Posted on 10/10/2012 11:45:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
As prominent Democrat Dick Harpootlian put it, “Big Bird is iconic. He — or it — she — I don’t know what it is — is an icon with a whole generation or two of Americans.” Well said. If Mitt Romney won’t stand up for giant muppets, who will he stand up for?
If we’re destined for heartbreak on election night, my friends, let these words be our solace:
A lawyer for Sesame Workshop has requested that the campaign take down the spot, which was slated to run on national cable outlets.
“We have received that request,” [Obama spokesman Jen] Psaki told reporters on Tuesday. “We’re reviewing it. I will say it doesn’t change the fact that there’s only one candidate in this race who is going to continue to fight for Big Bird and Elmo, and he is riding on this plane” — a reference to Obama.
There is, in fact, a point to this post besides pointing and laughing at Team Hopenchange’s embarrassing juvenilia. Part of the spin from lefty critics of the Big Bird ad is that it’s out of character for the campaign. That’s not really true, though, as I tried to explain yesterday. There’s nothing unusual about Team O trying to jumpstart a national change of subject by focusing on a triviality. What’s unusual about the ad is that they’re resorting to triviality in the wake of a sharp change in momentum against them. Sean Trende captured the vibe in a piece that appeared just a few hours before the ad dropped: “Something like the ‘cancer ad’ from August looks hard-hitting from a campaign that is leading (and I certainly include candidate super PACs as part of the ‘campaign’), but would probably be described as ‘desperate’ from one that is losing.” Indeed. More from Tim Carney:
Distraction has been Obama’s re-election strategy all along. Highlighting Romney gaffes, peddling empty symbols, running on picayune policies — in this way, Obama hoped he could run out the clock until November 6…
The “kill Big Bird” line is standard Obama fare. Because Romney thinks employers should be allowed to pay employees in cash instead of contraception, Obama and allies accuse him of trying to take away women’s contraception. Because Romney wants to cut Planned Parenthood’s federal subsidies, Obama says Romney is waging war against the abortion provider.
So it’s not new that Obama is being unserious. He’s been running a Big Bird campaign all along. It’s just new that everyone is noticing.
Yep. Without that debate thrashing and the growing scandal over Benghazi, we’d be knee deep this week in cable news segments about whether Obama doesn’t have a point in suggesting that Mitt Romney kinda sorta hates children’s TV (and of course, children). As it is, even the media feels ridiculous pushing that talking point right now. In Noah Rothman’s phrase, they’ve stopped filling in the blanks for Obama — for the moment. Watch this fluff piece from MSNBC this morning (via Mediaite) to see what I mean. In an alternate universe, where Obama won the debate and there’s nothing happening in Libya, this wouldn’t be an interview about a Sesame Street special. It’d be an interview about whether the mean man from Massachusetts bwoke Elmo’s widdle heart by suggesting that maybe he and PBS don’t need taxpayer subsidies unto eternity.
(VIDEO AT LINK)
Stop funding and shove Big Bird out of a big helicopter so he can fly away free.
If the American people and her friends abroad like Big Bird, the bird will find plenty of entrenpreneurs who’ll jump at the chance to see to it that the big avian continues to strut his stuff in media far and wide. The Obama campaign is going to look even more ridiculous if and when the Romney Campaign says just that.
There’s some odd observations I can make over this entire discussion.
First, it is likely true that 98 percent of American kids from age 2 to age 5 watch Sesame Street on a daily basis now. By age seven, the number of kids watching any PBS shows? They won’t discuss statistics on that but I’m guessing only one kid out of ten would watch PBS on a weekly basis. Adults between 18 and 40? I’d be guessing six adults out of a 100...might watch PBS on a weekly basis. Using this logic of supporting low-viewership channels....why can’t the US government also fund the Golf Channel, the SCI-FI Channel, and the Playboy Channel?
Some folks want to cite the great social and educational advantages that Sesame Street provides to kids now. Well...how did we survive before 1970? Did we lack social and educational advantages? I kinda doubt it.
Finally, if we did open up the accounting books for Sesame Street, we might be shocked to see various people pulling in a $70k or $90k salary. There’s $445 million going into PBS just from the US government....and I’m guessing an equal or larger amount comes from private donations. So there’s a ton of money swirling around the organization....how exactly is it spent? I’m guessing no one wants to discuss that matter.
Would be a shame if our little ones learned about capitalism and being a creative producer on the muppets. Instead of a “teachable moment”, this administration taxes and shuts down our kids lemonade stands with license fees and threat of jail. I would auction them to the highest bidder in a live kids format with big bird taking the bids.
So there’s a ton of money swirling around the organization....how exactly is it spent? I’m guessing no one wants to discuss that matter.
. . .
I think you guessed right:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-gop/2943149/posts
....the television show shelled out at least $314,072 for the actor behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
....Jospeh Mazzarino, who plays Murray, Stinky the Stinkweed, the Two-Headed Monster, Papa Bear and directs some episodes, makes a cool half million.
....The other characters make around on average between $300,000 and $450,000 per year in salary.
Big Bird does not need government money.
Big Bird brings in many times more money from marketing and toy sales than the government gives him. There is no reason to subsidize an already successful entity.
Don't tell Mitt! The actor who brought Big Bird to life makes $314,000 a year By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 00:27 EST, 11 October 2012 | UPDATED: 00:32 EST, 11 October 2012
That's a FACEBOOK article for the facebookers out there!
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