DEAR SARAH: YOU HUNT? WE DON'T GIVE A CRAP ONE WAY OR THE OTHER

I don't understand why wingnuts like Sarah Palin have such a burning need to believe that their ideological opponents hate hunting -- and the same goes for you, Ted Nugent. The Note at ABC News at least recognizes that Palin and Nugent are fighting an opponent that has no interest in fighting back:

In tonight's episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," the former governor showcases the Alaska tundra while caribou hunting with her father.... the episode is giving Palin an opportunity to "proudly" take aim at "anti-hunting hypocrisy."

"Tonight's hunting episode of Sarah Palin's Alaska 'controversial'? Really? Unless you've never worn leather shoes, sat upon a leather couch or eaten a piece of meat, save your condemnation of tonight's episode. I remain proudly intolerant of anti-hunting hypocrisy. :)" Palin posted on Facebook and Twitter today.

... And while she alludes to the idea that the show is somehow controversial, it doesn't seem that there has been a giant public outcry. Palin seems eager to pick a fight here, even if no one is fighting back.

Rock legend and avid hunter Ted Nugent is also getting in on the game. In a web video to promote the hunting episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," Nugent says the decision to hunt is "so simple it's stupid." ...

Have either of these people ever had a civil conversation with a liberal, about this or any other subject? I don't mean some cable-news bit of verbal mud-wrestling, but an actual conversation, like the ones human beings have with other human beings.

On this subject, they'd probably learn that most liberals are meat-eaters, and actually know that meat, y'know, comes from animals -- animals who become meat after they die. Really -- we get it.

And many of the yuppiest cultural elitists are quite fond of artisanal butchering and the "snout-to-tail" approach to fine dining, meaning using every part of the animal. Anthony Bourdain eats offal and becomes a foodie rock star. Julie Powell (of Julie and Julia fame) writes a second book and gets slammed by upscale critics not for the accounts of butchering (which are praised), but for the accounts of marital infidelity.

Meat? Bring it on.

And hunting? What's always impressed me is that, while I tend to put it on the "conservative" side of the ledger, it seems very, very different from so much else that's on that side. Hunters seem to be cool with getting licenses and staying in season. They're not constantly insisting that such limitations on their ability to hunt are fascist impositions by satanic liberal elitists. They mostly seem to go out when they're permitted and hunt the animals they're legally allowed to hunt. Why the hell would I have a problem with that?

As for Nugent, I'm told he gives some of the meat from his kills to charity. I'd say that's one of the few aspects of his life I don't find reprehensible.