The real 2012 swing vote: Muppets?

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For good or for ill, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney thrust an unsuspecting segment of the population into the spotlight two weeks ago when, during the first debate, he called out PBS and, specifically, Big Bird as targets for his projected cuts. (Of course, funding to public broadcasting in 2011 only amounted to .00012 percent of the total federal budget so there’s that.) But that not only started a tussle on Twitter over protection of Big Bird (who, lest it be forgotten, was at one point a child runaway); it also prompted the Obama campaign to use the big, yellow lug in a new ad targeting Romney.

But soon after the ad hit the air, Sesame Workshop, the folks who own Big Bird and pals, ask that the ad be spiked because it’s copyright infringement and Muppets are bipartisan which seems weird given that all of Sesame Street seems like a socialist commune straight out of a Hunter S. Thompson nightmare, but, hey, whatever. Don’t politicize Elmo. Got it.

That request, though, isn’t stopping a newly announced event for November 3 being called The Million Muppet March. It evens has a Facebook page so you know it’s totally legit. Strictly speaking, no official muppets, like Kermit or Scooter or Gonzo, will be taking place because, again, they’re muppets, you see. But the march will include thousands of non-affiliated muppets who will march for muppetkind.

Oh, and there are Republicans who are in favor of supporting public broadcasting so TAKE THAT, ROMNEY.

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