Posted on 10/10/2012 12:48:30 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Put this another way. When your campaign strategy loses Matt Lauer, Chris Matthews Bob Shrum, and earns four Pinocchios from the Washington Post, where exactly does that leave you? In a fine, feathered mess, that’s where. Lauer interviewed Obama campaign adviser Robert Gibbs this morning on Today, and asked, “Is that the kind of political ad that a campaign releases when it feels that it has ideas and solutions on its side, or is that the kind of political ad a campaign releases when it simply wants to get attention?” As if on cue, Gibbs insists that Mitt Romney declared “war on Sesame Street”:
(VIDEO AT LINK)
Well, I’d say Matt Lauer got his answer. The Washington Post provided another one today, assigning the maximum number of Pinocchios to the argument Gibbs amplified from the ad:
But in any case, Romney clearly said that he loves Big Bird, not that he wants to kill it. And even if he eliminated public funding for PBS, how would that affect Sesame Street, where Big Bird resides?
Not much. The 2009 financial disclosure from Sesame Workshop, the company that produces the program, shows that just $7.9 million came from government grants out of $130 million in total revenue, or about 6 percent.
The company also benefits from station program fees, some of which may come from federal dollars given to local PBS affiliates, which the company has suggested brings the percentage up to about 8 percent. The rest of the money comes from many corporate partners — as well as sales from those cute stuffed toys. …
How did “I love Big Bird” turn into “kill Big Bird”? Only through a spin machine going on hyper drive.
Romney may have been off base in suggesting PBS funding has much to do with the deficit, but that’s no excuse for the Obama campaign to declare that means the demise of a popular children’s character. According to the financials of Sesame Workshop, Big Bird should do just fine, with or without public funding.
Over on the Right, the Wall Street Journal agrees with Lauer, and calls the Big Bird ad a sign of a “small President”:
Having been routed in the first debate, President Obama has found a comeback strategy: Fly Big Bird. Specifically, mock Mitt Romney’s call to cut federal subsidies for the millionaires at the Sesame Workshop and pledge to defend the Public Broadcasting Service no matter how much money the Treasury has to borrow.
At least he’s finally discovered a second-term agenda. …
At the end of fiscal 2011, Sesame Workshop and its subsidiaries had total assets of $289 million. About $29 million was held in cash and “cash equivalents,” mainly money-market mutual funds. Another $121 million on the balance sheet was held in “investments.” According to the accompanying notes, these investments included stakes in hedge funds and private-equity funds. It’s unclear from the financial statements if Big Bird has ever invested in funds run by Bain Capital, founded by Mitt Romney, but no doubt Sesame would be welcomed as a client by many investment managers.
So Big Bird likes to maximize revenues and investment gains as much as the next muppet. And now the President has made this adorable critter the symbol of federal programs that allegedly require eternal taxpayer aid, even if it has to be put on the future tax bill of today’s pre-schoolers. Is that funny?
In this case, let’s give the last word to the Left. Chris Matthews, who normally carries the White House water reliably, called the ad “Mickey Mouse” (via PJ Tatler and WFB):
(VIDEO AT LINK)
Maybe it’s more like Wile E. Coyote … sooooper genius. And when you’ve lost Bob Shrum …
The Obozo “Big Bird” attack against Romney just makes Obozo look pathetic and small-minded.
I think PBS funding is a PERFECT example for Romney to have used to suggest that we are nuts to be borrowing money from China to pay for stuff we don’t need. I hope Ryan gets a chance on Thursday to nail that point home again.
I plan to enjoy a Big Bird on November 22. The only question is whether it will match in quality the fresh Pacific Spiney Lobsters I boiled up on Saturday and served with a mayo/home made pesto mixture. It’s a pretty high bar.
Pleeeeeez Mitt....Get rid of Head Start....it's nothing but a free babysitting "scheme".
0bama IS Bert. Bert IS 0bama.
Obama and his team has NO CLUE on Intellectual Property.
Any logo, number, color or icon (such as Big Bird) can’t be legally defended if it moves into the public domain.
For instance:
IBM - Their color “Blue”.
Intel - Their “Bing bong bing” song in ads.
Fandango - Paper bag puppet.
Boing - 727, 737, 747, 757...etc
Intel tried to trademark “486” and “586” but the court ruled they had not protected it sufficently before it went public domain.
Thus they had to create “Pentium” and learned to agressively defend it.
Putting Big Bird in an unapproved ad, moves much of PBS marketing into the public domain.
It’s like taking out a second mortgage to buy a jet ski and food for a big party.
No, a jet ski and a dinner are enjoyable as opposed to the Communist Broadcasting System.
Pray for America
Obama's second term agenda: Save Big Bird.
Hannity last night ran some clips of Obama in 2008, which included him saying that if you can't run on your record you run on little things.
But it seemed like such a great idea at the time...........
Thus, I expect Obama to double-down on the War on Big Bird, and send Jay The SpokesKid out to charge Romney with stealing eggs and eating them, thus interfering with the birds reproductive rights.
Big Bird is a 1%er
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