There’s only one thing that sticks out to me about this ad, though the casual viewer probably won’t notice it. Let’s look at that litany of Wall Street “criminals” and “gluttons of greed,” which later get juxtaposed with Big Bird. You have Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay and Dennis Kozlowski. So two CEOs prosecuted and convicted by George W. Bush’s Justice Department, and Madoff, whose son turned him in before Obama took office, in December 2008, and who pleaded guilty.

I was unable to watch the debate, last night, a fact for which I now feel oddly grateful. Watching MSNBC immediately afterwards, I already got to experience the sincere disappointment of Rachel Maddow, the bombastic outrage of Chris Matthews, and the deflated fighting spirit of Ed Schulz. All agreed that Obama had failed to deal Romney the knockout blow he so richly deserved.

The Swedish Chef and Big Bird — Christmas Dinner from A Muppet Family Christmas.

The $61 billion saved by severely cutting many domestic programs will end up being enough to pay for just barely more than four months of the almost decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.