Gov. Dayton pardons turkey, but bird ain't got what it takes to make it on the outside

Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton pardons (live) turkey. (Photo: Hunger Solutions)

Well, it's the time of year for state and federal executives to make a show out of "pardoning" a turkey before Thanksgiving, the time of year when untold millions of turkeys are sold and consumed in the United States. As you can see here Gov. Mark Dayton "pardoned" a turkey in St. Paul today.

That's nice. And maybe I don't see enough of these things, but this is the first turkey pardon photo op I've seen where the bird is positioned alongside its DEAD, PROCESSED, WRAPPED BRETHREN.

Furthermore, according to accounts of the press conference, one of the turkey officials -- when asked what would happen to the turkey -- said he was just pardoned "for tomorrow."

So this was a STAY, not a pardoning! And how'd they get that turkey to lie down like that? Gaaaa!

Anyway, the Minnesota Turkey Growers Assocation donated more than 11,000 pounds of turkey to Hunger Solutions for Thanksgiving, and that's good. But from a public relations point of view this whole deal kicks off a lot of mixed messages.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving. I am going to eat so much turkey to forget about this feeling in my soul right now. 

UPDATE: I see now from re-reading the press release that they didn't even bill this as a turkey pardon. This was a "turkey event." Oh, my.