From Politico:
“There’s been a strong grassroots outcry over the attacks on Big Bird. This is something that mothers across the country are alarmed about, and you know, we’re tapping into that,” [Obama campaign spokesperson Jen] Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.
While some have questioned the campaign’s seriousness and intent to put money behind the ad in swing states, Psaki maintained that it is running on cable networks – albeit during comedy shows – that swing-state viewers watch.
“The larger point… is, aside from our love for Big Bird and Elmo, as is evidenced by the last few days, the point that we’re making here is that when Mitt Romney… was given the opportunity to lay out how he would address the deficit, when he said ‘I will take a serious approach to it,’ his first offering was to cut funding for Big Bird,” Psaki said. “And that is absurd and hard to take seriously his specific plan.”
Yes, absolutely, in a time of high unemployment and underemployment, stagnant wages, health care costs rising, and a terrorist attack in Libya, all the grassroots energy is totally about whether Big Bird gets federal funding or not.