Can Sesame Street go to Congress?

[Drtooth]

I'll meet you both way. Of course, I have to say, yes, we all lose faith, and money does indeed win elections to an extent, but DW has a point...

Sure in many cases, it may seem like the choice of "lesser of two evils", but you can sure as heck bet i'm still going to make sure i'm going to always cast my vote against the stronger of said evils.

Again, the Dems aren't trying to kill PBS, funding for schools, fire houses, and all that... The Reps are. And if you want to say they're both crooks, well, the Dems are the Beagle Boys (they botch things up and easily get caught) and the Reps are Lupin III (they have bigger goals, and even if they're caught they can easily escape). One will accidentally spill hot soup on your lap, one will willingly throw a pot of scalding coffee in your face. One's a three legged dog with poor bladder control, the other's a rabbit Rottweiler... I could go on.

Again, i want a strong third party to come out of this as much as anyone else... but it really is the battle against the greater evil. heck, I remember the primaries in 2008... I purposely got a Republican ballot so I could vote for anyone BUT Mitt Romney (I hate that greasy snake more than anyone else... I'd rather 4 more Bush years than a single second of Romney).

Now, even if you think your vote is hopeless, consider this. If you can't decide who's actually worse, you'll lose either time. Sure, South Park's right about how they're the only kinds of people that suck up and slither their way into politics. But certain times, you get one candidate so vile and repulsive you want to at least SAY that you voted against them. At least you can complain you didn't win. And if something goes wrong with that person, you can always say, "Don't blame me! I voted for X."

And again, Gore didn't make getting rid of a dictator his daddy helped come into power his legacy. Worse we would have got was a lock box...

 

[CensoredAlso]

Again, the Dems aren't trying to kill PBS, funding for schools, fire houses, and all that... The Reps are.

Agreed. But the Democrats have their own dangers attached to them. And it's not true that they're never successful in what they do.

Now, even if you think your vote is hopeless, consider this. If you can't decide who's actually worse, you'll lose either time.

We're all losing everytime anyway from my point of view.

But certain times, you get one candidate so vile and repulsive you want to at least SAY that you voted against them.

I happily say I supported neither.

And again, Gore didn't make getting rid of a dictator his daddy helped come into power his legacy. Worse we would have got was a lock box...

We really don't know what we would have gotten.

 

[dwmckim]

I purposely got a Republican ballot so I could vote for anyone BUT Mitt Romney (I hate that greasy snake more than anyone else... I'd rather 4 more Bush years than a single second of Romney).

I used to be registered as a Republican for that purpose - so in the primaries i could vote for the "saner" ones than the hard right nutjobs. Then AZ changed its primary voting rules to open primaries and then changed to independant.

 

[Drtooth]

But getting back to the topic (I still don't know what Dems stand for, they're too weak to speak up, especially with Teddy gone)

The person who said "nasty" stuff on the sting video wasn't even a journalist or editorialist for NPR.... he was just someone who worked in funding. And I'm betting, like the Acorn video this little weasel made, it's missing a LOT of footage that would suggest entrapment.

Really, that O'Creep is a big man! Going after tiny targets like Acorn and NPR. But hey, anything to cut the budget and squash the other side, right?

If anything else, I want someone to pull NPR away from PBS... take NPR down, I don't care... but PBS is different. If PBS's supposedly liberal news journalistic shows didn't run a puff piece on Sarah Palin being the least corrupt governor of Alaska (which is as dubious as being the thinnest contestant on Biggest Loser), we would never have heard of her. I swear McCain or someone in his camp saw that one. And if anything else, pull funding for the adult programming... just leave Big Bird alone. They can't survive on another network.

 

[CensoredAlso]

The person who said "nasty" stuff on the sting video wasn't even a journalist or editorialist for NPR.... he was just someone who worked in funding.

Ironically, that's the problem. NRP is so desperate for funding that this guy was willing to say any horrible thing in order to get money. It's unfortunate and I feel sympathy for NPR, but I won't excuse what the guy said. There has to be some decency here too.

If anything else, I want someone to pull NPR away from PBS...

I do agree that PBS shouldn't get caught up in all this.

Though I admit to being somewhat conflicted as I don't think Sesame Street has been doing a decent job lately. I know it's partially because they need the funding. But would things really get better if their financial situation improved? I'm not sure.

 

[Drtooth]

Ironically, that's the problem. NRP is so desperate for funding that this guy was willing to say any horrible thing in order to get money. It's unfortunate and I feel sympathy for NPR, but I won't excuse what the guy said. There has to be some decency here too.

Yeah, but think about it this way... the opposition is so desperate to let them die, they'd send a snake "journalist" that probably baited the guy to say nasty things. 2 wrongs don't make a right... well, they make a far right, sure... But hey, if a PT firing of both that guy and the head of the network who clearly threw him under a bus fixes the problem....

Did I already say they tried to pull the same thing on PBS? Really.. how pathetic is the right now? I'm sure that weasel's under the table salary could put BOTH NPR and PBS out of debt.

Though I admit to being somewhat conflicted as I don't think Sesame Street has been doing a decent job lately. I know it's partially because they need the funding. But would things really get better if their financial situation improved? I'm not sure.

Let's get this straight. PBS is the network, SW is the programming producers. I'm sure there's some pressure from PBS to get SS a certain way, but what it all comes down to is SW is in charge of their own programming. Again, I need to get Street Gang and read it cover to cover, but we ALL know what's to blame here... the show's only at fault for actually going with those changes. But SW has it's own budget problems at the moment. PBS buys the episodes to air... PBS having less money to buy less episodes, or buy the episodes for less DOES have an effect on the show itself. So basically, if one was financially resolvent over the other, say SW had more money or PBS was willing to pay more, they'd have a little more to work with.

Overall, we've completely lost the show's original format and they've taken the demographic down to a younger audience... all the while filling various initiatives (some strongly badgered by certain groups and even their own researchers), all the while keeping the little ones from changing the channel to Mickey Mouse embarrassing himself or some screaming ethnic kid talking slowly asking where the red triangle that's right behind them is. Things changed for the worse, and have been since the 90's with a certain you know who.

I swear there's something in the budget that's causing them to create smaller shows so they can sell them overseas AND use them to fill up time over here (and who are we kidding? If they DIDN'T show them here, we'd complain our butts off that we don't see them). Personally, if they have a meh product in the US, but use all their effort going to dangerous other countries and trying to get their kids to NOT grow up to be bitter, xenophobic hate puppets like their parents, I totally can forgive seeing the same Abby's School a hundred times. Conversely, they're so courageous and daring to do that, but they can't stand up to pressure groups and inconstant data over here.

That said, you know the writers got them to get rid of Journey to Ernie, right? Not demographics, not poor testing... the writers. If they stand up again, things could very well improve.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Yeah, but think about it this way... the opposition is so desperate to let them die, they'd send a snake "journalist" that probably baited the guy to say nasty things. 2 wrongs don't make a right... well, they make a far right, sure... But hey, if a PT firing of both that guy and the head of the network who clearly threw him under a bus fixes the problem....

It's clearly entrapment, I don't dispute that. I just think the guy probably meant what he said, or at least didn't mine saying it all that much. I haven't met the guy of course, but that's my initial impression. Just because it's entrapment doesn't mean the person is completely innocent.

 

[frogboy4]

I still don't understand what horrible thing was said in that hatchet-job NPR sting video. Basically the guy from NPR's funding department stood his ground and contradicted the potential investor's antisemitic statements and refused to take any money at the meeting. He said that most people in this country aren't that bright and you know...he's right! And we only have our media (both CNN and Fox News alike) to blame! He also went on to state that intellectualism gets confused with liberalism. These points aren't always attractive, but that doesn't make them incorrect. Just because some Fox News hacks tell you a video is bad doesn't make it so. I only saw a few clips of what, but none of them really upset me. I've worked in retail for years and let me tell you - that the majority of Americans are uninformed yet still believe that they are somehow the contrary. It would be great if we all had a reliable news source that was interested in informing the masses rather than entertaining them and reinforcing political bias.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Basically the guy from NPR's funding department stood his ground and contradicted the potential investor's antisemitic statements and refused to take any money at the meeting.

I didn't see him contracting much. In the video he seemed to be agreeing with the potential investor's rather racist claims. He said he agreed that "those who own the newspapers" have "Zionist, pro Israel" biases. Not only was he pandering to a stereotype, he was also implying there's something wrong with supporting Israel. Like I said, I didn't see very much contradicting from him. But if there's more to the story, I'm willing to listen. I know that videos can be deceiving.

 

[frogboy4]

I didn't see him contracting much. In the video he seemed to be agreeing with the potential investor's rather racist claims. He said he agreed that "those who own the newspapers" have "Zionist, pro Israel" biases. Not only was he pandering to a stereotype, he was also implying there's something wrong with supporting Israel. Like I said, I didn't see very much contradicting from him. But if there's more to the story, I'm willing to listen. I know that videos can be deceiving.

You've got a point with the newspapers. That is a very popular view by many people and I think a few particular papers do have their own biases about many hot-button topics, but that certainly doesn't represent most or all of them. In fact, this NPR rep kept uncomfortably shoveling food in his mouth most of the time this plant was spouting his hate-speech. He also went on to correct him that coverage on NPR and other such sources were not biased and nobody accepted any monetary offer at the table. I guess it's hard to talk to a bigot when you've been sent to meet with them about fund raising. But there's nothing about this meeting that truly shocked me - especially considering that Glen Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh can't seem to go a day without saying something culturally insensitive or downright bigoted. I still found little, if anything, wrong with this clip. It's a shame this guy will be reprimanded for a game of gotcha.