The Banality of Partisan Politics, Chapter XXXVIII (Big Bird Endangered Again Edition)

As Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) gets his muppets in a twist because Dick Cheney and the GOP is once again hunting down Big Bird and Clifford the Big Red Dog, Extreme Mortman notes that "public broadcasting actually has made it into the Democratic Party's platforms. Repeatedly. Talk about your politicalization! Check out this rhetoric:"

1972 Democratic platform: "We deplore the Nixon Administration's crude efforts to starve and muzzle public broadcasting."

1984 Democratic platform: "…efforts of the Reagan Administration to enact draconian cuts which would totally undermine the viability of this nation's excellent public broadcasting system."

1996 Democratic platform: "We are proud to have stopped the Republican attack on the Corporation for Public Broadcasting–we want our children to watch Sesame Street, not Power Rangers."

Now I think I realize why I can't vote Democrat–I'd rather my kids watch the Power Rangers rather than Sesame Street. In fact, my kids would rather watch the Power Rangers than Sesame Street. Then again, thank Zog that our choices in the fabulous world of digital cable TV range far beyond those two craptacular programs.

But the real point: When you're picking winners and losers among kids' TV shows in your goddamn offical platform, you've effectively forfeited the right to be taken seriously. (And yes, the GOP has equally forfeited same right on innumerable occasions.)

More, more, Mortman here.

Last year, I asked the question all Ed Markey watchers dast not ask: Is this man a furry? And if so, when is the Bay State going to legalize unions between elected officials and oversized PBS mascots?