Having said that THIS is what the "Reading Rainbow's" Levar Burton had to say about Romney's remarks:
“I am personally outraged that any serious contender for the White House would target as part of his campaign the children of America in this fashion,” said the actor, who appeared in the TV movie based on Alex Haley’s book Roots, and played the beloved character Geordi La Forge on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
“Educators across the country, as well as millions of children and adults know that the programming on PBS has been responsible for significant improvements in education, literacy, math, science and life skills for generations of our children,” he said.
Though Mr Roger's said it with more eloquence, and his customary gentle demeanor, I tend to feel more in line with Levar Burton's perspective.
Unless things have changed. network stations as part of their licensing requirements are to provide a certain amount of children's educational programming. We used to have Romper Room, Sherri Lewis and Lambchop, Captain Kangaroo...all on network TV. No more. Name one darn thing that your local station has on that is even suitable for children. Besides PBS, what is there? I know the GOP is irked that American households spend a whole dollar a year for educational kids' programs, Great Performances, fine shows from England, and Frontline, and so much more. When they tell us which spy planes they will cut, and which $5000 toilet contractor they will no longer deal with, we'll talk. Until then, we will fight for the right to be cultured even when we live in Wasilla or Podunk, SC. America is more than bombs and oil rigs and football games.
ReplyDeleteSally, I love your last line. Thank you. May I quote it?
ReplyDeleteThat image of the Romneys with Big Bird is hilarious.
ReplyDeleteNow, I'm not sure in what way federal dollars sustain PBS to air, and how each state contributes, but for Mitt Romney to make it sound like HE, as President, would have the power or the right to just slash funding for PBS, or expect a Congress to back him up on this is preposterous.
He picked on a children's endearing character during a presidential debate. Is this man cruel? Yes. He sounds like a man who loves to shove his entitled power in people's faces. He'd take a soother out of a baby's mouth to make a point.
I think that line about PBS was scripted, and because Jim Lehrer was moderator, Mitt thought he'd make a zinger.
And all the while President Obama kept wisely focusing on the facts and addressing the American public; he didn't find the time to play comedian when he knew people are counting on him.
i could not imagine what type of person i would have to be to look at the moderator of a presidential debate and tell him that if i was president - i would not fund his employer and thus cause the moderator substantial risk to future employment.
Deletewhat kind of person looks at you and says with enthusiasm - if i win you are fired?
He's not cruel, this was Mitt stepping on his dick yet again. He could have said ANY thing but to mention a character every person on the US of A and the world knows to be decent? He might as well have said Charlie Brown or Snoopy.
DeleteHe is a fucking idiot. A grade school kid in line in front of me at the grocery store said his mom can't vote for the man who would kill Big Bird.
I do believe that the "fire Big Bird" comment by RMoney was completely off-script. I also believe that Mitt was programmed and rehearsed to a fare-thee-well. As the debate continued, Mitt became more manic, realizing that he was winning and he switched into overdrive, revealing part of the secret agenda of the neo-cons.
ReplyDeleteOf course, PBS is a threat to the neo-cons. Besides the great educational programming, there are newscasts and magazine format programs that do a better job of telling the truth than the MSM. The neo-cons cannot control PBS like they do FOX, so it must be eliminated.
Perhaps Mitt did the American people a big favor by revealing that he would eliminate Big Bird. It just might wake a few undecideds up to what it would be like in Romney World.
Mitt Romney believes that people need to pay their own way including exclusive prep school educations
ReplyDeleteand sell trust fund stock to pay for college education.
I think Romney is incapable of empathy nor perceiving the consequences to an America with underfunded public schools, no culture, starving children, inability to have college educations or pursue job training. The country would flounder due to uneducated people incapable of performing needed jobs, the demise of work forces so society and the country's strength would weaken.
Perhaps Obama needs to punch Romney with "you just don't get it" because Romney does not given his mockery of connectedness, impact of one thing to another in his ridicule bases we built it convention flop. Try being a CEO without people trained and educated to perform jobs a business needs even at the corporate office.
Mitt Romney is against success, not PBO.
Romney
1,825,813 people came together to raise $181,000,000 for Obama's campaign in September. The average donation was $53 and 98% of the donations were $250 or less
ReplyDeletehttp://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-camp-announces-record-fundraising-in-september
Hearing Mr Rodgers say his song to Congress gave me goosebumps and tears! I remember my children sitting on the floor completely mesmerized by this man. Mr Rodgers is gone. Captain Kangaroo is gone. But we have Barack Obama and he too, is a caring man who cares too. We have seen him with children and how soothing he is with them. We as adults have been touched by his personality of caring for us!
ReplyDeleteWe have seen the bullies try to take him down (Repugs) but he goes on in spite of them. He has had a soothing effect on people all over the world. He is our Mr. Rodgers. We need PBS. We need Barrack Obama. We need sanity.
Rupert Murdock has systematically taken over our airwaves to dumb-down America. He is a bully. They want to take away BIG BIRD! They want us to worship Rush Limbaugh and FOX news. They would rather we watch Ice Road Truckers and Hoarders or Sarah Palin's Alaska than learn how to use our minds to think of good things.
They want KAOS! PBS today, MSNBC tomorrow. Voter suppression! Where does it stop? They want to control the truth. Remember Hitler, Stalin, Mao? Mind control anyone?
VOTE!
Mrs Gunka
So well said, Mrs. Gunka!!! I detest the people representing the Republican party today.
DeleteSarah Palin started the 'hate' spreading - she's one ugly hillbilly that is mean and evil.
I'm so happy to see the Unemployment Rate drop to 7.8!!! Where is the happiness from the asshole Republicans about something 'good' that just occured in the USA!!! And, now they are questioning the numbers when they didn't when it was 8% and above! First class jerks!!!
Romney is such a liar and changes his mind on a daily basis. How could anyone debate the man?
And, bless our President for keeping his cool and being the President he ALWAYS is!
I'd have wanted to walk over to Romney's podium and deck him! The man was such a such a pompus bully!
(OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
I'm a liberal, yet to play devil's advocate, though I'll vote for President Obama, I'll be really pissed if any of the Democrats capitulate to the USA tea taliban re: austerity.
ReplyDeleteIf indeed they do go all Simpson-Bowles on us and cut anything or gut anything to please the USA tea taliban. Including trying to fix Social Security without raising the cap first to see if that fixes what now doesn't need fixing.
I think we should go back to the Republicans good old days. Let's say, Eisenhower, 1956 when I was born and the highest bracket income tax rate was 91%.
I'm actually not worried about this. I think -- or, uh, hope -- that people are underestimating the strategy here. Both sides put a lot on the table, BOTH sides have a lot at stake -- you can bet your bottom dollar that the GOP supporters are going to be happy about slashing the defense budget. Both sides HAVE to compromise and come to the table as adults. The GOP will get so HAMMERED if this thing ends up happening. The leadership pushed this -- HARD -- and they may try to deny it, but -- WHATEVER -- those suckers all signed up for it!
DeletePS -- Yeah, I agree with the 91 percent rule! To me, one of the big problems with our economy is that we incentivize GINORMOUS salaries -- for some -- and to pay for it, companies slash salaries and benefits and employment levels. People blame labor the problems of our car industry -- and there is SOME validation to that -- but I'd make you a Mitt Romney bet that the CEOs of Honda and Toyota -- who are obviously good at their jobs -- probably make one twentieth what the CEOs of GM, Ford and Chrylser make (And their cars even aren't that good). I bet, also, too, that the pay for ALLLL executives in our companies are WAAAAY more than they are in Japan and Germany and Britain -- but, yeah, whatever, let's blame labor (eye roll). American CEOs make 500 times what their average works make -- which is a lot more than it is in other countries.
Big Bird Doesn't Stand A Chance Against Mitt Romney
ReplyDeletehttp://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/scarce/big-bird-doesnt-stand-chance-against-mitt-r
Oh, whatever, people far more powerful and popular have been trying the same thing for decades and Big Bird is still around!
DeleteLeVar Burton was also the host of the very-long-running PBS mid-afternoon show called "Reading Rainbow." He would have very good actor or reader read from a children's book, with the illustrations shown slowly, and then he'd take off from the topic of the book to explore volcanos around the world, or the life cycles of bees, or whatever was pertinent.
ReplyDeleteHis good cheer and the easy level of the program made him a must-see for children from three to seven or eight.
We loved him so much we named our parakeet LaVar Birdie.
This just proves what Romney has said before... He loves to fire people. Fuck off Romney.
ReplyDeleteand...
Keep your MITT'S off of Big Bird and Jim Lehrer!!!
I just love seeing Mr.Rogers again, I like most everyone sat and watched countless hours of him and Sesame Steet along with my 2 girls. You were always sure of what was going on, the violent cartoons full of "sell them toys" at every commercial was rampant and I am sure still is. Mitt constantly reveals himself as the cold hearted greedy bastard he is, and as funny as it sounds...firing Big Bird is right up there with the 47% remarks. I love PBS here in Las Vegas as it constantly offers wonderful concerts I could never afford to see and considering the minor dollars in the budget just shows what he is really after....education, non profit information, culture for the masses.
ReplyDeleteHe is such a despicable human being...writing a love letter on a French beach after actively supporting sending boys of his own age to Vietnam and spending his life ravaging hard working people, he raised 5 sons...5, totally devoid of any patriotism. I can not imagine being in the military thinking this man would be in control of my life. We need to demand to see his friggin tax returns...I wish Obama would really nail him on that, or better yet Biden.
This statement during the debates showed exactly how out of touch Romney truly is. Public Television isn't totally funded by the government, many philanthropic organizations, endowments, and businesses donate money to this great programming. PBS may be the only "head start" program many poor children have access to. The main network stations no longer provide one iota of educational programming for children, so having PBS is vital to all children and all families.
ReplyDeleteTheir adult programming puts the networks to shame.
As good as Fred Rogers was in that clip, Levar Burton's eloquence is more to the point.