The Humane Society of the U.S. is lobbying for passage of a bill in Congress, HR 2492, that will crack down on dogfighting and cockfighting by making it a crime to attend these fights or to cause a minor to attend one.
It’s a fine bill. But yesterday, when HSUS President Wayne Pacelle held a news conference in Washington DC to promote the bill, he brought footballer Michael Vick along with him.
Vick has become something of a protégé of the HSUS, speaking to groups of people, especially young people, about the evils of dog fighting. (Or is the real message about how you can torture dogs, serve a short sentence and go on to be an even bigger star than before?)
After the news conference, Pacelle and Vick gave a number of media interviews, including for NPR’s All Things Considered and with Fox News TV’s Greta van Susteren. Van Susteren’s is the more cloying as she describes how much she believes in “rehabilitation” – referring to the rehab of Vick rather than the dogs. But Robert Siegel of NPR tosses equally softball questions at both Vick and Pacelle.
To this day, no one in the major media has ever asked Michael Vick what he actually did to the dogs at his home. And Vick has never talked about it beyond pass-the-ball platitudes like “I didn’t step up. I wasn’t a leader.”
Yesterday was no exception.
What do you say? Do you think Michael Vick is “rehabilitated”? A good role model for young people? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook.
Mr. Vick Goes to Washington
By Michael Mountain,
The Humane Society of the U.S. is lobbying for passage of a bill in Congress, HR 2492, that will crack down on dogfighting and cockfighting by making it a crime to attend these fights or to cause a minor to attend one.
It’s a fine bill. But yesterday, when HSUS President Wayne Pacelle held a news conference in Washington DC to promote the bill, he brought footballer Michael Vick along with him.
Vick has become something of a protégé of the HSUS, speaking to groups of people, especially young people, about the evils of dog fighting. (Or is the real message about how you can torture dogs, serve a short sentence and go on to be an even bigger star than before?)
After the news conference, Pacelle and Vick gave a number of media interviews, including for NPR’s All Things Considered and with Fox News TV’s Greta van Susteren. Van Susteren’s is the more cloying as she describes how much she believes in “rehabilitation” – referring to the rehab of Vick rather than the dogs. But Robert Siegel of NPR tosses equally softball questions at both Vick and Pacelle.
To this day, no one in the major media has ever asked Michael Vick what he actually did to the dogs at his home. And Vick has never talked about it beyond pass-the-ball platitudes like “I didn’t step up. I wasn’t a leader.”
Yesterday was no exception.
What do you say? Do you think Michael Vick is “rehabilitated”? A good role model for young people? Let us know in a comment or on Facebook.