Obama Thanksgiving pardon: Turkey has 'appointment with destiny'

This post has been corrected. Please see note at bottom for details.

As the White House prepares to conduct the annual pardoning of a turkey, a preview of the 2009 annual event brought it home with a western theme. The official video featured mournful whistling and a voiceover saying the president would save one "turkey from a bad situation, a turkey from a bad environment .... One turkey gets a second chance."

The bird had "an appointment with destiny," the video intoned. "One turkey will be a free bird." The pardoning of the turkey, coming up at 7:30 a.m. Pacific time will be broadcast live at WhiteHouse.gov.

The Los Angeles Times reported on the 2010 pardoning of the turkeys known as Apple and Cider.

Taking part in an annual ritual, President Obama pardoned a pair of California turkeys at the White House Wednesday, sparing the birds from the Thanksgiving dinner table.

Three weeks after his party lost control of the House of Representatives and a half dozen seats in the Senate, Obama joked that it felt good to "stop at least one shellacking this November."

[For the record, 7:48 a.m.: An earlier version of this post implied that the video was from 2011. That is incorrect.]

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Video: WhiteHouse.gov