Where is John Stewart When You Need Him?

I tuned in to MSNBC yesterday morning in the hopes of getting a balanced, objective and informative report about the status of the health care reform bill and its likely passage later in the evening.

I was not disappointed.

Of course, I was disappointed by the hideously biased coverage and transparently left-leaning commentary about health care. I finally understand how Fox News can claim to be fair and balanced --- because compared to the conservative-bashing, Democrat-humping and Obama-fellating that goes on over at MSNBC, they actually sort of are fair and balanced (not really, but you know what I mean).

No, my satisfaction was derived not from the story on the health care bill, but rather from a human interest story about a recent poll conducted by some advertising firm about the popularity of different cartoon spokespersons. You know, the M&M guys, Tony the Tiger, the Geico gekko, etc.

Two women, a reporter and her guest, discussed the results of the poll. The aforementioned M&M's topped the list, Poppin' Fresh - the Pillsbury spokestoon - came in at number two, followed by Tony the Tiger, and I think maybe Cap'n Crunch was in there somewhere, too.

Now, Poppin' Fresh is as beloved a food icon as there is . . . with his plump little belly, his jolly little giggle, and his oh-so-flaky crescent rolls.

he he!

And as the women turned their attention to Poppin' Fresh and discussed his second-place finish, text appeared at the bottom of the screen giving context for the discussion (as is frequently the case on the cable news networks). But on this day, there was an oh-so-unfortunate "typo" to describe the beloved baker of buttery bread snacks and basker in blissful belly-laughs:

Poopin' Fresh is Number Two!

(Apologies for the very low-tech post here; I recorded the segment on our DVR, but I do not know how to get the video from DVR to the web. If anyone does, let me know. For now, it is this digital camera picture of the screen).

Mrs. Side Bar and I thought this was hysterical, and proceeded to giggle about it like four year-olds. The fact that "Poopin' Fresh" was number two also merited attention and gave way to a brand new fit of laughter.

I really just posted this because I think that picture is hysterical, but it does raise one question: is there any chance this was an accident (get it?). I mean, some production assistant must have thought this was just too good to pass up. And there cannot be that many people watching MSNBC at 9:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. I'm just sayin'. The chances this was an honest-to-goodness accident (get it?) seem slim to me.

If this gets air time on the Daily Show I want royalties.