This is great:
How much do you want to bet the very serious people like Bobo attack the campaign for this ad for being silly and not serious, when they should really be attacking the jackass who thinks 5 trillion in tax cuts, 2 trillion in extra defense spending, and a meager cut to PBS will balance the budget?
The Red Pen
Romney’s already called the frivolity “troubling.”
CTW has asked the Obama campaign to stop the ad, which kind of looks bad for Obama.
I’d like to see some obsessive concern-trolling from the media about whether or not Romney can “really seal the deal” with his debate win.
C’mon, you know it’s just the kind of shit they do.
(Also, cable news should note that I had first post. Does this indicate The Red Pen’s rise as a Balloon-Juice commenter? Here’s Erick Erickson to pretend that his opinion is meaningful enough for us to broadcast it…)
JenJen
Oh, that’s already started. This morning on MSNBC, John Heilemann ripped into the Obama campaign for the Big Bird ad, saying they’ve been absolutely awful since the debate.
From Halperin’s lips to Heilemann’s ears, I thought, but yeah, look out for a concerted effort to destroy the President’s “seriousness” by attacking the new Big Bird ad and praising Mitt Romney’s new “voice.” Obama is basically the Village’s ex-boyfriend at this point.
John PM
I love it!
BGinCHI
Anyone have any stats on the “independents” who haven’t decided who they’ll vote for and who TPM are following like a newborn calf?
Their latest report is that it’s “single mothers” who have flipped to Romney. It’s just crazy. WTF did he say at the debate that would appeal to them? Even the lies he told shouldn’t have given them any reason to favor him.
I’m telling you: the fucking sheep who don’t know anything want a daddy or a master (this especially means men).
It’s disgusting.
TaMara (BHF)
And just like that my day was brightened. Silly bird. Throw the book at ‘im.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
That race has already been run, and this is in fact the horse that won. Haven’t heard from BoBo but Halperin’s co-author is very concerned about this lack of seriousness, as are the junior leaguers at Time . com
Litlebritdifrnt
I was following twitter on my phone while I was in court this morning waiting to continue a case and I saw a tweet that said 7% of people polled thought that PBS accounted for 50% of the federal budget. You can’t reason with that kind of stupid.
Paula
Whatever. Republicans have had it in for public broadcasting forever. Hoist them on that particular petard all you want, Obama, because it’s fucking true.
gregor
Liberals always seem to be content with proving that Republicans are intellectually dishonest.
The Republicans are willing to pay the price of victory, if the cost is intellectual dishonesty.
SatanicPanic
Hahahaha, that’s awesome. OT, but I need to remind myself not to visit Charlie Pierce’s blog anymore. That dude’s been lamenting Obama’s reelection chances for months now and with a sliver of evidence that a bad debate performance has tightened the race he’s acting like his Debbie Downer routine was all prescient.
Susan K of the tech support
Alinsky. Ridicule. Done.
The Moar You Know
Children’s Television Workshop seems willing to play the purity game, insisting that their characters not be used for political ads, and they’ve asked Obama to pull the ad.
As you wish, it’s only your existence that hangs in the balance.
Idiots.
The Dangerman
The other post debate ad (“tell the truth”) was better; this one is rather … disappointing. But, as an Obot, I’m not in the demographic this is targeting.
If Romney skips out on taking kids questions, I hope the next ad is the Ballad of Brave Sir Romney (“Brave Sir Romney ran away” “I didn’t!”)…
Paul
@JenJen:
These are the same people that criticized Obama for his ads early in the campaign about Romney and Bain. I couldn’t possibly care less what these mouth breathers have to say.
At least something good happened today. Welch quit his column job for Fortune/Reuters. At least one less idiot. Why did they hire him in the first place? He adds absolutely nothing of value.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@JenJen:
He never was. He is a Democratic president and therefore his presidency is illegitimate from the start. He’s compounded their discomfort by being the president who actually did work his way up from the bottom of the societal ladder. That he refuses to kiss their asses makes them furious. They realize, even with their shriveled Villager brains, that hey had no part in making them so they can have no part in breaking him.
Redshift
The news reports this morning about this ad reported Romney people having a sad that the president would focus on this “when so many Americans are out of work.” As opposed to, you know, declaring that they have a plan to create jobs but they won’t tell us anything about it, like Romney. I’m sure that fairy tale is very comforting to unemployed workers whose mommies still tuck them in at night.
over_educated
While I like this ad, I honestly have a bad feeling about how it will be received….
scav
wtf did he do to his hair? Jet black with the cute little pure white pilot sidebits is weird: part zebra, part Cruella de Ville.
Omnes Omnibus
@over_educated: By whom?
FlipYrWhig
@SatanicPanic: That’s why people act gloomy and pessimistic. There’s no downside. If things turn out better than you expect, you benefit too. If they turn out as badly as you expect, or worse, you get to claim credit for foresight. It’s a scam. It might not be a deliberate scam; it may well be based on genuine belief. But it’s a scam. Liberal pundits love it, and liberal pundit-readers lap it up. I’m totally this way about life. But it’s jut obnoxious to apply it to political analysis, because all the incentives are geared towards the gloomiest, most defeatist possible attitude.
Napoleon
@Paul:
And notice what they both have in common, they criticize, either explicitly or implicitly, the financial sector.
James E. Powell
I think there was enough play of the “Killing Big Bird” in the press/media; this ad was not necessary. More important, it doesn’t counter the emerging narrative that Obama can neither attack Romney or defend his administration. I’m not saying that’s true. I’m saying that’s the talk.
They need to double down on the attacks on Romney as a slick, snake-oil salesman. It has the convenience of being true.
They need to stress that Romney lies not because he is evil, but because he has to. He has to hide his tax returns because if you saw them, you would never vote for him. He has to hide the details of his policy proposals because if you knew what they were, you would never vote for him. This is the theme and this is the theme was close to taking hold until Obama squatted in the debate.
I hate placing so much on the performance of Crazy Uncle Joe Biden, but if he doesn’t turn in a bravura performance, we are in seriously deep shit.
MikeJ
@over_educated: Your concern is noted.
muddy
@The Red Pen:
“Top of the world, Ma!”
FlipYrWhig
@James E. Powell: “That’s the talk” from whom?
blingee
The Rethugs are all coming out of the woodwork attacking the ad so you know it’s a good one.
FlipYrWhig
@James E. Powell: For that matter, the post-debate ad I’ve seen repeatedly is entirely about how Romney denies he has a $5T tax plan, but the factcheckers call bullshit on that, so if you can’t trust him in the debates how can we trust him behind the desk in the Oval Office. It seems like you want the campaign to do things they already have done.
The Moar You Know
So many new commentors here. Cole must be thrilled.
I know I am.
catclub
@James E. Powell: “They need to stress that Romney lies not because he is evil, but because he has to. He has to hide his tax returns because if you saw them, you would never vote for him. He has to hide the details of his policy proposals because if you knew what they were, you would never vote for him.”
I was about to ask when Obama would start asking where Mitt is hiding his tax returns. Beat me to it.
Elizabelle
Juvenile, but funny.
A little dangerous.
Children’s Television Workshop folks are IDIOTS, though, for asking ad be pulled.
Unless they’re planning to support public programming with Staples advertising.
negative 1
@over_educated: which is exactly what everyone said when they tied Rmoney to Bain and the guy whose wife lost her health insurance, and that ad crushed him. You can’t claim the dems are weak and then clutch your pearls when we attack. For f^&k’s sake, when they attack you back you’re doing it right.
SatanicPanic
@FlipYrWhig: Agreed. I don’t want liberal punditry to go the “O’Doyle Rules!” route that the right has, but I am over the woe-is-us act. What has it gotten us in the last 30 years?
burnspbesq
If it weren’t damaging, they wouldn’t be whingeing about it.
gogol's wife
@The Moar You Know:
Isn’t it weird? And they’re very persistent. In all the threads there are several new ones.
JenJen
@SatanicPanic: Yeah, Charles Pierce and Andrew Sullivan have been a bit insufferable of late. Is that a Massachusetts thing?
I do adore the way Pierce calls Politico “Tiger Beat on the Potomac” though.
Ian
Obama up by 4 in OH in latest CNN Poll:
i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2012/images/10/09/topgenstate4.pdf
(up 10 if just counting registered voters)
Cris (without an H)
I figured they would, and they’re right to. But for that matter, OFA probably knew they would have to pull the ad, but figured it was worth getting it out there anyway. It’s like Jimmy Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder: “How can the jury disregard something they’ve already heard? They can’t.”
Linda Featheringill
CTW. Yeah, on the one hand, they are idiots with no sense of self preservation. On the other hand, they may be trying to preserve their non-political status.
But it’s a great ad and I love it. :-)
donnah
Humor stays with people where doom and gloom won’t. Sometimes you have to break the mood and instill a lighter touch, and that’s what this ad does. Obama’s team has to milk that part of the debate for all it’s worth and use Romney’s words and lies against him.
If CTW feels the need to pull the ad, I kinda understand. But having been threatened, you’d think they would appreciate the shout-out.
trollhattan
@Linda Featheringill:
I.R. not aware of all internet traditions. Who’s CTW?
Canada Trusts Wookies?
Cris (without an H)
@The Moar You Know: @Elizabelle: Guys, it’s in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s charter that “The Corporation may not contribute to or otherwise support any political party or candidate for elective public office.”
They really, really cannot let their characters be used in political advertising. This isn’t purity in the name of vanity, it’s the rules of their game.
PurpleGirl
That’s a great ad: It mentions some of the criminal activity of financiers and then brings in Big Bird as the budget buster. LOL. Just thinking about it makes me giggle and LOL.
Amir Khalid
Y’know, the post headline could very accurately refer to Mitt Romney.
The Red Pen:
Does it really look bad for Obama? If Sesame Workshop let that ad be broadcast, it might look like they were tacitly supporting a partisan political message. I understand completely why Sesame Workshop don’t want that, even if the message is apparently in their favor. It might put partisan Republican parents off from letting their kids watch Sesame Street and learn from it, and that’s not a win for anyone.
Elizabelle
It’s the very last line that’s the killer:
“Mitt Romney: Taking on our Enemies No Matter Where They Nest.”
With Big Bird snoring in the background.
? Martin
Sorry, but that ad kinda sucks.
Obama set the standard in this campaign by going after big things in a big way – the ads were going after big issues like ‘do workers deserve respect in our society’ and outsourcing and so on. Mitt only put Big Bird out there, not to make children cry, but to demonstrate how tough he is on spending. The way to counter that is to highlight how he isn’t really tough on spending (increased defense spending?) or to highlight how Obama is equally tough on spending. This ad does neither except to defend spending on Big Bird. It does the opposite of what it needs to do.
Cris (without an H)
Children’s Television Workshop
Amir Khalid
@trollhattan:
Sesame Workshop was originally known as the Children’s Television Workshop.
Shawn in ShowMe
@Cris (without an H):
If CTW doesn’t want to support the President, I’m sure we could get somebody else from the PBS family to stand with us. Like Levar Burton. “Mitt Romney wants to destroy PBS programming just like he destroyed American jobs. But you don’t have to take my word for it.” (Roll tape)
Tom Q
One thing about a press mood-swing is, when they go into one, EVERYTHING supports it. So, Obama had a bad debate, there are some bad polls — this means every single move the campaign has made in the interim is inherently incorrect if not fatal. New ad? Terrible. Recent speech? Pathetic. This will continue until something — polls going back to normal; a positive moment in another debate — swings them back in the other direction. The press has the most ignorant herd instinct imaginable.
And it’s alway been one of Obama’s prime virtues that he ignores all that and keeps his eye on the basic prize. This is very reminiscent of the post-Palin-pick time, when McCain (everyone forgets) was climbing in the polls. Pantywaist Dems were rending their garments then, too, egged on by the press. Obama realized the fundamentals of the election favored him and kept on keeping on.
The same thing’s going on here; it will switch back, and alot of people with either start pretending they never said the things they said, or will find some tiny moment and declare, that was it, that was the moment Obama grabbed hold of the narrative and swung the election back (like they claim the Lehman collapse did last time, even though Obama had recaptured the poll leads prior to it). Meantime, those of us who said all along, both ’08 and now, that the fundamentals point to a Dem victory, will be dismissed as un-savvy for our unwillingness to surrender to the emotional maelstrom of the moment.
gogol's wife
@Tom Q:
I hope you’re right.
trollhattan
@Cris (without an H): @Amir Khalid:
Okie dokie, that makes more sense than mine. Thanks!
Elizabelle
Can someone cache this ad, so that we can laugh at it at leisure in upcoming weeks?
Even if the campaign pulls it?
Thinking on how Huntsman’s website got cleaned after he withdrew from race.
Can we save the Big Bird ad for posterity?
lamh35
@The Red Pen: sorry, but at this point, CTW may wanna piss or get off the pot. Let this one go. They have a decision too. Romney has said what he’d like to see happy to PBS and therefore CTW. Their choice is clear. No one’s asking for some sort of endorsement. And no lone is expecting CTW to do so, but just a statement saying they don’t condone it is enough. Asking for the ad to be taken down is spiting off their own noses at this point.
If they don’t plan on fighting for their best interest, then why the heck should anyone else.
Shawn in ShowMe
@Tom Q:
Just in case you haven’t heard it about a dozen times in the last week: Your comments here are greatly appreciated. Even before this current flare-up, I was already a big fan because you turned me on to this.
over_educated
@negative 1: I’m not disagreeing with you, and I assume they focus tested the crap out of it. But the problem as attacks go is that this tries to be witty and sarcastic. I just don’t think the voters Obama is trying to reach are going to be swung by sarcasm. And it gives the villagers something to hang their “unserious” hat on. A better ad would have been the mitt romney debates himself motif. But that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
PurpleGirl
@trollhattan: Children’s Television Workshop, the company/organization that produces Sesame Street.
CTW probably does not depend as much as you think on PBS for money; they get their own grants and they get marketing royalties for Sesame Street merchandise and the theme park.
Dream On
@Elizabelle: Children’s Television Workshop folks are IDIOTS, though, for asking the ad to be pulled.
UnlessThey’re planning to supportpublic programmingSesame Street with Staples advertising.Fixed. Sesame Street gets very little funding from PBS. They really are pretty corporate-friendly. I don’t think Jim Henson would be pleased.
lamh35
@SatanicPanic: Can I just say, that the Liberal/Dem/Sully/whatever “freakout” is par for the course (although I suspect the RW would be more likely and quickly to back their guy up. But us Dems are more moral folk the the right I guess) so meh on that…but the adopting of so much of the RW critic of Obama (too “arrogant” or “lazy” to prep) by not just Sully, but a few Obama “partisan” that I respected pisses me off more than anything. yes the debate wasn’t Obama’s shining moment, but adopting RW tropes ain’t the way to make any argument in my book. And I don’t believe that any Obama partisan/supporter would ever be okay with anyone putting the performance or critic of Obama in those terms. But from the comments I’ve read here and elsewhere, it would seem that even some of Obama supporters are quick to run through those tropes when Obama falls short. It’s kind of telling in a way
djork
@Shawn in ShowMe:
“Pundit with a frown,
Levar’s here to double down”
To the tune of Reading Rainbow.
Steve
I hardly think this one is going into heavy rotation. It’s a silly ad to grab a few headlines and test how the other side responds to mockery.
Cris (without an H)
Right, just because the organization itself has to remain neutral doesn’t mean the individuals within it have to. Still, don’t expect to see public endorsements, especially from the cast of children’s programming.
JenJen
@Ian: This is great news out of Ohio, where early voting has already begun. I drove past the Butler County Board of Elections this morning and the place was packed with voters lining up; it actually surprised me. I vote in Hamilton County and Butler is more GOP, but still, a good, if anecdotal, sign for the President in the Buckeye State!
nellcote
I think the ad was aimed at the crybaby “progressives” to get them to chill the fuck out. The whole debate failure thing is being pushed harder and longer by “our side” than the msm originally did. You can decide their motivation for this for yourself.
James E. Powell
@catclub:
I was about to ask when Obama would start asking where Mitt is hiding his tax returns. Beat me to it.
One point on which we may disagree. I do not think that this line of attack should come from Obama, but rather from every surrogate.
The repeated mantras have to be “What is Romney hiding?” and “Why won’t he just tell the truth?”
lamh35
@James E. Powell: so bascially nothing Romney says is fodder for ad anymore.
Maybe the Obama camp shoulda took out Big Bird and replaced it with Reading Rainbow, since Big Bird, introduced in the debates by Romney himself I might add, is just too much.
lamh35
Oh and BTW, the creator of Big Bird is a big Obama backer according to Buzzfeed (gawd I hate those guys, but still).
@BuzzFeedBen
Big Bird’s Creator A Big Obama Backer buzzfeed.com/chrisgeidner/big-birds-creator-a-big-obama-backer … via @buzzfeed
Cris (without an H)
On that note, Jesse Taylor’s account of early voting in Ohio last week is a fun read.
Dream On
The Obama team’s calculation may be that talk of the ad is more important than if the ad gets pulled. As Cokie Roberts would say, “…it’s out there.”
Personally I would have preferred a “Now hold on, Partner” ad, contrasting Romney’s lying Energizer Battery Rabbit debate performance with his slower primary fibs. It would get to a far more important point. I couldn’t help but think this ad was a little like empty carolies. Tasty but not that essential.
Elizabelle
NYTimes blog from earlier today on Europeans wondering why the clamor over Big Bird, who is admired abroad.
They call him “Garibaldo” in Brazil.
Some good graphics.
The Red Pen
@Amir Khalid:
A fair question and I don’t know the real answer. I do know that the Wingnut Wurlitzer is spinning it as a smack-down of Obama by his new BFF Big Bird, but what else would they do?
Not sure how it plays outside the fever swamp…
lamh35
@Ian: there is an NBC News polls probably coming now supposedly for Thursday. I expect it to be weighted tho show Romney ahead. so be forewarned!
Joel
@James E. Powell: I’m with you. Surprised that this advertisement went on the air, it looks more like an internet tongue-in-cheek spot to me. It’s really little more than a waste of a few bills, but it’s not going to win any votes. Get back to work at painting Romney as the conniving bastard that he is, using his words and his actions.
SatanicPanic
@lamh35: Yeah, calling him lazy is really not cool. I think debates are pretty stupid to begin with, and I (projecting my own thoughts onto him here…) imagine he does too. The man’s got real work that he’s busy with, I won’t get too angry if he doesn’t take time out of it to prep for the lousy entertainment show we call the debates. But then again, I guess some people value them, and I bet he brings his A game to the next one.
PurpleGirl
@Dream On: I don’t normally do this but the word you wanted is calories.
Mnemosyne
@? Martin:
No, it mocks the right wing’s obsession with PBS and their conviction that all of our fiscal problems would be solved if we just cut funding to PBS.
If there’s one thing the right wing can’t stand, it’s being made the butt of the joke, so I’m expecting some really fun fireworks from this one.
Dream On
@PurpleGirl: Oh I just noticed. Oops – calories, I also have just noticed I need more coffee. Gotta wake up.
And it’s the Energizer Bunny – not rabbit. Doh!
Next week I’ll pull a Romney and say I never used the word.
Hill Dweller
@Tom Q: As I said on another thread last night, I have a hard time believing the country will elect Romney. He is still the bumbling plutocrat and failed politician he was before the last debate. But it is going to be harder for Obama this time, because the media has completely abdicated their responsibility. Hell, some of them are actively helping Willard’s cynical campaign.
I’m not sure how Obama counters the media. Some, like Drum, Kilgore and Pierce, are starting to ridicule their colleagues’ behavior, which could have an effect, but, ultimately, I think Obama is going to have to be damn near perfect down the stretch to pull it out.
Tom Q
@Shawn in ShowMe: I’m delighted to hear this. I’ve tried to point people to that on many occasions, and most either dismiss it as shallow (without bothering to actually look into the system) or are too hard-wired into the “every tiny story every day could swing the race” mentality that they’re unable to accept its potential validity (despite its having predicted 7 straight elections, often way ahead of time and in contravention of common expectation).
Not to say I can’t be swayed by daily fluctuations myself on occasion, but the system has helped me keep calm in the inevitable moments of panic which too many seem to enjoy indulging.
FlipYrWhig
@Dream On:
Apart from the bit about fast-talking vs. slow-talking, there really are Obama ads about how Romney said things in the debates about his proposals that contradict what we already know.
Here’s one. Here’s another one.
The punchline of the one I saw (multiple times on TV in Virginia–essentially a shorter version of the second) has to do with whether we can trust him in the Oval Office.
If you go to the Obama YouTube channel, ad after ad after ad is about Romney being misleading and using lies.
catclub
@James E. Powell: I think it will have to be Obama pointing out the deep differences between Romney and his father, starting with tax forms and then throwing in the word ‘Brainwashing’ by the right wing to set Romney way off
his stride.
I doubt he will. He values those likeability numbers that he beats Romney on.
ericblair
@Tom Q:
Remember, if you’re not running in a circle wetting yourself and crying for your mommy, you’re Not Being Serious. Serious People have no patience, have no memories, and run under rocks at the first signs of adversity. I hope this helps.
FlipYrWhig
@Joel:
Nine out of ten of their recent ads are exactly this. Do you live in a “swing state”? I’m in Virginia. I must see every ad many times. Believe me, they do it the way you say you want them to do it.
Dream On
Perhaps this new ad is what we need today. It’s more “serious.”
youtube.com/watch?v=Qq11CWbd56g
Now if the Obama team could only make an ad of Big Bird losing his Medicare. Two stones in one.
James E. Powell
@lamh35:
so bascially nothing Romney says is fodder for ad anymore.
When or where did I say anything like that?
Steve
@FlipYrWhig: The one about Romney’s $5 trillion tax cut lie, concluding with the bit about how we can’t trust him in the Oval Office, has been playing constantly during the baseball playoffs. I assume it must be a national buy because I don’t live in a swing market.
Ben Cisco
@Elizabelle: Done.
Elizabelle
Obama just taking the stage at Ohio State University rally.
youtube.com/user/BarackObamadotcom/featured
Elizabelle
@Ben Cisco:
Thank you!
Elizabelle
Will.I.Am is in the house. He’ll help with registering young voters after today’s speech.
Today is last day for Ohio voter registration.
slag
@? Martin: You’re wrong on this. That ad is all about power and how Rmoney decides to prioritize his use of it. Where he drops the hammer and where he looks the other direction. That’s about as big a subject as you can get in this election.
strawmanmunny
“That’s not leadership, that’s salesmanship” seems to be a good line, doesn’t it?
El Cid
Mitt Romney has never, ever once ran for President and has never said anything about any tax plans of any types ever.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@ericblair:
Or as an older friend once put it to me: “When in Danger, When in Doubt, Run in circles, scream and shout“. Humans acting under stress really aren’t that different from a troop of hairless chimps.
JenJen
And there it is!
Chris Matthews and Panel Trash Obama Campaign’s Big Bird Ad
Tweety and Andrew Sullivan both seem to be enjoying the view from the ledge outside Andy’s window.
ETA: Oh, I see presidential campaign loser-in-perpetuity Bob Shrum joined the panel in trashing the ad. I don’t know about you guys, but if Bob Shrum is agin’ it, I’m for it!
Just Some Fuckhead
As soon as Obama started losing, he started doing this frivolous negative stuff. With America 16 trillion dollars in the hole, and unemployment somewhere around 8% (depending on who you believe, the BLS or the Chicago crowd that controls the BLS), I think a little seriousness is called for. Ya know, starting with showing up for the debates prepared.
I just wanted to see what it felt like trying to even things out for Romney so we can have a good horserace.
trollhattan
@JenJen:
Has anybody said “Meep-meep” to Sully recently? Christ, the description of him covered in beagle dung running around afire is perfect. Today’s Morning Edition story of the Pew poll was introduced with a selection of Sully adjectives.
So yeah, no matter how annoying and fringy his views, he has a platform and therefore, “matters.”
Since Maher has Coulter scheduled for Friday, I’ll bet they’re desperately trying to book Sully. Who can be the bigger harpy?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JenJen: I don’t know, I like the way Tweety was hammering home the differences between Obama and Willard. On everything from gay marriage to the Iraq war to the auto bailout, Tweety was kicking Willard in the nuts.
I’m not crazy about the ad, but it sets up a pivot for when Willard sanctimoniously asks Obama why he keeps talking about it, Obama says “that’s the only spending cut you’ve offered to offset your $5 trillion tax cuts”.
gelfling545
@? Martin: I think it demonstrates extremely well that Romney is not dealing with reality in his economic proposals and is going after a fairy tale instead of the real issues.
gelfling545
@over_educated: To me it seems that Big Bird is the way to go. I know a number of people who have zero interest in politics and usually decide whom to vote for when actually at the polling place. The only thing they know about the debate is Big Bird. It’s all they’ve heard. A couple of them have denounced Romney on face book because (and I quote)”what kind of person would be against Sesame Street?”
MCA1
@lamh35: “so bascially nothing Romney says is fodder for ad anymore.”
That’s not the point. I think the point is that the Big Bird comment got about as much play as anyone could have wanted organically, through twitterdom and the Book of Faces. Any glomming on to that sort of grass roots movement by the campaign in an “official” ad is open to a charge of appearing a little, well, desperate and/or forced. The Big Bird thing was having its effect without the Obama team having to take any ownership of it. It developed in a different way than the 47% comment, which was in the mainstream media and therefore “out there” in a different way and being discussed by every “serious” journalist.
Anyway, I’m glad to see others link here to the more common ads being pushed by the President’s team here, getting a lot of play out of the liar angle. That’s more devastating in the end than some mockery about a stupid comment and an undue focus on the pissant budgetary line item of PBS.
Donut
Even the liberal Josh Marshall is on the fence.
I think Obama needed distractions from a bad weekend. Humor is essential, and beneath the too-cuteness of the spot is a really clear point about priorities and about education and doing stuff that is good for kids. At the least, there’s nothing harmed by these ads and I bet, just maybe, they test well with the single women Obama seems to have slipped with since last week.
Take a deep breath. This ride is just getting started.
JenJen
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Now, that would be a good answer to Romney, and I hope Obama gets the chance to employ it.
pattonbt
Personally, while the ad is funny and I like it, I wouldnt have done it (or maybe just as a web ad or seomthing).
That said, if it is getting condemnation from the usual whingers, peral clutchers and purity trolls, then it must hit the spot.
As someone else said, Obama has tons of recently released ads which are serious and hit Romney hard, nothing wrong with one having a little levity.
I think Obama showing a bit of humor is very key based on his “lackluster” persona in the debate. And he has done it in his post debate speeches (being self deprecating while still attacking Romney) and with this ad.
A little humor from Obama will go a long way.
...now I try to be amused
CTW feels they must ask the Obama campaign to pull the ad for appearances’ sake, but they can kinda sorta forget to ask YouTube to pull it. Just sayin’.
Ron
If CTW asks Obama to take it down, rightly or wrongly, it should be taken down.
Mnemosyne
@MCA1:
Did you know that Sarah Palin never actually said, “I can see Russia from my house”? That was a line Tina Fey said on SNL while mocking Palin.
People are vastly underestimating how well mockery can sum up one’s opponent for voters. “Windsurfing” ring any bells?