Big Bird

With regard to Mitt Romney's comment about Big Bird and PBS [" Challenger gains traction on pivotal issue ," front page, Oct. 4], let me say this: Supporting education for all and getting rid of Big Bird is a contradiction. I am an immigrant and mother of two, and I can attest to the fact that children learn from "Sesame Street. " Not only do they learn how to read, write and speak the English language, but they also learn American culture by watching and identifying with the show's friendly characters.  It should be a priority to...

Oh, to be 12 again, the better to enjoy the presidential debates . Or rather, the better to appreciate the Twitterverse, where America's obsessive-compulsive, attention-deficit population holds the zeitgeist hostage with tweets and memes that infantilize political discourse and reduce the few remaining adults to impolitic fantasy. In this, the first social-media presidential election, the debates have come to resemble reality shows during which virtual audiences cast ballots (and aspersions)

In a campaign that the candidates like to describe as one of the biggest, most consequential ever, perhaps it's fitting that the biggest, most feathery Muppet in the history of Sesame Street is taking a starring role. Yes, Big Bird is now on the campaign trail, four weeks out from Election Day. The latest sign: A tongue-in-cheek ad released Tuesday by the Democrats and immediately the target of ridicule by Republicans. Sesame Workshop has asked that the ad be taken down. It all comes as Mitt Romney has found his footing as a candidate,...

Big Bird may have been the unsuspecting star of the first 2012 presidential debate , but "binders full of women" took the spotlight in the second debate , as women's issues were front and center. The phrase "binders full of women" was said by Mitt Romney in an attempt to answer a question about inequalities of women in the workplace: Thank you. An important topic, and one which I learned a great deal about, particularly as I was serving as...

The Fix's Sean Sullivan reported early on the unexpected mention of Big Bird in the first presidential debate: Sesame Street character Big Bird's name came up at Wednesday night's first presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney. As Romney noted what entities he would stop funding, he mentioned the president's health care law, then added that he would also stop a subsidy to PBS. He said to moderator Jim Lehrer, who works for PBS: "I'm sorry, Jim....

1. "Humpty Dump," the Vibrettes 2. "Peace Still Is With Us," Apollo's Show Band 3. "Big Bird," Eddie Floyd 4. "Everybody's Doing Their Thing," Educators Band 5. "We're Doin' It (The Thing)," Eddie Bo To hear mixes of songs you might hear at Moneytown, go to http://www.dcsoulrecordings.com .

Are you going to break a record for eating the most turkey tomorrow? How about stuffing or potatoes or pumpkin pie? It seems that Thanksgiving is our national holiday devoted to big. There's the big dining room table, the big bird, the big number of guests. Not to mention the HUGE amounts of leftovers. But when it comes to Thanksgiving records, our friends at Guinness World Records really take the cake (or should that be pie?). They offered up these Thanksgiving-themed records to get you in the mood for...

In " The Big Year ," opening Friday, Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin play three men who devote 365 consecutive days to spotting as many species of birds as they possibly can. But what do these three movie-comedy mainstays actually know about tracking down fox sparrows and arctic loons? Black, 42, Wilson, 42, and Martin, 66, recently discussed their knowledge of the winged set — including birdcalls of the social-media variety, otherwise known as tweets — during a conference call...

This 1987 television special includes all the hallmarks of a Muppet production. Cartoon-esque chaos? Check. Wildly gesticulating puppet hilarity? Check. It also features characters from across the Jim Henson universe: "The Muppet Show," "Fraggle Rock," "Sesame Street" and "Muppet Babies. " The revue, set at Fozzie Bear's childhood home, features such songs as "Jingle Bell Rock," performed by Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, and "The Christmas Song," sung by Big Bird and the Swedish Chef.

Imagine, for a moment, a world without "Sesame Street. " Young children would become less proficient spellers, counters and performers of musical odes to rubber duckies. Pampers would be plain and void of images of Cookie Monster and Abby Cadabby. Elmo would cease to exist and, consequently, to be tickled. Thankfully, this doomsday-for-children's-programming scenario stands little chance of becoming reality. As "Sesame Street" celebrates the big 4-0 today -- an anniversary commemorated with a whole lot of Google-doodle promotion ...

In his Oct. 10 op-ed column, "The Snuffleupagus in the room," Dana Milbank usefully reminded us that a tragedy like the one in Benghazi, Libya, is rarely rooted in actions on only one side of the political aisle.  History demonstrates the enormous difficulty of securing our diplomatic posts in places where the host government's control of security is limited. As Republicans hark back to the administration of President Ronald Reagan, they...

No mystery about the trajectory of this race. It was static for months as President Obama held a marginal lead. Then came the conventions. The Republicans squandered Tampa; the Democrats got a 3- to 4-point bounce out of Charlotte. And kept it. Until the first debate. In 90 minutes , Mitt Romney wiped out the bump — and maybe more. Democrats are shellshocked and left searching for excuses. Start with scapegoats: the hapless John Kerry, Obama's sparring partner in the practice debates, for going too soft on the boss; then the...

With regard to Mitt Romney's comment about Big Bird and PBS [" Challenger gains traction on pivotal issue ," front page, Oct. 4], let me say this: Supporting education for all and getting rid of Big Bird is a contradiction. I am an immigrant and mother of two, and I can attest to the fact that children learn from "Sesame Street. " Not only do they learn how to read, write and speak the English language, but they also learn American culture by watching and identifying with the show's friendly characters.  It...

The Obama campaign's new ad ruffles my feathers. It's not the message per se. The Big Bird spot fairly points out that Mitt Romney seems more interested in cracking down on "Sesame Street" than on Wall Street. The problem is President Obama has, to mix animal metaphors, taken the bait — and he's pursuing a red herring. Big Bird is not the problem. The problem is Snuffleupagus. The threat presented by Romney's budget is not in the few cuts he has specified but in the vastly larger amount of unseen cuts...

In a campaign that the candidates like to describe as one of the biggest, most consequential ever, perhaps it's fitting that the biggest, most feathery Muppet in the history of Sesame Street is taking a starring role. Yes, Big Bird is now on the campaign trail, four weeks out from Election Day. The latest sign: A tongue-in-cheek ad released Tuesday by the Democrats and immediately the target of ridicule by Republicans. Sesame Workshop has asked that the ad be taken down. It all comes as Mitt Romney has found his footing as...

So, you know it's 2012 when . . . an offhand comment from a presidential candidate spawns a satiric Twitter feed from a beloved yellow PBS bird claiming he's been fired, which goes viral, and then Twitter suspends the feed, which causes an outcry that resonates across cyberspace with even the president himself weighing in, and then Twitter restores that feed to massive digital cheers, all in about 18 hours. Got that? Such is the brief, glorious, ridiculous history of ...

Imagine, for a moment, a world without "Sesame Street. " Young children would become less proficient spellers, counters and performers of musical odes to rubber duckies. There would be no Elmo to be tickled. Thankfully, this doomsday-for-children's-programming scenario stands little chance of becoming reality. As "Sesame Street" celebrates the big 4-0 -- an anniversary commemorated with the release this week of the DVD set "Sesame Street: 40 Years of Sunny Days" ($29.93) -- Ernie, Bert and the rest of the gang have cemented their...

PASADENA, Calif. — If GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney thinks you can sell ads on "Masterpiece Theatre" or "Sesame Street" and not wind up with "Masterpiece Pawn Stars," he's got a lot to learn about the TV industry. So said PBS CEO Paula Kerger on Wednesday, in the nicest way possible, at Winter TV Press Tour 2012. It was a feisty start to the semiannual clambake, in which The Reporters Who Cover Television from across the country flock to Los Angeles and roost at a posh hotel for a couple of weeks,...

The Fix's Sean Sullivan reported early on the unexpected mention of Big Bird in the first presidential debate: Sesame Street character Big Bird's name came up at Wednesday night's first presidential debate between President Obama and Mitt Romney. As Romney noted what entities he would stop funding, he mentioned the president's health care law, then added that he would also stop a subsidy to PBS. He said to moderator Jim Lehrer, who works for PBS: "I'm sorry, Jim....

DENVER— Fifteen minutes into Wednesday night's debate here, Mitt Romney politely called the president of the United States a liar. After President Obama accused his GOP rival of seeking to cut taxes on the wealthy — a stock line for the incumbent, and basically accurate — Romney deftly returned fire. "Look, I got five boys," he said. "I'm used to people saying something that's not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I'll believe it. But that is not the...