If President Bush can pardon a turkey at Thanksgiving, then Mayor George Wangemann of Gainesville, Ga., can damn sure pardon a chicken. That is, in fact, what the mayor did, according to Access North Georgia.
Wangemann pardoned a chicken named “Cletus T Clucker” as part of the opening ceremonies for something called the First Annual Corkscrew Festival held Saturday. Apparently, this was some sort of wine festival that had a chicken cook-off, minus Cletus, said the story by writer Fokes Link (surely a nom de plume). The Daily Planet-Studebaker Power Quote of the WeekTM is from Mayor Wangeman explaining how Cletus seemed less than impressed:
“After the pardoning, I tried to pick him up,” said Wangemann, “I thought I was going to be scratched and pecked at, but he ought to be grateful for being pardoned.”
He said that the chicken would be returned to the farm, “So, at least he’s pardoned for a day or two.”
So what is next in this burgeoning epidemic of political amnesty for feathered creatures? Will emus go free? Will pigs fly? And perhaps we should check the campaign contributions just to see if maybe Tom DeLay has been secretly pocketing money from PETA!