Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet

"Evil reptilian kitten-eater from another planet (Sorry.)" was a pejorative used to refer to Ontario Liberal Party opposition leader Dalton McGuinty in a press release disseminated by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario on September 12, 2003, during the provincial election campaign in Ontario, Canada.

Overview

The e-mail press release denounced various Liberal statements as scare-mongering against the Tories' record; the inclusion of the word "sorry" in brackets may indicate that the line's author or authors intended it to be an over-the-top sarcastic comment. According to the "Globe and Mail":

One sophomoric staffer [on the Progressive Conservative campaign] decided to vent his frustration with the campaign's reverses by drafting a bogus news release. It ranted about the fact that the media criticize so-called Tory attack ads and praise Mr. McGuinty for taking the self-styled 'high road.' The 'kitten-eater' phrase was included at the end as an illustration of a truly extreme attack. The release drew laughs from half a dozen campaign aides who saw it. More tellingly, in a collective somnolence, no one killed the release. [cite news|title=Tories caught catnapping; How ‘kitten-eater' joke in PC war room hairballed quickly along campaign trail|last=Mackie|first=Richard|date=September 16, 2003|page=A8|work=The Globe and Mail Accessed via Factiva, December 26, 2007.]

The e-mail was one of many releases all the parties routinely sent out to the press. [cite news|title=Kitten-eater controversy litters battle for Ontario; McGuinty shrugs off Tories' catty attack described by Eves as inadvisable joke|last=Smith|first=Graeme|date=September 13, 2003|page=A4|work=The Globe and Mail Accessed via Factiva, December 26, 2007.] The Tories normally ended their missives with the more subdued "Dalton McGuinty. He's still not up to the job." Which Tory staffer was responsible for the kitten eater line has never been disclosed. According to John Ivison of the "National Post", "sources inside the PC camp say Watt signed off on it"; Jaime Watt was the Tory campaign co-chair.

The incident was an embarrassment for the Tories, who were already having difficulty in the election. Their leader, Premier of Ontario Ernie Eves, refused to apologize for the incident, but acknowledged that it was "over the top" and that someone had probably drunk "way too much coffee." [cite news|title=McGuinty is an 'evil reptilian kitten-eater' and an alien. Who knew?|last=Lindgren|first=April|page=A7|date=September 13, 2003|work=National Post] Press reporting on the incident appeared to turn public opinion against the party, not due to the comment itself, but that the fact that it became public suggested a campaign that was badly out of control and growing desperate. The incident came in the middle of a large campaign of attack ads launched by the Tory party targeting McGuinty, most notably focusing on his strong links to the teacher's unions. The release, while likely in jest, was seen as a symbol of the negative turn the Tory campaign had taken.

McGuinty denied the accusation of ailurophagy. "I love kittens, and I like puppies too," he commented. "I have eaten calf, I'll admit to that." Though he initially pledged not to allow the issue to sidetrack the campaign, the Liberals ran with the joke. Slogans involving kittens ("We may be kitten-eaters but we want change") were printed on T-shirts, a group of Liberals meowed at an assembly in Niagara Falls, [cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/ontariovotes2003/notebook/ireton_092903.html|title=Liberals eat up "kitten" coverage|last=Ireton|first=Julie|date=September 27, 2003|work=Ontario Votes 2003|publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation|accessdate=2007-12-26] and McGuinty had his picture taken with a kitten named Snowball as he visited a farm in Stratford. [cite news|title="Evil reptilian kitten-eater" makes friends with southern Ontario barn kitten|last=Szklarski|first=Cassandra|date=September 28, 2003|work=Canadian Press]

Editorial cartoonists had a field day with the accusation, depicting the plain-faced McGuinty as a less-than-intimidating reptile creature. Patrick Corrigan of the "Toronto Star" depicted Eves as a kitten on a plate in front of a hungry McGuinty. Another editorial cartoon tied the comment to the province's recent tainted-meat scandal, with a reptilian McGuinty reassuring a frightened kitten that he'd never eat "uninspected" kitten meat.

The accusation may have played a role on election day, three weeks later, when the Liberals received a large victory from voters. After the election, Ivison stated that "it was not the turning point — Tory support was already hemorrhaging — but it was perhaps the defining moment of the campaign."cite news|title=Seeds of defeat sown long before launch of doomed game-plan|last=Ivison|first=John|page=OV02|date=October 3, 2003|work=National Post]

Possible origins

Sonia Verma of the "Toronto Star" speculated [cite news|url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/404482761.html?did=404482761&FMT=ABS&FMTS=FT|title=Did Buffy character inspire PCs' "reptilian kitten-eater" insult?|last=Verma|first=Sonia|page=A03|date=September 13, 2003|work=Toronto Star] that the original kitten-eater comment may have been a reference to a scene in the television show "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in which several (non-reptilian) demons play poker for kittens, one remarking that they are delicious. [ [http://www.crikey.com.au/articles/2003/10/06-0002.html] ]

ee also

*"This Hour Has 22 Minutes"
*Mush from the Wimp
*Reptilian humanoid
*List of political catch phrases

References

External links

* [http://www.kuro5hin.org/comments/2003/10/2/20235/1269/2#2 Text of the letter] (Kuro5hin)