An Alaskan blogger's-eye-view of Palin's GobbleGate fiasco

By GottaLaff

Kris Perry on far left NOT nudging Scott Jensen while he's filming Sarah Palin. Considering how he's holding the camera, wouldn't nudging him have made the camera jerk rather violently and/or hit the interviewer in the head?

Celtic Diva has a whole lot of information for us about GobbleGate because, well, she was there. Please go read her first-hand accounts.

Here's an update on how Pallin'-Around-With-Slaughtered-Turkeys is trying to weasel her way out of yet another p.r. disaster:

Here's the latest BS from the Governor's office:

[Communications Director, Bill McAllister] said that, while the cameras were rolling and a worker at the farm began placing turkeys head-down in a big metal cone to cut their necks and drain blood, Kris Perry, the governor's friend and director of her Anchorage office, "was actually physically nudging (the KTUU videographer), saying 'look at this,' and encouraging him not to frame the shot to include that, or to do something about it later, where he wouldn't use it," McAllister said.

- I believe award-winning photo-journalist Scott Jenson when he told CC on KUDO 1080 yesterday that Sarah Palin, along with assistant Kris Perry, chose the spot where the interview took place. Whether the "slaughter" was going on or not, THE TUB AND THE FUNNELS WERE FULL OF BLOOD AND GUTS!!!! What idiots (whether the Governor or her staff) would choose to film there?

Scott's story and the crew's version has been consistent from the beginning, it's been the Governor's office whose story has been rather...ahhh..."fluid." [...]

- Kris Perry WAS NOT "nudging Jensen" during the whole interview because she was walking all around while it was going on!!! Perry WALKED RIGHT PAST ME AND STARED (I was trying figure out who she was) during the interview while I was waiting for the cameras to move so I could get a shot of the pardoned turkey. She walked back to the spot where you see her in the picture above, NOT NUDGING Scott Jensen. She's even smiling in the picture at the top taken later...while she was NOT NUDGING Scott Jensen nor at an angle to do so.

To clarify, I can't say whether or not she EVER "nudged" him. However, I don't know too many people that would nudge a camera man while he was trying to hold a camera steady shooting interview footage of their boss.

- Suppposed friend of the Governor, Corrections Department Commissioner Joe Schmidt, was there yakking it up with the folks around him. He didn't do anything either!

- Finally, Bill McAllister, WHERE WERE YOU???? WHY WEREN'T YOU THERE WITH YOUR BOSS MAKING SURE SOMETHING LIKE THIS DIDN'T HAPPEN? [...]

I also understand there are some folks who are upset with me for writing the following:

I think KTUU angled it a bit that way on purpose. (Note to Governor Palin's staff: Did you not think that...just maybe...the camera crews would be salivating to get a shot to the network that so perfectly fit the lower-48 "Palin stereotype?")

- If you look at the video, it is clear that Gov. Palin is not centered, but is being filmed slightly on the left side of the screen, while the turkey funnels are on the right. [...]

That being said:

HE HAD EVERY RIGHT TO SHOOT IT THAT WAY! Again, it was the responsibility of Governor Palin and her people to make sure the setting was appropriate for the message they were trying to convey.

THIS BOTCHED EVENT WAS THE FAULT OF THE GOVERNOR AND HER STAFF...PERIOD.

I wonder how many Thanksgivings have been ruined by that nauseating little photo op. Oh, and the graphic images of the turkeys were sickening, too. Snerk.

Go here for lots more of Celtic's turkey's-eye-view of the event. She posted more photos, and has plenty of interesting observations about that day, having been there to witness everything personally.