EPA Head Apologizes For Insulting Alaska's Precious Heritage Of Rancid Moose Meat

 
 In further evidence that The Obama Administration is full of elitists and Marie Antoinettes of the very worst sort, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy brutally hurt the tender feelings of all Alaskans recently by saying in a  Wall Street Journal article that a "little girl's" (who wasn't a little girl) heartfelt gift of a jar of moose meat "could gag a maggot." After proud Alaska Republicans decried the slur, her office offered an apology on Friday, but Moose Meat Maggot Gagghazi could still prove to be the undoing of the arrogant criminals in the Obama regime, maybe, if anyone outside can stop giggling about it long enough to pretend to be Deeply Offended.

See, what happened was that, in a throwaway paragraph in a WSJ story about McCarthy and her generally effective working relationship with energy companies, McCarthy grumped a little about the pettiness of government regulations on accepting gifts. She said that she was surprised that officials asked her about having to account for a tiny North Pole pin given to her on a trip to Alaska (she told them "I threw the f—ing thing away") and that jar of moose meat, which she said "could gag a maggot."

And then there was Much Butthurt. Sen. Lisa Murkowski cried foul, noting that this horrible abusive language came from a Cabinet secretary, and not from "some random bureaucrat who's never been to Alaska," so there's just really no excusing such insensitivity. In fact, it may have been downright racist against Native peoples:

"What is more part of our culture than the foods that our Alaska Native peoples eat, whether it is moose or whether it is salmon?" Murkowski said. "Sometimes smoked salmon doesn't smell that appealing to other people, but it is a rich resource for us and it just demonstrates, again, a lack of understanding -- it was an unforgivable statement, I think."

Rep. Don Young piled on, issuing a written statement condemning the horrific slur:

"Gina McCarthy's words sound like they come from someone who has contempt for, rather than an appreciation of the rich customary traditions of Alaska's people."

And just to make clear how deeply insensitive McCarthy was, the State House of Representatives on Monday was basically all like this:  
 

And so they unanimously passed a "Sense of the House" order condemning the remarks:

“We condemn the language used by EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy after her recent visit to Alaska and express serious concern that her comments indicate a negative bias against Alaskans and a lack of sensitivity to our way of life that will gravely distort EPA environmental and developmental decisions in Alaska."

God knows, anyone who would complain about Alaskans' beloved moose meat, no matter how awful it might have gotten in transit, is a racist who cannot be trusted to regulate environmental issues. The state House action came even after McCarthy's office issued an apology on Friday, saying

"EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy has offered her heartfelt apology to her hosts for some unfortunate remarks she made to the press recently regarding gifts she received while visiting Alaska. She was truly humbled by the kindness, warmth and hospitality shown to her throughout the trip and insists that she meant no disrespect.

"During her address at the recent National Congress of American Indians, Administrator McCarthy underscored her deep appreciation for the cultural value of gift giving, reconfirmed her commitment to strengthening partnerships between EPA and native people throughout Indian country and emphasized her respect for the important government-to-government relationship we share.

Also, in case anyone's keeping track (and chances are good that they aren't), the moose meat was not a gift from a little girl -- McCarthy misremembered that when recounting the story to the WSJ. It was actually a gift from Thomas Tilden, first chief of the Curyung Tribal Council, who gave McCarthy the jar of moose meat when she visited Dillingham, Alaska last August. The meat came from the first moose killed by a boy in Tilden's tribe, and was given to Tilden by the boy's mother:

"Traditionally, what we do here is when we have the first kill, we give that game away and it's given out as gifts to different people," he said. "I believe that the old-timers probably thought that was a way to take care of the widows and the elders and the old folks."

Tilden appears to be the only person in Alaska who isn't thoroughly outraged by McCarthy's rank insensitivity toward the rank meat:

"I laughed, because I think that when you deal with two different cultures, you do run into differences ... To me, it was kind of funny, and I talked to the mother and we all kind of laughed at it. We didn't mean to offend her," he said. "We want her to come back and we'll cook her fresh stuff. Anything you put in a can is different than what you get off the stove."

Yr Wonkette would like to just go ahead and award Thomas Tilden a medal for Clear-Headed Municipal Diplomat of the Year. He added that he was happy to accept McCarthy's apology:

"I don't know of anybody who has never slipped and said something and people grab on it. I called the family because I wasn't offended and I wanted to make sure that the family was OK with it, too, and they were, they had the same attitude that I did."

Impeachment proceedings against McCarthy and her boss, the tyrant Barack Hussein Obama, are expected to begin shortly.

[ CNSNews / News-Miner / E&E NewsPM ]

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