Deadspin
Backing the wrong horse is always deadly in politics, especially when it's an actual horse. Poor Hillary Clinton. How can someone get into trouble just betting on the Kentucky Derby? By making a huge deal about placing a bet on a horse that had to be destroyed right on the track, that's how. Now PETA is firing broadsides at her, as she wonders how she's going to carry a state — Indiana — in which Dee Mirich resides.
Horse superfan Mirich has yet to be heard from on this, but Ingrid Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has written an angry letter to Clinton. A portion:
"Horse racing is as indefensible as dog fighting, and Sen. Clinton must step up immediately and condemn it as animal abuse," Newkirk said. "Eight Belles and countless other horses abused in the racing industry suffer horrendously and die just so that people can bet on them as though they were poker hands."
Clinton had made this statement prior to the race:
"I hope that everybody will go to the derby on Saturday and place just a little money on the filly for me," Sen. Clinton told supporters in Jeffersonville, Ind., ABC News reports. "I won't be able to be there this year — my daughter is going to be there and so she has strict instructions to bet on Eight Belles."
Meanwhile, Ms. Mirich is furiously scribbling her latest poem. An excerpt:
Hillary's Presidential ambitions, at the Rainbow Bridge. Mystical. All, All Beautiful Glowing Rainbows Sending To Angel Hillary. I Love You So A Lot So. Superdelegates with Barbaro and Eight Belles now In The Sea Of Tranquility. God brings Calming Waters, gas tax holiday and a Second spot on the Obama ticket. Halos ..... Breaking ties in the Senate. Affirmed. Posted by: Dee Mirich at May 5, 2008 6:17 PM.
PETA Writes To Clinton About Eight Belles [ABC News]
Clinton Backs Girl Horse In Kentucky Derby [ABC News]
There's Something About Mirich [Deadspin]
Comments
I'll get it out of the way:
Which one is Hillary?
Nice picture of Hillary and Dana Jacobson. What's their connection again?
...and for that matter, Obama hasn't come out aggresively enough against dog fighting or cockfighting. Bastards.
Somebody's getting The Shocker.
Give Hillary's camp 12 hours, and they'll come up with some way to prove that being euthanized on the track means you actually won the race.
Or winning the Derby doesn't count because the Republicans are gonna win Kentucky anyway.
@UkraineNotWeak: On the left, dumbass
@UkraineNotWeak:
Duh, obviously the one on the right. Martin Lawrence is on the left.
/sorry
Great, ads for the Sex and the City movie are even showing up here?
No, Hell NO.
@THEGINOCIMOLICONSPIRACY: Also, I haven't heard him explicitly state that he opposes an alien takeover of this planet. WHAT IS OBAMA HIDING?!
@BigTenObsession: +1
Nicely done
I would like to see the PETA people discuss ideas with the "Its a Fucking Horse!" coalition of Deadspin commentators.
There's a jockeys vs. Jockey's joke in there somewhere, I just can't find it.
Eight Belles didn't break both ankles...Hillary had her Vince Fostered for failing to win.
You almost have the entire Clinton clan. Where is a photo of Bill?
What's her stance on cigar-banging?
And is that her O-face?
Not a good sign for Hillary that the filly lost to Big Brown
Man, Chelsea has really let herself go.
Glue, no.
She was in favor of horse racing before she was against it.
Yet PETA remains silent when a drunken Yankees fan kills a Red Sox fan in the parking lot of a bar.
This isn't the first politician to bet on sports. Former New Jersey Gov. James McGreevey was a big fan of cockfighting.
Mainly because he got to say "cock".
John McCain prefers horse and buggy racing - it reminds him of his youth.
I keep forgetting how batshit crazy PETA is, and then I'm reminded every spring while sipping a mint julep and whipping my horse.
/euphemism
Wait a second, horse racing is like dog fighting? And horse racing is legal. Call Marcus and tell him to buy me some horses for when I get out. I'm starting up Bad Newz Stables.
-Ookie
I think Dick Chaney volunteered to shoot her and put her out of her misery.
Note the trend - Hillary has previously placed bets on:
i) Owen Hart over the Godfather,
ii) the over on Brandon Lee's career box office receipts, and
iii) the guy who fell into the fire in the second season of "Survivor".
Was the horse shot by an Iraqi sniper?
@shea_guevara: Well, he got to Horsey Heaven first.
That's not her O face, that's Bluto's "He shot the fucking horse" face.
I detest PETA, because their screaming batshit fucked-in-the-head rhetoric drowns out legitimate animal welfare groups and does FAR more harm than good to the cause of animal welfare.
/dick joke
"Horse racing is as indefensible as dog fighting..."
Sorry, I was laughing too hard to read the rest.
PETA should put its concerns in other issues that are more important.....like neutering bill clinton. hillary might support that.....
This is like that time McCain bet on the Emperor before his fight with Maximus.
Hillary Clinton, horses, losing to Big Brown in a race ...
I got nothing.
/shits on racing track
Sarah Jessica Parker heartily endorses Hillary!
@jwaves2007: Some animals ought to be put down.
@A Pimp Named DaveR: +1
@Weed Against Speed:
John McCain prefers chariot racing - it reminds him of his youth.
Fixed.
@Doyle McPoyle:
Well, Maximus did die, so that was a push.
@Gourmet Spud: Nicely done, sir.
The Horse broke it's fucking legs
/Vonnegut
I guess Hillary and Eight Belles are both inevitable...inevitably going to the glue factory!
Wow. The sad part is I have worse jokes in my head.
Oh, PETA. The little political action committee that could.
Guess they shouldn't have held the Kentucky Derby in Bosnia this year.
@Chones_Chonies:
Actually, Chelsea has become borderline hot. For me, anyway.
Resume Hillary/horse comparisons.
At least Eight Belles probably realized that she had lost.
Culprit found in shamelessly alienating the majority of the Democratic party for her own glory and self-obsessed ambition. It's Hillary, Of Course
/fixed
@Civil Negligence: +1. Nothing like a solid old people joke.
Run you stupid fucking candidate, run!
@BigTenObsession: I think that is actually Dwight Howard on the left.
Ah yes, my favorite picture of Hillary from her cameo in the video for "Black Hole Sun."
/Soundgarden'd