Obama Campaign Attempts To Pimp Multi-Million Dollar "Big Bird" ...

... But Big Bird and his creators are having nothing to do with it! They are saying enough is enough.

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Big Bird Doesn't Need Saving By Obama

"[W]hile Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are rolling out big ideas on taxes, entitlements, and deficits, Barack Obama is clinging to his toys like a frightened child, which very well may be what he is feeling like after his recent trip to the woodshed.” [NRO Editorial: Vulture Capitalism - Get Big Bird off of welfare]

NRO continues, "The Obama campaign apparently is being run by a humor-deficient would-be Jon Stewart: On Tuesday, it launched an ill-advised attempt at snark in an advertisement featuring Big Bird. How bad was the ad? Even the yellow fellow himself was embarrassed, and Sesame Workshop, the multimillion-dollar enterprise with the $1 million–a–year president behind Sesame Street, asked that the ad be taken down. Even President Obama’s amen corner in the media was aghast: ABC News’ Terry Moran pronounced it the work of a campaign “in panic mode.” Somebody should remind Barack Obama that he is, for the moment, president of the United States of America, and not auditioning for whichever MSNBC time slot Chris Hayes turned down."

Rick Manning in a NetRightDaily article explains, "The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides partial support for PBS and National Public Radio (NPR), receives about $450 million a year in taxpayer dollars. . . . Congressman Doug Lamborn, in an exclusive 2011 interview with Americans for Limited Government’s Frank McCaffrey pointed out, 'Why should taxpayers, when we are running trillion dollar deficits have to pay for something like this that could pay for itself, it doesn’t make any sense at all.' Yet, two years later the Big Bird subsidy remains."

Manning adds, "More than just symbolically, Big Bird has become the major dividing line in the election. Will America vote to continue spending $3.60 for every $2.50 our nation takes into our treasury unconcerned about how our government covers the bills and unaware that the trillion a year results in devastating our economic growth and overall job creation."

NRO points out, "Controlling the deficit will entail some difficult decisions. Getting Big Bird off of welfare is not one of them. Caroll Spinney, the actor who has played Big Bird since the dawn of time, earns a comfortable 1-percenter income and nests in a gated estate in tony Woodstock, Conn. Rich-old-hippie welfare is an idea whose time has gone. Public-broadcasting executives earn incomes well into the six figures and sometimes into the seven figures. Sesame Workshop takes in hundreds of millions of dollars from Tickle Me Elmo and other merchandise. Big Bird is beak-deep in birdseed and does not require a half-billion dollars a year from taxpayers."

NRO noted, "And while PBS and NPR give very little offense beyond their bland, conventional liberalism, the United States is not the sort of country that should have government-run media — or even media that is only 6 percent government run. Public broadcasting, like so much associated with the progressive heyday, is fundamentally un-republican. We welcome this debate. The Democrats will, as usual, cry that this is about “the children,” but l’affair Big Bird shows us precisely who the children really are."

Manning remarked, "As strange as it might seem, Big Bird just might be the perfect symbol for this election. Will America behave like grown-ups with an out-of-control budget and start cutting back on the luxuries in an attempt to bring it somewhat under control, or will they behave like children (or Baby Boomers) who have little regard or comprehension of the consequences of spending a week’s worth of lunch money on Monday because mommy is just going to give them more on Tuesday?"

NRO adds, "Those who point out that eliminating mere small-fry outlays like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting won’t balance the budget are undeniably correct — but it is also undeniably correct that we will not balance the budget without eliminating a lot of small-fry outlays like the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. We have to do the big-ticket items and the little ones as well, lest we spare the taxpayer the guillotine only to abandon him to a death by a thousand forgone cuts."

Manning warns, "If Team Obama gets its way, Big Bird will remain on the public dole enslaving the generation that watches him today to those who lent America the money to subsidize him."

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It seems very clear that the Sesame Workshop and Caroll Spinney are not interested in Big Bird being pimped and controlled by the Big Government. If the Obama campaign or its liberal supportive commentators continues to pimp the Big Bird, it wouldn't be too surprising if the Sesame Workshop dump PBS /NPR and give Big Government the "bird" by establishing its own online or cable channel or by partnering with another television network.
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Rick Manning is the communications director of Americans for Limited Government.
National Review Online (NRO) provides conservative commentary on politics, news, and culture.
Big Bird is Big Bird! Any kid knows that!

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Tags: Big Bird, NPR, PBS, Obama campaign, the economy, government subsidies To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!