{"id":3391,"date":"2023-11-22T21:45:37","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T21:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/?p=3391"},"modified":"2023-11-26T21:48:08","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T21:48:08","slug":"biden-pardons-the-white-house-turkeys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/2023\/11\/22\/biden-pardons-the-white-house-turkeys\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden pardons the White House Turkeys"},"content":{"rendered":"\n



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<\/strong>
November 20, 2023

REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BIDEN
AT PARDONING OF THE NATIONAL TURKEY
\u00a0
South Lawn11:41 A.M. EST
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THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 Before I begin, I\u2019m going to ask for a vote: Do I free the turkeys today?
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AUDIENCE:\u00a0 Yes!
\u00a0
THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 Anyway, good to see you all.\u00a0 If you have a seat, please take it.\u00a0
\u00a0
It\u2019s great to see you all.\u00a0 It\u2019s a good morning.\u00a0 I\u2019m honored to welcome — welcome to the biggest edition of this wonderful White House Thanksgiving tradition.\u00a0 And it really it.
\u00a0
We\u2019ve got a lot of special guests here today: children and families from my staff and Cabinet.\u00a0 Where are y\u2019all?\u00a0 Sta- –holler.\u00a0 (Applause.)\u00a0 There you go.\u00a0 All right.
\u00a0
Students from Washington Eliot-Hine Middle School.\u00a0 (Applause.)
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AUDIENCE MEMBER:\u00a0 Happy birthday!
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THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 Well, thank you very much.\u00a0
\u00a0
Jill and I met them during the back-to-school visit.\u00a0 I\u2019m glad you remembered us.\u00a0 Thank you.\u00a0
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AUDIENCE MEMBER:\u00a0 (Inaudible.)
\u00a0
THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 (Laughs.)\u00a0 I remember.
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And Future Farmers of America — (applause); leaders of 4-H Councils — (applause); and leaders across the agriculture community.\u00a0
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I just want you to know, everyone here, we\u2019re excited to have our honored guests with us today: Liberty and Bell.\u00a0 (Applause.)\u00a0 This is their day.
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And thanks to the Chairman of the National Turkey Federation Steve Lykken — Steve and your entire family — I met — got to meet the entire family.\u00a0 And, by the way, I — it\u2019s my birthday today, and they can — actually sang \u201cBirthday\u201d to me.\u00a0 (Applause.)
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I just want you to know, it\u2019s difficult turning 60.\u00a0 (Laughter.)\u00a0 Difficult.\u00a0 (Laughs.)
\u00a0
His entire family raised these birds on their family farm in Minnesota.\u00a0 And, Steve, you are — you\u2019re grateful to — we\u2019re grateful to your entire family.\u00a0 You have a beautiful family.\u00a0 Thank you very much.
\u00a0
God, they\u2019re big.\u00a0 See, I\u2019m used to chickens in Delaware.\u00a0 (Laughter.)\u00a0 We got — we got a $4 billion industry in chickens, but there\u2019s no chicken that big, man.\u00a0 I tell you.
\u00a0
Just a few weeks ago, I visited another family farm in Minnesota where we talked about the pride of small towns and communities — rural communities — the pride that people have being able to know they can stay there and continue to keep their farms — and how, because of the investments we\u2019re making, we\u2019re restoring hope and opportunity so family farms can stay in the family and children don\u2019t have to leave home if they wish to stay and make a living on the farm.
\u00a0
Look, it matters.
\u00a0
And thanks to all of the families across America — who feed and fuel our nation and the world, I might add.\u00a0 (Applause.)\u00a0 Yeah, the world.
\u00a0
The national turkey presentation is — and pardon marks the unofficial start of the holiday season where, here in Washington — a time to share joy and gratitude and have a little bit of fun.
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This is the 76th anniversary of this event.\u00a0 And I want you to know I wasn\u2019t there at the first one.\u00a0 (Laughter.)\u00a0 I was too young to make it up.\u00a0 (Laughs.)\u00a0
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One thing I want to make clear that was not clear then — you know, even though Liberty and Bell are from Minnesota, they\u2019re named for a famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia in Pennsylvania.
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These birds have a new appreciation for the word \u201cLet Freedom Ring.\u201d\u00a0 (Laughter.)
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So, I\u2019m told by the Turkey Federation of Liberty Bell — and Liberty and Bell, they love Honeycrisp apples — (applause) — not bad, huh?; ice hockey — I sure in hell would like to see them play ice hockey;\u00a01,000<\/s>\u00a0[10,000] Lakes; and the Mall of America.\u00a0 (Applause.)\u00a0
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Now, just to get here, Liberty and Bell had to beat some tough odds — the competition.\u00a0 They had to work hard, show patience, and be willing to travel over a thousand miles.
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You could say even it\u2019s harder than getting a — a ticket to the Renaissance Tour or — or — Brit- —\u00a0Britney\u2019s<\/s>\u00a0[Taylor\u2019s] tour.\u00a0 She\u2019s down in — it\u2019s kind of warm in Brazil right now.
\u00a0
Look, folks, based on their commitment to being productive members of society, as they head to their new home at the University of Minnesota, I —
\u00a0
Are you going to bring them on up or do I do it there?\u00a0 That\u2019s a big bird, man.\u00a0 (Laughter.)\u00a0 I\u2019m impressed.\u00a0
\u00a0
I hereby pardon Liberty and Bell.\u00a0 (Applause.)\u00a0 All right.
\u00a0
Congratulations, birds.\u00a0 Congratulations.
\u00a0
Look, now let me conclude, on a serious note, about why we have Thanksgiving in the first place: to remind ourselves — and we sometimes forget this — how we have so much to be thankful for as a nation.
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This week, we\u2019ll gather with the people we love and the traditions that each of us have built up in our own families.
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We\u2019ll also think about the loved ones we\u2019ve lost — including just yesterday when we lost former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, who walked her own path, inspiring a nation and the world along the way.
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And let us remind ourselves that we are blessed to live in the greatest nation on this face of the Earth.\u00a0 (Applause.)
\u00a0
That\u2019s what I see when I travel America.\u00a0 I\u2019ve met so many incredible people who do such extraordinary things — including, just yesterday, Jill and I visited the largest naval station in the world, Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia, to serve what they call \u201cFriendsgiving\u201d — a Thanksgiving meal — to a thousand servicemen and their families.\u00a0 We owe them.\u00a0 We owe them big.
\u00a0
And to days ahead, our families and friends travel and come together to celebrate Thanksgiving, we can all give thanks to the gift that is our nation.
\u00a0
And let\u2019s remember: We are the United States of America, and there is nothing — nothing, nothing — I mean this sincerely — nothing beyond our capacity when we work together.\u00a0 We\u2019ve never come out of a situation, a bad circumstance not — without being better off when we come through it.\u00a0 And this is always who we are as Americans.
\u00a0
So, Happy Thanksgiving.\u00a0 God bless you all.\u00a0 And may God protect our troops.\u00a0 Thank you, thank you, thank you.\u00a0 (Applause.)
\u00a0
(The President departs the podium and greets audience members.)
\u00a0
Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Mr. President, is a hostage deal near?\u00a0 Sir, is a hostage deal near?\u00a0 Mr. President, is a hostage deal near?
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THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 I believe so, but I\u2019m not prepared to talk to you —
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Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You believe so?
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THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0
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Q\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you.
\u00a0
(The President crosses his fingers.)
\u00a0
11:48 A.M. EST
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASENovember 20, 2023 REMARKS BY PRESIDENT BIDENAT PARDONING OF THE NATIONAL TURKEY\u00a0South Lawn11:41 A.M. EST\u00a0THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 Before I begin, I\u2019m going to ask for a vote: Do I free the turkeys today?\u00a0AUDIENCE:\u00a0 Yes!\u00a0THE PRESIDENT:\u00a0 Anyway, good to see you all.\u00a0 If you have a seat, please take it.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s great to see you all.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3407,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-biden","entry","has-media"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/DSC07664-scaled.jpg?v=1701035273","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3408,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3391\/revisions\/3408"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3407"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tacdar.com\/news\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}