The annual pardoning of the Thanksgiving turkey has become a colourful part of the US President's year, but Sarah Palin's attempt to imitate the tradition went wrong when she staged a post-pardon press conference in front of a production line where birds were being slaughtered.

The former Republican candidate for vice-president went down to a turkey farm in Wasilla, Alaska, last week to ceremonially spare the life of one 30lb bird that would otherwise have been destined for tomorrow's festive dinner tables.

"Oh my goodness, it weighs a ton! Good job, good job," she said, refusing to dirty her outfit by picking up the flapping white candidate for clemency, which was covered in bird waste.

Afterwards the Governor of Alaska chatted to reporters about what she was thankful for on the Thanksgiving holiday - the continued health of her son Stryker, who is serving in Iraq - and what it had been like as John McCain's running mate - very "political", apparently.

Behind her, a slaughterman in plastic overalls was clearly on view stuffing turkeys headfirst into large inverted funnels, their feet kicking above as their heads dangled below. The abattoir worker was seen away their limp bodies once they were dead, although US television blurred out the parts it said were "too gory".

The footage was described on NBC News as another gaffe by the hunting-mad Mrs Palin, who was apparently told by her television interviewer what was going on behind her, and replied: "No worries."

She said on screen: “I was happy to get to be invited to participate in this. For one, you need a little bit of levity in this job, especially with so much that has gone in the last couple of months that has been so political obviously that it’s nice to get out and do something to promote a local business and to just participate in something that isn’t so heavy-handed politics that it invites criticism. Certainly we’ll probably invite criticism for even doing this, too, but at least this was fun.”

The video has since become a hit on the YouTube website.

President Bush is expected to keep well away from the abattoir today when he continues the White House tradition, started in 1989 by his father, President George H Bush, of sparing the life of his Thanksgiving bird and sending it off to a new life on a farm.

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