The Big Bird Vote

A few months ago I did something that in retrospect seems almost unthinkable -- I responded to a MoveOn.org email campaign.

MoveOn was originally an anti-Bush upstart in the 2004 campaign, and they became the poster-child of the ABB movement. After the Democratic defeat, MoveOn was forced to reinvent itself with a broader political agenda (although the rabid, near-hysterical anti-Republican rhetoric is completely unchanged). I think the best indicator of their mainstreaming has been the fact that on three occasions they have actually managed to get my attention: twice with the threats of Congressional budget cuts to public broadcasting, and once with the issue of net neutrality.

Why in the world would a bunch of Republican Congressmen, running scared for their seats in an election year, decide to pick a fight a Big Bird? Can you think of a better way to alienate people across all political lines than to steamroll their beloved childhood characters? And if you think that the Big Bird vote isn't important enough, what about NPR? Maybe I just live inside a bubble, but it seems to me that large numbers of well-educated, wealthy, conservative voters listen to NPR.

What are they thinking?