"Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet (Sorry.)" was a pejorative used to refer to Ontario Liberal Party opposition leader Dalton McGuinty in a press release disseminated by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on September 12, 2003, during the provincial election campaign in Ontario, Canada.
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Overview
The e-mail press release denounced various Liberal statements as scare-mongering against the Tories' record; the inclusion of the word "sorry" in brackets may indicate that the line's author or authors intended it to be an over-the-top sarcastic comment. According to the Globe and Mail:
One sophomoric staffer [on the Progressive Conservative campaign] decided to vent his frustration with the campaign's reverses by drafting a bogus news release. It ranted about the fact that the media criticize so-called Tory attack ads and praise Mr. McGuinty for taking the self-styled 'high road.' The 'kitten eater' phrase was included at the end as an illustration of a truly extreme attack. The release drew laughs from half a dozen campaign aides who saw it. More tellingly, in a collective somnolence, no one killed the release.[1]
The e-mail was one of many releases all the parties routinely sent out to the press.[2] The Tories normally ended their missives with the more subdued "Dalton McGuinty. He's still not up to the job." Which Tory staffer was responsible for the kitten eater line has never been disclosed. According to John Ivison of the National Post, "sources inside the PC camp say [Tory campaign co-chair Jaime] Watt signed off on it".[3]
The incident was an embarrassment for the Tories, who were already having difficulty in the election. Their leader, Premier of Ontario Ernie Eves, refused to apologize for the incident, but acknowledged that it was "over the top" and that someone had probably drank "way too much coffee."[4] Press reporting on the incident appeared to turn public opinion against the party, not due to the comment itself, but that the fact that it became public suggested a campaign that was badly out of control and growing desperate. The incident came in the middle of a large campaign of attack ads launched by the Tory party targeting McGuinty, most notably focusing on his strong links to the teacher's unions. The release, while likely in jest, was seen as a symbol of the negative turn the Tory campaign had taken.
McGuinty denied the accusation of ailurophagy. "I love kittens, and I like puppies too," he commented. "I have eaten calf, I'll admit to that." Though he initially pledged not to allow the issue to sidetrack the campaign, the Liberals ran with the joke. Slogans involving kittens ("We may be kitten-eaters but we want change") were printed on T-shirts, a group of Liberals meowed at an assembly in Niagara Falls,[5] and McGuinty had his picture taken with a kitten named Snowball as he visited a farm in Stratford.[6]
Editorial cartoonists had a field day with the accusation, depicting the plain-faced McGuinty as a less-than-intimidating reptile creature. Patrick Corrigan of the Toronto Star depicted Eves as a kitten on a plate in front of a hungry McGuinty. Another editorial cartoon[specify] tied the comment to the province's recent tainted-meat scandal, with a reptilian McGuinty reassuring a frightened kitten that he'd never eat uninspected kitten meat.
The accusation may have played a role on election day, three weeks later, when the Liberals received a large victory from voters. After the election, Ivison stated that "it was not the turning point — Tory support was already hemorrhaging — but it was perhaps the defining moment of the campaign."[3]
Possible origins
Sonia Verma of the Toronto Star speculated[7] that the original kitten-eater comment may have been a reference to a scene in the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer in which several (non-reptilian) demons play poker for kittens, one remarking that they are delicious.
It could also have originated from V, a 1980's science fiction miniseries wherein reptilian aliens posing as humans come to earth and invade. The aliens in question have an appetite for kittens, rabbits, rats, and amongst other things humans.
See also
References
- ^ Mackie, Richard (September 16, 2003). "Tories caught catnapping; How ‘kitten-eater' joke in PC war room hairballed quickly along campaign trail". The Globe and Mail: p. A8. Accessed via Factiva, December 26, 2007.
- ^ Smith, Graeme (September 13, 2003). "Kitten-eater controversy litters battle for Ontario; McGuinty shrugs off Tories' catty attack described by Eves as inadvisable joke". The Globe and Mail: p. A4. Accessed via Factiva, December 26, 2007.
- ^ a b Ivison, John (October 3, 2003). "Seeds of defeat sown long before launch of doomed game-plan". National Post: p. OV02.
- ^ Lindgren, April (September 13, 2003). "McGuinty is an 'evil reptilian kitten-eater' and an alien. Who knew?". National Post: p. A7.
- ^ Ireton, Julie (September 27, 2003). "Liberals eat up "kitten" coverage". Ontario Votes 2003 (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). http://www.cbc.ca/ontariovotes2003/notebook/ireton_092903.html. Retrieved on 2007-12-26.
- ^ Szklarski, Cassandra (September 28, 2003). ""Evil reptilian kitten-eater" makes friends with southern Ontario barn kitten". Canadian Press.
- ^ Verma, Sonia (September 13, 2003). "Did Buffy character inspire PCs' "reptilian kitten-eater" insult?". Toronto Star: p. A03. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/404482761.html?did=404482761&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT.
External links
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