Whoa, so, the Twitter-verse basically blew up during last night's first Presidential debate in Denver. The event turned out to be the most tweeted-about event in U.S. politics. As in, EVER. Twitter even reported that there were over 10 million tweets during the debate. Yeesh! But more entertaining news, perhaps, is just how many of those tweets happened to be about what may have been the most hilarious, entertaining moment of the whole debate ...
Likely not intended to be a "zinger," Romney confessed, "I'm sorry, Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I like you too! But I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for." Aaaaand there goes the toddler vote! But no, seriously, Twitter said that shortly after Romney's remarks, users were posting 17,000 tweets per minute (!!!) mentioning Big Bird. Here, the best of the best ...
1. "Look what Mitt Romney has done to me... twitpic.com/b0syqt." -@FiredBigBird (one of the hilarious spoof accounts that popped up)
2. "I wonder if Mitt and Ann Romney are going to celebrate tonight by eating, say, Big Bird." -@NickKristof
3. "Wait. What the hell did I do? - Big Bird" -Actress @Brittanysnow
4. "Mitt Romney will end Burt and Ernie's right to a civil union. #Debates #PresidentialDebate2012 #BigBird" -@BigBirdRomney
5. "Who woulda guessed that Big Bird would be this debate's Joe the Plumber? Viewers like you? #denverdebate." -@acarvin
6. "IF WE TURNED BIG BIRD INTO MOLE, HE WOULD FEED MILLIONS" -@MexicanMitt
7. "Cutting #PBS, (0.012%) of budget, to balance the Federal budget is like deleting a text message to free up space on your 64Gb iPhone….." -@BigBirdRomney
8. "Look what Mitt #Romney just texted me. Is this a threat or something ya weasel? #BigBird #TeamBigBird pic.twitter.com/cB3pdw5p" -@BigBirdRomney
9. "Opa Big Bird style...." -@BigBirdRomney (Do the ride-'em-cowboy move!)
10. Last but certainly not least ... "Word. #OccupySesameStreet #TeamBigBird pic.twitter.com/mvFnnxLN" -@BigBirdRomney
What has been your favorite tweet or meme about Big Bird so far?
Image via Steve Winton/Flickr
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Comments 7
why pick on big bird at least I know when my DD was a child that was a educational show , now telletubies or some other ones on these days I am not fully aware of
Yeah. . . federal funding to PBS is such a minute amount. Most of PBS's money comes from "viewers like you" and dues paid by the numerous member stations. . .which are also largely funded by individual supporters. Hence, the annoying pledge drives. Get it?
As for the whole picture, PBS hardly makes a dent in the federal budget. Romney's picking on a very small fry. And I don't believe that all Republicans would go for this measure, anyway. . . at least I hope not.
That's not quite how it works, Janis. The federal funding is still critical, and is what actually brings the material to the rural population, rather than a lucky few that happen to live near a broadcasting station. This is why people without cable can at least have PBS. That may not sound important to you, but it is.
This federal input is also what allows any willing community to get together and create these member stations that merge both local and national communities together. There is nothing else quite like it on a privatized scale.
This is much more than Sesame Street to shut your kids up for an hour. It's a valuable public commodity that brings relevant information to its audience. At .00014% of the federal budget, the benefits greatly outweigh the cost.
The country is broke, losing PBS funding is the least of our worries. The liberal Cafe Moms are in full force today after their guy didn't do well and the thought that maybe, just maybe, he might not be re-elected.