Big Bird attack ad may hurt Obama more than Romney

Commentary

(Marketwatch) President Obama's campaign has a new ad out, its latest attempt to capitalize Gov. Romney's threat to fire beloved PBS icon Big Bird. However instead of tagging his opponent as an out-of-touch extremist, the video is a reminder of one of his administration's biggest failings: Bagging the bankers behind the financial meltdown.

CBS News' Steve Chaggaris describes the ad perfectly:

[It] begins by describing convicted "gluttons of greed" such as Bernie Madoff and Kenneth Lay and cheekily says only "One man has the guts" to speak the name of "evil genius who towered over" them: Big Bird. The ad continues with clips of Romney saying "Big Bird", followed by a clip of Big Bird saying, "It's me, Big Bird."

"Big, yellow, a menace to our economy," the ad jokingly continues. "Mitt Romney knows it's not Wall Street you have to worry about, it's Sesame Street."

"Mitt Romney, taking on our enemies no matter where they nest."

While, to the best of our knowledge, Bird hasn't feathered his wallet with illegal earnings -- bagging him would still put Romney one big step ahead of the Obama Justice Department. It has yet to convict anyone for issuing the fraudulent loans and other misdeeds that crashed our economy.

• Justice Department running out of excuses about Wall Street
• Feds Finally Find Financial Fraud Cases Small Enough to Prosecute
• If Feds Can't Prosecute Mortgage Fraud Cases, They Should Let Someone Else Do It

It's telling that neither of the bad guys mentioned in the ad were actually caught by the current Justice Department. Ponzi-schemer extraordinaire Bernie Madoff surrendered to the cops and former Enron CEO Ken Lay was indicted by the Bush administration.

Last December the Justice Department shuttered investigations into Countrywide Financial, IndyMac, New Century Financial and Washington Mutual without filing a single criminal charge. They are part of a long line of unindicted firms -- Wells Fargo, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, to name a few -- that made billions from selling mortgages which it is astonishingly hard to believe they didn't know were worthless.

A few days after those investigations ended, 60 Minutes aired a story about the failure to prosecute Wall Street. Here's what Lanny Breuer, the head of the criminal division at the Justice Department, told correspondent Steve Kroft about investigations against the companies responsible for gutting the American economy.

Breuer: If a company is intentionally misrepresenting on its financial statements what it understands to be the financial condition of its company and makes very real representations that are false, we want to know about it. And we're gonna prosecute it.

Kroft: Do you have cases now that you think that will result in prosecution against Wall Street banks?

Breuer: We have investigations going on. I won't predict how they're gonna turn out.

Well, it's 11 months later and we know exactly how they turned out. This is not something the president's campaign should remind us about.

[djmarotta]

Sesame Street doesn't want too much attention!
http://www.marottaonmoney.com/big-bird-is-big-business/

[RomneyandRyanareMorons]

Also, while I'm thinking about it, this notion that our debt is held by China...They own about 6% of our debt (1 trillion of 16 trillion). Most of the debt is held by Americans.
And do you really think they're going to try to tank our economy somehow by owning 6% of our debt when we are their single largest export market? Even if this gave them the ability to hurt our economy somehow, why would they do this? When Americans do well, they buy more stuff, like a new iPhone or a new shirt from Walmart. That stuff is often made in China, which helps boost the Chneae economy. They want us to do well.
If you're worried about China, buy American. And don't shop at Target or Walmart. You're helping to prop up the Chinese government that you think is a threat to our country.
Romney himself was invested in the Chinese national oil company until a couple days before announcing hs candidacy. Guess where they do business? Iran. And guess where Romney's largest donor made his fortune? China.
If anything, a vote for Romney will increase Chinese influence and power over our economy and government.

[RomneyandRyanareMorons]

PBS/NPR account for .015% of the annual Federal budget. That's the point of the ad. If you believe the debt is the cause of our economic problems, that should not sound like a solution to you. It should sound ridiculous. Romney's the guy who keeps talking about firing Big Bird as a solution to our problems, so please explain why you think it's a "distraction" from our economic problems when Obama mentions it?
And debt is not what caused the biggest crash since the Great Depression. It was caused by the housing bubble. The cause of the housing bubble was deregulation and the lack of regulation of the derivatives markets. Period.
Before accusing the Progressives of not understanding economics, you should learn something about economics.
Can't wait for the debate tomorrow. Biden's gonna wipe the floor with that fraud Paul Ryan. You know why? 'Cause Ryan, just like his overlord Grover Nordquist, is a moron who doesn't know anything about economics. Or the peivate sector. He's worked in government his whole life and his family made their fortune in Federal construction contracts. He sed Social Secuirty t go to college. By his own definition, he's a parasite. Plus, he buys into the Austrian School (sounds European to me), which has been discredited by legitimate economists for decades.

[RomneyandRyanareMorons]

It's insane. Obama did not bring up Big Bird. Romney says our economic problems are caused by the debt. PBS/NPR funding accounts for .015% of the annual Federal budget. The point of the ad is that Romney's economic policy is a joke. In reality, Romney's "economic policies" would explode our debt and annual deficits. And, by the way, debt is not the cause of our economic slowdown. It was caused by deregulation and the failure to regulate derivatives markets. That's what caused the housing bubble. Period. It wasn't spending a pittance on PBS. This is also the guy who thinks the emergency room is a viable alternative to the Affordable Care Act (based on a Republican idea for health reform). It is literally the most expensive way to provide this care. And skyrocketing health care costs for bad service is a huge drag on our debt and economy, generally.
Can't wait for tonight's debate. Biden is gonna mop the floor with that fraud Paul Ryan. You think that guy knows economics? Ha! He subscribes to the Austrian School (sounds European to me), which has been discredited for decades and was never actually based on any statistical research. I have yet to hear him say anything intelligent or insightful about the economy. In fact, his ideas are similar to those of Grover Nordquist. You might not have heard of him, but let me assure you, he is the true intellectual heavyweight in the GOP. Unfortunately, he is a moron and a troll and has made all of the Republicans, including Romney, sign a tax pledge that would contract our economy just as we're turning the corner...ever heard of Herbert Hoover? As far as I can tell, neither Ryan nor Nordquist have ever worked in the private sector, yet somehow they understand how the private sector works...Hmm.
Before accusing Democrats of not understanding economics, you should probably learn something about economics yourself. A guy who has a good accountant and a team of lawyers might be successful financially, but he doesn't necessarily know anything about the macroeconomy or how to actually create something (including jobs). And for all Romney hates China and Iran, why was he so heavily invested in the Chinese national oil company (which does business with Iran). His largest donor is a guy who's been successful largely through bribing the Chinese government. Basically, a vote for Romney is a vote for increased Chinese influence and power in our elections. Wake up!
I hate to say it, but I think it's racist when the entire legitimate economics profession agrees on the need for Keynesian policy when there is a demand shortfall...and people claim Obama's "in over his head" or "doesn't understand the economy". Give me a break. These are the same people calling for a gold standard like that's smart. It won't stop inflation, though, and the gold standard was a big part of why the Great Depression was so bad.

[ynottony36]

Only a republican would be offended. I thought the ad was hilarious!

[mturner1938]

It's really surprising that the President of the United States would waste his time on this subject when there a a lot of more pressing problems to attend to. The fact that you find it funny says a lot about how you perceive the importance of what the President's job should be.

[A_Moderate]

Really Obama should not use Big Bird. If he sticks to the issues: "Taxes" "Medicare" "Social Security" "Jobs" "AARP" "Tax Rates" the "budget" etc. He stands a better chance to win. After all, those are the real i$$ues America is concerned about.

[Forty-Four]

Now, as I recall, didn't Romney say that he would cut money from PBS, not eliminate it all together?

[mturner1938]

Well actually, what he said was that if money had to be borrowed from China to support PBS that he wouldn't do it.

[jaykay3141]

Many smaller PBS stations are barely afloat financially. For them, the federal share of PBS' budget can mean the difference between staying on the air and soon pulling the OFF switch. Those stations are often in underserved areas where they may be the only over-the-air educational alternative to American Idle ... I mean Idol.

[mattrick78]

Romney probably did change his tax plans in the debate. Back in 1996 Clinton called that triangulation.

[redshoes4all]

agreed romney is a scoundrel, tax cheat and L I A R!!!

[cubscout09]

"Believe in America" Page 155,
53. Immediately cut non-security discretionary spending by 5 percent
54. Reform and restructure Medicaid as block grant to states
55. Align wages and benefits of government workers with market rates
56. Reduce federal workforce by 10 percent via attrition
57. Cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP
58. Undertake fundamental restructuring of government programs and services
59. Pursue a Balanced Budget Amendment

What does Mitt think that means? Remember, we're looking for 4 trillion dollars in savings; repealing ObamaCare will cost us 3/4 of a trillion dollars and Mitt is committed to restoring 1/2 a trillion in cuts to be made in defense spending.

LEHRER: All right. Let's talk, we're still on the economy. This is, theoretically now, a second segment still on the economy, and specifically on what to do about the federal federal debt.
...
ROMNEY: What things would I cut from spending? Well, first of all, I will eliminate all programs by this test, if they don't pass it: Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from for it? And if not, I'll get rid of it. Obamacare's on my list.
I apologize, Mr. President. I use that term with all respect, by the way.
OBAMA: I like it.
ROMNEY: Good. OK, good. So I'll get rid of that.
I'm sorry, Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I'm going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I'm not going to -- I'm not going to keep money on things to borrow money from China to pay for. That's number one.
Number two, I'll take programs that are currently good programs but I think could be run more efficiently at the state level and send them to the state.
ROMNEY: Number three, I'll make government more efficient and to cut back the number of employees, combine some agencies and departments. My cutbacks will be done by the way.
This is the approach we have to take to get America to a balanced budget.


Can everyone see how Mitt's approach to cutting isn't going to work? He can say he is going to do all of these things, but, we are already doing most of this and it isn't enough.

[redshoes4all]

romney/ryan are a menace to our Government AND OUR Country!



OBAMA/Biden 2012

[karlejohn]

Romney was first to talk about "Big Bird". Said he love Big Bird, gave the bird the shaft, then he said he would fire the bird.

[mattrick78]

karlejohn: Get a clue. Did you really think that this is really about Big Bird. He was using it as an example to make a larger point. Unfortunately, the Obama campaign took the bait and ran with it as inept as they are.

[redshoes4all]

romney has no problem giving HUGE tax CUTs AGAIN to the Rich for job creating purposes...where are the Fricking jobs?? O I get it overseas; outsourced by bain...

wonder how the Bain Investigation is going???

Tax return mittens.; means COMPLETE TAX RETURNS!


Obama/Biden 2012