Matthew Scully: Animal Protection
Champion & Speechwriter for Sarah Palin
by Jeff Nelson
HeadVeg, VegSource.com
September 18, 2008 -- As many in the veg world know, professed animal welfare champion, Matthew Scully, is writing speeches for "let's-shoot-wolves-from-airplanes-and-kill-polar-bears-to-help-oil-companies" VP candidate, Sarah Palin. I have received quite a few emails and read a number of posts on our discussion boards expressing curiosity, amusement, anger or disgust about this fact.
 Gov. Sarah Palin promotes shooting wolves from planes, a position considered inhumane by many, and even opposed by many hunters as "unsportsmanlike." |
People are writing to us about this because VegSource created and hosts Matthew Scully’s website http://www.matthewscully.com which spotlights his book, Dominion: The Power of Man, the Suffering of Animals, and the Call to Mercy. Our “hosted by VegSource” logo is on his his front page.
A typical email reads: with Palin representing some of the most anti-animal and anti-environment positions on the planet, how could VegSource support someone like Matthew Scully, who is working so hard to get her elected?
I forwarded Matthew some of these emails and asked him if he wanted to make a public comment for VegSource.
Matthew called me yesterday and we spoke for about a half hour. I understand he has received emails from beloved bestselling vegan and animal rights authors – friends of his – acknowledging his conservative beliefs but expressing their bafflement and wanting sincerely to know what his thinking is regarding Palin. Matthew has also received emails from acquaintances and strangers whose emails he described as angry screeds.
Matthew told me what his responses would be to all these people, what his thinking is.
Unfortunately for you, dear readers, Matthew asked that I not share publicly his perspectives. He said that sometime after the election, he will respond to the questions. He said he cannot risk allowing himself or his personal perspectives to become part of the election discourse, which could happen if he made any public statements. He noted he has turned down many interview requests.
I am honoring Matthew’s request not to share what he said, nor my feelings or reactions about that.
That said, there are a few questions our readers have raised which I can answer, to a degree: is Scully still a champion for animals? (I think he believes he is.) Is he a fervent believer in what he thinks is a good cause he can aid? (He seems to be a very strong supporter of the GOP platform.) If Bush/Cheney have blood on their hands for an illegal invasion of Iraq, does Scully as well? (Okay, I had better stop now.)
We received some emails comparing Scully to Josef Goebbels (minister of Propaganda for Adolf Hitler), and several others expressing sadness, and even feelings of betrayal – not just by Scully, but by VegSource. In recent years, some have determined to make politics as polarizing as possible, and 2008 seems to be shaping into a particularly ugly year (thank you, Rove et al.).
So where does VegSource.com stand in all this?
We personally support the Obama/Biden ticket. Just to be clear, our endorsement is not based on animal rights, and we frankly don't agree with everything Obama/Biden stand for. Nor do we disagree with everything McCain says. But we are really disturbed by the lying. We don't think we can survive four more years of that.
In 12 years on the web, we’ve never endorsed a candidate. Now we have.
We have no plan to pull Matthew’s Dominion website, as long as it remains a website about vegetarianism and animal compassion.
Sound off! Post your comments/questions below.
on 9/19/08