Watch: Big Bird wings it to 'Saturday Night Live'
NEW YORK (AP) - In a week when Big Bird was in the news, it seemed fitting to find him perched at the parody news report on NBC's "Saturday Night Live."
But joining Seth Meyers at the "Weekend Update" anchor desk, the popular "Sesame Street" character declined to comment on presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vow to cut federal funding for PBS. Explaining why, Big Bird said he didn't want to "ruffle any feathers."
He told Meyers how he had learned of being mentioned on Wednesday's debate. He said he'd gotten "a million tweets." From real birds, that is.
Since then, he said he was feeling very famous, standing tall above every other 8-foot talking bird.
In closing, Big Bird shared a joke befitting his childish sense of humor.
Question: Who like debates?
Answer: de-fishes.
This is now getting a little dated, but it's still fun.
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Balance the budget yourself. Â You're king. Â What do you do?
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http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/13/weekinreview/deficits-graphic.html
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You want to cut PBS? Ok....I get to play too. (here are the things that Mitt WILL cut in addition to NPR and PBS) Child tax credit mortgage deduction Education credits (lifetime learning) Student loan interest tax deduction I don't really care because only one of these impacts me in any way. But those with kids and student debt....make your choice, you will have to live with it.
To all you possible Romney voters, you should be worried about what government programs he is going to cut and what tax deductions and credits he is going to do away with. Remember when Reagan took away the deduction for credit card interest and capped deductions for medical and business expenses at 2% of income, what happened. IT RAISED TAXES ON THE MIDDLE CLASS FOR PEOPLE LIKE ME, SOMETHING ROMNEY SWEARS HE ISN'T GOING TO DO! Damn it people, start to think about Romney says and doesn't say before you blindly cast your vote in his direction.Â
There are retards who vote republican based on what they are told to do by the voices on their AM radio. These candidates will always mention cutting things like NPR or planned parenthood to get the mentally challenged vote. Neither program will make enough of a budget cut to matter, and if Romney were to win in November this funding WILL NOT be cut. You are being pandered to. Therefore, Seth and Big Bird are goofing on all of you.Â
As a youngster being raised by rabid extreme right wing John Bircher parents in the late 60's I remember being forbidden to watch Sesame street when it first started broadcasting.Many years later did I finally realize that their loathing of PBS has nothing to do with budget considerations, and everything to do with with rabid right-wing ideology. These folks think that enlightening the American public is tantamount to "liberal commie indoctrination.Heaven forbid that children watching Sesame Street learn what a little cooperation and tolerance can achieve....and how dare those godless Marxists corrupt America's youth with science programs like Nova that promote evolution and claim....contrary to Scripture that the earth is billions of years old!
as long as Sesame Street has an audience, IT WILL BE ON TV ...... as will all the other popular shows on PBS.
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anyone who believes Big Bird and all the other popular shows on PBS would go away if federal funding drys up is just not thinking clearly.
Yeah, let's cut PBS to balance the budget and keep giving subsidies to oil companies............
Let's get the Count to help Romney with these numbes.
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@WendyTeagarden  """"""""Yeah, let's cut PBS to balance the budget and keep giving subsidies to oil companies............""""""
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the feds should cut PBS, NPR, oil subsidies SOLAR subsidies, Wind subsidies, Ethanol subidies, the vast majority of farm subsidies...... the feds are borrowing ~ 35cents out of every dollar they spend...... they need to make some major cuts
 @kramr Umm...actually this country borrows 100% of it's money from banks and has to pay it all back with interest, it's how central banks work and it's the scam of the century.
@kramr Republicans all for cutting programs that they are ideologically opposed to except when it concerns their love affair with the Pentagon budget. The Pentagon is bloated, and it wastes money that is better used to rebuild our nation. Between Wall Street and the Pentagon, the Republicans would leave only scraps - accounting errors, really - for everything else.IMO,Cut the damned pentagon budget by 50 percent, we need to have a lot less military so we don't feel the omnipresent need to invade here, and invade there, and invade everywhere, our "enemies" are mosquito's, we are the elephant. The only reason we need a huge army, is to maintain our huge, empire, and by empire, an economic empire whereby multinationals use our muscle and military to enforce their economic rules on third world countries for their sole benefit, we don't get a dime, its just our money being spent, and our soldiers dying.
@noneofyourbizzness   I'm not quite to where Ron Paul is with regards to the military, but I would agree there are some cuts that could be made to the military that would not weaken our forces.
 @WendyTeagarden PBS gets plenty of money from other sources....they'll be just fine. Sales of the Sesame Street merchandise brings in millions to PBS.
First they came for Big Bird but I did not speak out because I am not a bird. Next they came for Elmo but I did not speak out because I am not a furry red monster Then they came for the Muppets but I did not speak out because I am not a Muppet. Then they came for me And there was nobody left to speak for me. Jim Henson, now forever silent, we are your voice, and this is our fight. We will not go quietly, and we will not go gently into this good night.
 @noneofyourbizzness The country is broke. The cash river is drying up. I realize that you liberals don't care about the $16T deficit, or the $144T federal unfunded liability, or that we are borrowing almost half of every dollar the government spends, but this is UNSUSTAINABLE. Don't like it? Too bad. You have no choice. Change IS coming; you can accept it, fight it, moan about it, ignore it, whatever your liberal brain does best - but it IS coming.
@Altazi You sound like you are expecting a Romney win next month.Personally I'm not one to declare victory until the night of Nov 6.If you are soooo concerned about Big Bird then I suggest you start looking at the Pentagon and the bloated military budget.
Cutting PBS to balance the budget is like trimming your toenails to lose weight.
@Ramsesthegreat  Very true, but hopefully it would be just one of many things to get the axe. the feds borrow ~35cents out of every dollar they spend........ The feds don't need to be funding TV programs.Â
@kramr Tell us, unlike Mitt Romney, exactly which programs you would cost and how many people that would result in being unemployed? I thought we were for reducing unemployment!
@kramr No! The reduction in tax rates did NOT offset the loss of the CC and other deductions are used to take. My taxes went up and I'll guess they will too if Romney does what he says he will do. Another inconvenient truth to deal with. Romney is all smoke and mirrors. Says one thing one day. Says another thing another day. Do you really believe anything this guy says? If so, good luck.
@peckishpete  """""" Romney says he won't raise taxes on the middle class. I remember when Reagan eliminated the deduction for credit card interest and placed a 2% of income limit on deducting medical and business expenses. And guess what that did for me as a middle class member of society. IT RAISED MY TAXES!!!! """"""
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Typical lib..... only telling the half of the story that makes their point...... now as Paul Harvey used to say.....Now the rest of the story.....
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Didn't tax rates drop dramatically that would have more than offset the loss of the CC deduction.
 @peckishpete  @kramr 0bama DID send Congress a budget - it was soundly defeated by both parties. 0bama is the PRESIDENT; Romney is a CANDIDATE. There are different responsibilities in play here, don't you think?
@kramr Also, Romney says he won't raise taxes on the middle class. I remember when Reagan eliminated the deduction for credit card interest and placed a 2% of income limit on deducting medical and business expenses. And guess what that did for me as a middle class member of society. IT RAISED MY TAXES!!!! Anyone with at least some minimal thinking capacity has to realize that the middle class will have a tax increase if he goes through with his promise to cut deductions and tax credits. Unfortunately, the American public is easily conned.
@kramr The Republicans have ripped Obama for not sending Congress a budget bill so now its okay if Romney doesn't to that. That's not good enough for me. I'd like to know exactly what he would like to do and propose to Congress before I'll ever vote for him. Otherwise it is just more "Hope and Change." Geez! Talk is cheap. Come out with at least a few specifics at least so we know which direction he wants to go. Does he want to cut tax deductions and credits and if so which ones. Does he want to apply a means test for Medicare which he implies or doesn't he. What agencies would he cut. At least Rick Perry was specific about this even if he couldn't remember the third one. I'm not necessarily disagreeing with any of these things in fact I think we should do some of them. I'm just against being critical without coming up with specific alternatives. Again, talk is cheap. But I wouldn't vote for Romney and his Republican ilk just because of their social agenda. I'd prefer to have a country in economic disarray than to live in a country where individual liberties are being attacked and the separation of church and state is being breached.
@peckishpete  """but I do find it interesting that this is the only thing that Mitt Romney would acknowledge he would cut if president."""
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C'mon now petee...... during the debate they have a very limited time to answer and that was just one example.... and you know that.
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""""Â And while you are at it tell is specifically what tax deductions and credits you plan to cut as well.""""
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Did you not hear Mittens say That at this point all he can say is what he would like to do in principle he wants to work with both sides of the isle and  he does not want to go to congress with a my way or the highway proposal (i.e. saying specifically what deductions are going away)
@kramr I'm not defending not cutting subsidies for PBS but I do find it interesting that this is the only thing that Mitt Romney would acknowledge he would cut if president. So my question to him and all that support him is: what government agencies would you cut and what is the estimated increase in unemployment that would result as a result of these cuts. And don't give me it would be by attrition. In this economy, fewer people are retiring but working longer. Talk is cheap. Mitt and his supporters I again ask - what would you cut. And while you are at it tell is specifically what tax deductions and credits you plan to cut as well.Â
@peckishpete  not exactly sure what you are trying to say....... but trying to guess how many jobs would be lost is hard to say.... Not sure how much of PBS programing is viable TV (meaning does it have a large enough audience to suport itself). IMHO, the feds should not be subsidizing any TV programing much less crappy TV programing that can't stand on its own.
BTW PP, what would be your reasoning that PBS is SO important that the federal govt needs to borrow money from china to fund entertainment TV??
you go big bird !!!!
 @mstercor As long as it is not on taxpayer-based funding.
@Altazi @mstercor Fair enough. I guess then you would be in favor of cutting all subsidies for farmers, oil companies, etc. Or is NPR just a convenient target for you conservatives.
 @Altazi  @peckishpete  @mstercor Some subsidies make no sense (we subsidize cane sugar so much that we pay well above world market prices), and some don't. I see nothing wrong with PBS at all.
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Note- we don't really subsidize oil, we allow certain tax breaks and of course they take full advantage of them.
 @peckishpete  @Altazi  @mstercor But Romney has already said that if he told us his plans, we wouldn't vote for him.  Scary, it's it?
@Altazi @mstercor I totally agree. So instead of Romney jokingly say he would cut subsidies for "Big Bird", have him say subsidies he would cut. That way the voter can make an informed choice because they are the ones who will live with the consequences. Like deducting the home interest on your house? Perhaps that's gone. Like the tax credit for having children and the deduction for child care expenses? Perhaps that's gone as well. Romney needs to quit getting cheap laughs and lay out his plans in a little more detail. Otherwise, its just more Hope and Change.
 @peckishpete  @Altazi  @mstercor Government needs to get out of the business of handing out money in needless subsidies, and get back to the duties laid out in the Constitution. Clearly some kind of phased reduction is necessary to avoid chaos, but tell me why taxpayers should fund this network - or this show - when so many other networks seem to get by without taxpayer assistance?
@peckishpete The target of course is the 8ft tall communist with yellow feathers and a long beak.