White House Puts Fate Of Pardoned Turkey Up To Facebook Voters

Direct democracy comes to the White House this Thanksgiving: Facebook users will be able to vote for which of two turkeys the President will pardon. “Turkeys have been carving out a special place in American history since 1963,” explained the pun-tastic blog post. “People all across the country are flocking to cast their vote.”

The White House posted a UFC-style match-up for each of the poultry contenders, “Cobbler Vs. Gobbler.” Cobbler, the early Facebook favorite, with 391 shares and 1700 likes, was born on the same day as his rival, Gobbler, who is slightly thinner, and according to White House, has feathers that are “most often fanned out.”

Lest readers think that the innocuous social media game could turn into a morbid battle for life and death, the White House has made the face-saving decision to let both turkeys live. “Note: It’s all gravy — no turkeys will be harmed during the selection of the National Thanksgiving Turkey. After the pardoning, both turkeys travel to George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens to reside in a custom-made enclosure at Mount Vernon’s nationally recognized livestock facility.”

So far, the light-hearted social media experiment seems to be going smoothly. The occasional anti-Obama rant is being soundly self-policed by an equal number of supportive responses, like this gem: “somebody left their tinfoil hat at home today. O_o”

The winner will be announced November 21st at 2pm ET.