur-clad Sarah Palin, a casting choice that ultimately led to an entertaining flurry of emails between the Governor's office and Ingrid Newkirk (Queen of the malnourished malcontents, who we've featured in these pages in the past).

There's some debate over the lead-up to this email exchange, but suffice it to say that PETA claims that someone called PETA's office claiming to represent Governor Palin and threatened to sue over the game.  PETA failed to obtain any identifiable information about the caller, but went ahead and published word of the threatened lawsuit on their website, crediting Palin's office with the threat, without bothering to verify any of the details with her office.

Via Politico (as reported to them by PETA), the following exchange ensued.

From: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:26 AM
To: christined@peta.org
Subject: The PETA Files

Your website claims we have threatened to sue you. What do you base this on? Be specific.

Bill McAllister
Director of Communications/Press Secretary
Office of Governor Sarah Palin

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:52 AM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: To answer your enquiry:
Importance: High

Dear Mr. McAllister,

We base this on a phone call. Why don’t you ask in your office and be specific as to on what grounds you can sue us? We know that we can use the game as it’s pure parody. I thought people in Alaska had a sense of humor? Ingrid Newkirk

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 3:54 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry:

That’s not very specific. Who called? Name and title given? Did you even attempt to verify it was genuine? Or are facts just cumbersome?

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 11:56 AM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry:

Do they train you to be rude?

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 3:58 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: To answer your enquiry:

OK, so the bottom line is, you have attitude, but no facts. Sounds about right.

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 12:21 PM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: So, are you backing down up there?

No, YOU have attitude, and it’s a bad one, and so did your legal emissary who must have gone to the same charm school.

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 5:03 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: So, are you backing down up there?

Our still unnamed legal emissary, huh? Whether or not I’m charming in your eyes, at least I’m accountable.

From: Ingrid Newkirk [mailto:ingridn@peta.org]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 1:59 PM
To: McAllister, William D (GOV)
Subject: sorry?

You will be when you die, don’t you think? Did someone put Red Bull in your water cooler? Are you now saying that no one called from your office, that’s my question, or did the person who called overplay his hand, or what, not that I really care any more?

From: McAllister, William D (GOV) [mailto:bill.mcallister@alaska.gov]
Sent: Tuesday, December 23, 2008 6:09 PM
To: Ingrid Newkirk
Subject: RE: sorry?

To answer the question in your subject line, yes, you are sorry.

I wouldn’t know if the person who (allegedly) called overplayed his (a man, then? – still waiting for more details) hand. No one here knows what you’re talking about.

Oh, you used to care? Which decade was that?

Politico adds:

McAllister says he is miffed about the alleged call Newkirk received. "This allegation about a lawsuit is just too much," he said. "No one in our office knew anything about it. And PETA has refused to say who called."

I know I get testy when I'm hungry.  Poor Ms. Newkirk has been hungry her whole life.  If she could only manage to get over her cibophobia once and for all and chow down on a nice, protein-rich Christmas ham this year, I suspect she'd have a much happier holiday season.