The best line I’ve read about Mitt Romney firing Big Bird:
Let’s channel one of Big Bird’s colleagues, Count von Count, and do some math: The federal government gave $445 million this year to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes that money to PBS and, to a lesser degree, NPR member stations across the country.
That $445 million works out to about 1/100 of 1 percent of the federal budget.
That’s like me saying I’m going to lose weight by trimming my nails.
From the Chicago Sun Times article: No debate about it: Big Bird is small potatoes when it comes to federal budget which I stumbled upon on DailyKos.com.
Yup. Way to go Mitt. Hollow gestures, lies and gimmicks.
Damn these folks who think pre-school is an important time.
Damn them to hell!
HOLY CATS, HOW LONG ARE YOUR NAILS?!?!
Oh…oops…
Can’t wait for 7 November, when hopefully Romney is nothing but a bad memory…
Usually when I want to lose weight I cut my hair. A buzz cut is usually worth about 5 lbs.
I can’t wait for the election to be over either. Unless I have to move to another country that is.
Hee, hee. That was funny. I’m still laughing.
Isn’t it a great line. Glad you enjoyed it!
Wake me when it’s over please.
No no no. I’ll wake you when it’s time to vote! And then you will be allowed to go back to sleep until the returns are in.
Fair enough Elyse. I promise you I’ll be voting!
Yeah. Who needs preK? Or solid role models. Pfffft.
Along with teaching kids simple manners, social behaviors and helping them build things like self-esteem, respect for others…treating everyone with kindness…encouraging kids to help one another. Who wants to bother with that junk anyway?
If only they taught how to deal with the help, then it would be worth funding. But alas …
I think I read somewhere that the amount of tax dollars for PBS works out to one dollar per person per year. Even as I enter my 5th year of unemployment, I find that I can afford that.
It was a bad place for Romney to go, I think. So of course that’s where he went.
I hope the next year finds your number off the unemployment roll (although I suspect you are no longer being counted).
I never could understand the Republican obsession with eliminating public TV and radio. Our kids loved The Magic School Bus and Zoboomafoo and Reading Rainbow and actually learned more from those shows than they ever did from some of the crap on Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon (which made me regret that we ever got cable).
No, I’ve never understood it either. Except that while we and our kids watch PBS, the folks they are hoodwinking into voting for them watch Housewives of NJ and Nick at Night.
That was a great line. Unfortunately, too many people are bamboozled by voodoo math. What lot’s of people will remember about the comment is to trim their nails before a Weight Watcher’s weigh-in…
Hopefully folks will remember that he wants to kill Big Bird.
But I am dieting so I may just try this tip. As I told Guap above, usually I just cut my hair … but the nails may help too.
My guess is that this is not about Big Bird. It’s really about the questionable relationship between Bert and Ernie…
You hammered it, Lisa. Oops. Possibly I might have chosen my words better …
Snicker
I thought the same thing, Elyse–how much can cutting federal funding for PBS *possibly* save in the budget? A few pennies, relatively speaking? Except that you phrased it much, much better.
That was Obama’s point. Add all this stuff up and you still don’t make the math work.
But I was quoting from an article in the Chicago Sun Times. Sadly I didn’t think of the analogy myself. I just thought it was too funny and too apt not to pass along!
Nice way to sum it up! Thanks for sharing.
If only I’d thought of it! Thanks for stoping by.
Even though this post mentioned math, I kept reading. But you put it in such perspective. Way to go! I get it!
Thanks Karen. Even math phobes like us know that elongating “practically nothing” from anything doesn’t change a whole heck of a lot.
Love the comparison of cutting Big Bird’s seed money to trimming nails to lose weight. It’s a great way to make the point.
I agree, Paprika. I only wish I could claim the credit for thinking it up!
OK, I know several others have already said this, but I have to, too…I loved the line about losing weight by trimming your nails! I have to remember that! I think I will ned a better scale to use that method of losing weight, though….Thanks for giving me a laugh!
Woman, you’re welcome to pile onto this bandwagon. I too thought it was perfect and hilarious — that’s why I quoted it!
And you’re always welcome to add your 2 cents here — for original or purloined humor!
I’ve been waiting patiently for your post-debate thoughts, of course you did not disappoint. I must admit I was bored out of my mind during the entire event. The Big Bird references was the only thing that grabbed my attention. I was wondering if Count von Count ran a tally on how many times the word “taxes” was spoken. I await round 2!
I was disappointed. Obama didn’t call him a liar. But there are two more plus one VP. We shall see.
But Romney wanting to kill Big Bird is nothing. That good soul Rick Santorum wants to EAT Big Bird!
If I recall the news earlier today, the amount saved by hacking PBS funds would run the Pentagon for 6 minutes.
Yep, great cost-savings there…..
Yes these are the wise men. They know just where to make the cuts.
I found myself laying face down on the bed wishing I could cover my ears each time Myth Romney spoke. Do you find his voice on a bit whinny? Then he bullied the moderator, I put my head down and gave him the salute, you know the one, yeah that one. Then he said no funding for PBS, he would fire everyone…gad, two handed I gave Myth the salute with both my hands and waved them in the air.
I was so embarrassed.
It was a awful evening. Good thing Romney DID attack Big Bird. Something newsworthy on our side.
Let me toss in the tidbit that Sesame Streets gets very little fed money, so he can’t fire Big Bird.
But he LIKES to fire people. Birds too.
Actually it shows that he continually steps in it.
Why have free broadcasting when there is some media mogul ready to make $$ on its content? Oh yeah – there’s the public information thing that shouldn’t be for sell to highest bidder. Guess he forgot about that.
Yes, what we really need are more reality shows. So edifying!
It was really funny.
Can it be also possible to lose weight by cutting hair? 
That is my most effective weight loss strategy. Sadly, that too comes back.