"Reading Rainbow" Host's Colorful Rant

Celebrities rant against Mitt Romney and Barack Obama.

ByABC News
October 5, 2012, 9:38 AM

Oct. 5, 2012 -- quicklist: 1title:"Reading Rainbow" Host Makes Colorful Ranttext:LeVar Burton, former host of the long-running PBS kids TV show "Reading Rainbow," has strong words reacting to a remark that Mitt Romney made during the first presidential debate.

During the debate in Denver, Colo., Romney proposed to cut funding from non-essential government expenses, saying, "I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS."

Burton told TMZ, "I am personally outraged that any serious contender for the White House would target as part of his campaign the children of America in this fashion."

"Educators across the country, as well as millions of children and adults know that the programming on PBS has been responsible for significant improvements in education, literacy, math, science and life skills for generations of our children."

Burton continued, saying, "Defunding PBS directly punishes the less fortunate by removing this trusted and extraordinary educational resource available to all."

Burton claims that Romney would be stealing valuable educational resources from the children who would be affected by the cut.

"On behalf of America's children, I can't stay silent. I encourage you to join me in fighting this short-sighted and frankly mean-spirited attack on our children."

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quicklist: 1 title: Ashley Judd Goes on Twitter Frenzy text: Famed actress Ashley Judd went on a twitter rampage in response to remarks that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney made regarding the 47 percent of Americans who pay no income tax. The speech, which was caught by a hidden camera at a $50,000 per plate fundraiser in Florida, shows Romney telling big wig donors that the 47 percent of Americans who oppose him are people who are "dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them."

Judd, a lifelong supporter of the Democratic Party and a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte this month, tweeted in response to Romney's comments saying, "Really, Romney? You believe that? & you said it out loud? Oh dear. You do, & you did."

This tweet was followed by a slew of others, including "It's hard to serve as president for all Americans when you've disdainfully written off half the nation."

"Do you really think that 47% of Americans are entitled, lazy, and incapable of personal responsibility? Who are they?" Judd asked.

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quicklist: 1title: Chuck Norris Warns of '1,000 Years of Darkness' If Obama Re-Elected text: Action film actor and martial artist Chuck Norris issued a grave warning to America's voters this week: Head to the ballot box, or sentence your children to "1,000 years of darkness."

Norris, along with his wife Gena, filmed a two-minute video urging people to "unite for God and country" by casting their ballots against Obama this November.

"Our great country and freedom are under attack," Norris says in the video, first posted to World Net Daily. "We are at a tipping point and quite possibly our country as we know it could be lost forever if we don't change the course our country is headed."

Quoting former President Reagan, Gena Norris warns that the country has a "rendezvous with destiny."

"We will preserve for our children this last best hope for man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into 1,000 years of darkness," she said, quoting one of Reagan's 1964 speeches. "If we fail, at least let our children and our children's children say of us we justified our brief moment here. We did all that could be done."

While the couple never mentioned any candidates by name in the video, Norris was a strong supporter of former presidential candidate Newt Gingrich during the Republican primary race.

In an equally apocalyptic op-ed in January, Norris cautioned that "civilization is on the brink."

"We need a veteran of political war who has already fought Goliath, because he will be facing Goliath's bigger brother," Norris wrote in the WND editorial, adding that Gingrich "is the best man left on the battlefield who is able to outwit, outplay and outlast Obama and his campaign machine."

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quicklist: 1title:Clint Eastwood Interviews Empty Chair, Calling It President Obamatext:Clint Eastwood, legendary actor and director, went on the ultimate rant towards President Obama on the last night of the 2012 Republican National Convention. Clintwood, who pretended to interview an empty chair on the national stage that he addressed as "President Obama" ranted,

"I got Mr. Obama sitting here and I was gonna ask him a couple questions," Eastwood said as he gestured toward the empty bar stool.

"Mr. President, how do you handle promises you made when you were running for election?" he asked. "What do you say to people?"

But Eastwood, who cut off the "interviewee" said "I'm not gonna shut up. It's my turn."

And then, again, to the chair he asked, "What do you want me to tell Mr. Romney?"

"I can't tell him to do that," Eastwood responded in front of the crowd of delegates at the RNC. "He can't do that to himself. You're absolutely crazy. You're getting as bad as Biden!"

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quicklist:1title:Hank Williams Jr. Tells Crowd Obama Is 'a Muslim' Who 'Hates the Military'text: Controversial country star Hank Williams Jr., who caused a stir last year when he compared Barack Obama to Hitler, is at it again.

At the Iowa State Fair, Williams bashed Obama to a crowd saying, "We've got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S. and we hate him!"

To make his anti-Obama message known, Williams recently released a 10-disc album titled "Old School, New Rules." There is no subtlety in the country star's politically charged song lyrics that blatantly boast "Hey Barack, pack your bags, head to Chicago, take your teleprompter with you so you'll know where to go."

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quicklist: 8title: Cher's Twitter Rant Against Romneytext: Barack Obama supporter Cher went on a cyber tirade in May 2012, when she Tweeted- "If ROMNEY gets elected I don't know if I can breathe same air as Him & his Right Wing Racist Homophobic Women Hating Tea Bagger Masters."

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quicklist: 9title: Alec Baldwin's Cyber Slams on Romneytext: Actor Alec Baldwin is no newcomer to ranting on Twitter. But this past May, Baldwin tweeted his opinion about the 2012 election. His insults began by calling Romney "a corporate puppet" whose election would result in a return to "lying thieves in the White House who make war under false pretenses in order to make $ for their friends."

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quicklist: 10title: Donald Trump's 'Birther' Talk About Obamatext: In May 2012, Donald Trump ranted about President Obama's birth certificate during a conversation with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate," he said. "His mother was not in the hospital, there were many other things that came out and, frankly, if you would report it accurately I think you would probably get better ratings than you're getting, which are pretty small."

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