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Try and stick to the issues, LOSER! ___________________________________________ RNC   h/t American Thinker

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: This is Dennis, Covington, Louisiana. Great to have you on the program, sir. Hi. CALLER: Hey, Rush. I guess the new narrative is that conservatives want to kill Big Bird. Well, we have witnessed decades of toy, merchandising, movie theater revenues that have to amount to the hundreds of millions, which would put Big Bird up there with Bill Gates. So to subsidize Big Bird, isn't that the epitome of tax cuts for the rich? RUSH: Try this. Sesame Street received a million-dollar grant from the stimulus bill, and they reported that it created 1.47 jobs. This...

-snip- According to financial statements for the year ended June 30, 2011, Sesame Workshop and its nonprofit and for-profit subsidiaries had total operating revenue of more than $134 million. They receive about $8 million a year in direct government grants and more indirectly via PBS subsidies. Big Bird and friends also receive corporate and foundation support, and donations amount to about a third of revenue. Distribution fees and royalties comprise another third and licensing revenue makes up the rest. At the end of fiscal 2011, Sesame Workshop and its subsidiaries had total assets of $289 million. About $29 million was...

I see Frontline is doing "an in-depth analysis that goes far beyond headlines and catchphrases, correspondents take a look at presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in order to highlight what drives them and to reveal their true natures." If they trash Romney people will shrug their shoulders and say 'what do you expect from a bunch of leftist a-holes.' If they come short of trashing Romney people will accuse them of pandering to Romney to preserve their subsidy. In short they can't win. If the good folks at PBS had an ounce of integrity they wouldn't take another...

Sesame Street asks Obama campaign to take down attack ad featuring Big Bird By Daniel Strauss - 10/09/12 04:58 PM ET Sesame Street has asked President Obama's campaign to take down its latest attack ad against Mitt Romney, which features footage of Big Bird.

 "Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns," a Tuesday statement on Sesameworkshop.org reads. "We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down." The Obama campaign said it would review the request. "We've received and...

Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns. We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down.

October 9, 2012 Sesame Street asks Obama campaign to take down Big Bird ad Daniel Strauss Sesame Street wants President Obama's campaign to take down its latest attack ad against Mitt Romney, which features footage of Big Bird. "Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization and we do not endorse candidates or participate in political campaigns," a Tuesday statement on Sesameworkshop.org reads. "We have approved no campaign ads, and as is our general practice, have requested that the ad be taken down."The Obama campaign said it would review the request. "We've received and will review their concerns," said an Obama...

More than a dozen American diplomatic missions have been put to the torch over the last month, one of which resulted in the first US Ambassador killed in the line of duty in 33 years. The labor force is near its lowest level in more than 30 years. Gas prices have skyrocketed, and we’re at war in Afghanistan. We are exactly four weeks from the national election. Today, however, Barack Obama will release a new 30-second spot focusing on the true issue that faces our nation …. Big Bird?CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Even Politico can see the contrasts...

Mitt Romney has done it now. He has attacked the Left where it lives -- on PBS and NPR. Mass-attending Catholics rightly perceive that President Obama launched a direct attack on their church. Their bishops have informed them. Evangelicals and other people of faith have mobilized to support Catholics against the Obamacare regulations that will oblige Catholic hospitals, schools and human welfare agencies to close rather than provide the morning-after pill, sterilization, and other drugs and procedures prohibited by Catholic doctrine. Catholics are angry, and they will vote that anger in key swing states like Ohio, Wisconsin, Florida, Virginia, Iowa...

First, I don't know where to even send a suggestion like this. Any ideas? The ad: Big Bird walks past people protesting Romney's claim that PBS funding should be cut. Signs argue that without public funding, American children wouldn't experience Sesame Street. He goes into a parking deck, where he gets in a red Ferrari. As the engine roars, titles overlaying the screen would read: "Sesame Street receives [however much funding] a year from the federal government. In that same time, Sesame Street makes more than $50 million in toys and consumer sales." They could add a guy working in...

If Sesame Street is not commercially viable, then nothing is, and we should just cut to the chase and bail out everything. Apparently, Frank Sinatra served as Mitt Romney's debate coach. As he put it about halfway through "That's Life": "I'd jump right on a big bird and then I'd fly ... ." That's what Mitt did in Denver. Ten minutes in, he jumped right on Big Bird, and then he took off – and never looked back, while the other fellow, whose name escapes me, never got out of the gate. It takes a certain panache to clobber not...

Before Mitt Romney said he was going to stop the subsidy to PBS, even though he likes Big Bird, at the first presidential debate, Sherrie Westin, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Sesame Workshop, told CNN’s Soledad O’Brien that cuts to public broadcasting will not ‘kill Big Bird.’ Westin says, “Sesame Workshop receives very, very little funding from PBS. So, we are able to raise our funding through philanthropic, through our licensed product, which goes back into the educational programming, through corporate underwriting and sponsorship. So quite frankly, you can debate whether or not there should be funding of...

PBS CEO Paula Kerger refused to defend PBS host Jim Lehrer’s debate performance, even failing to push back against the idea that Lehrer is too old and too white for the job. “It was a very complicated debate structure, and you saw that I think in the debate last night,” Kerger said yesterday on CNN when asked to evaluate Lehrer. CNN’s Carol Costello then asked whether Lehrer should have had the job in the first place. “There was criticism when Jim Lehrer was initially named to be a moderator. People said: ‘oh, another white guy; he’s too old to be...

Romney's stated policies in business during the first presidential debate: champion the growth and development for the middle class. Until now, Romney's position was widely perceived as one of the biggest enemies to the middle class. One of his most powerful moments during the debate was the contrast he illustrated between the president’s decision to finance the five big banks, while allowing small banks to fail across America. Some credit should be given to the president, however, for his short-term policies to save the banks, and the wise business decision to make interest from the banks that were save through...

Mitt Romney sure ruffled a lot of feathers over his proposal to eliminate taxpayer funding for government-sponsored TV. As soon as the GOP presidential candidate singled out PBS for cuts during the presidential debate in Denver, the hysterical squawking commenced. Left-leaning celebrities immediately erupted on Twitter. “WOW!!! No PBS!! WTF how about cutting congress’s stuff leave big bird alone,” Whoopi Goldberg fumed. “Mitt is smirky, sweaty, indignant and smug with an unsettling hint of hysteria. And he wants to kill BIG BIRD,” actress Olivia Wilde despaired. “Who picks on Big Bird!!! #bulliesthatswho,” actress Taraji Henson chimed in. Social-media activists called...

I am elated to report to you something you surely already know: Mitt Romney trounced President Obama in their first debate. The rout was so decisive that even the liberal media cannot spin it the other way. There is no need to grade this on a curve. Romney did very well in absolute, not relative, terms. He didn't just do well compared with Obama's poor performance; he really shone, in every category. He proved himself to be very knowledgeable on policy and business, quick on his feet and able to deliver zingers as graciously as possible under the circumstances. Obama,...

Long-time PBS anchor Jim Lerher was arrested today after being connected with an inflammatory broadcast which has incited verbal violence and unrest throughout the United States and Europe. The broadcast, which appeared unexpectedly over many US television stations, superficially seems to be a debate between US president Barack Obama and an unnamed other person, possibly the president's debate coach John Kerry. However, the incendiary and invidious intent of the presentation soon makes itself obvious. Mr. Lerher, who appears in the role of moderator, continually allows the opponent to berate and insult the president by citing the latter's record as chief...

Colorado presidential debate: Media piles on moderator Jim Lehrer By: Mackenzie Weinger October 4, 2012 01:18 AM EDT The loser of Wednesday night’s debate, according to many pundits and political commentators? Moderator Jim Lehrer. Lehrer, the executive editor of PBS Newshour, sat behind the desk for the 12th time in the history of televised presidential debates on Wednesday night — and drew some of the most blistering reviews of his career. The consensus: Lehrer did not control the debate, failed to enforce the time limits, did not press the candidates enough and generally was steamrolled by the presidential candidates, Mitt...

A landmark transmedia project featuring a four-hour PBS primetime national and international broadcast event (check local listings), a Facebook-hosted social action game, mobile games, two websites, educational video modules with companion text, a social media campaign supporting over 30 partner NGOs, and an impact assessment plan all inspired by Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, the widely acclaimed book by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide was filmed in 10 countries and follows Kristof, WuDunn, and celebrity activists America Ferrera, Diane Lane, Eva Mendes, Meg Ryan, Gabrielle...

Notorious PBS liberal Gwen Ifill took to Twitter to defend David Chalian, the former Yahoo Washington bureau chief who was fired for claiming that Mitt and Ann Romney are "happy to have a party with black people drowning," claiming that he was unjustly fired. Her defense was markedly over-the-top: "One mistake does not change this. @DavidChalian is God's gift to political journalism. #IStandwithDavid" One wonders if the always liberal Ifill would have said a conservative journalist who had been fired was "God's gift to political journalism." Actually one really doesn't. Hat tip: Clay Waters. Incidentally, Ifill is said to have...