On Friday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie posted a videohttp://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/chris-christie-brags-about-saving-school-children-from showing him smashing a spider on his desk in front of a group of visiting school children. In a statement provided to TPM, Ingrid Newkirk, president of People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals, described Christie's killing of the spider as a thoughtless act.
This isn't the first instance of a high-profile politician killing an insect on film. In 2009, President Barack Obama swatted a fly during a televised interview. President Obama's fly-killing provoked a similar sresonse from PETAhttp://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2009/06/17/obama-and-the-fly.aspx, which released a statement dubbing it an "executive insect execution" that criticized peoples' thoughtless treatment of insects.
This isn't the first instance of a high-profile politician killing an insect on film. In 2009, President Barack Obama swatted a fly during a televised interview. President Obama's fly-killing provoked a similar sresonse from PETAhttp://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2009/06/17/obama-and-the-fly.aspx, which released a statement dubbing it an "executive insect execution" that criticized peoples' thoughtless treatment of insects.