Classic Cavutto: Neil defends Ronald McDonald.”Are you deaf?”

I love Neil now more than ever as he spends a classic 5 minutes taking on the man who took on “Big Tobacco” and Joe Camel and is now taking on Ronald McDonald, John Banzhaf. Banzhaf, a professor at George Washington Law school has made a career out of suing companies that he believes takes advantage of young children by selling them evil products. It is an Ultimate Fighting Champion debate and one worth watching more than once.

The debate starts with a simple question, what are you doing this? They quickly degenerates into a knockdown drag out over personal choice. Between the shouting and the accusations it all boils down to one key point, shouldn’t parents be allowed to make choices without lawyers intervening? The answer is obvious to Neil, and not so much to John. Enjoy my little mobsters.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m5l-hsV4qk

Not surprisingly the CEO of McDonald’s at the company’s annual meeting yesterday said there was no way the company will retire Ronald McDonald.

Healthy-eating activists say the 48-year-old “spokesclown” hooks kids on junk food and insist the time has come for the burger-pushing mascot to hang up his floppy shoes and clown nose.

Not so fast, says McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner. Speaking Thursday at the chain’s annual meeting outside Chicago, he said recent newspapers ads calling for Ronald’s ouster had prompted an outpouring of support to his office, with parents and customers asking Skinner “to defend their right to choose.”

For me it’s a matter of choice. For too many other people in our society today it’s a matter of control. My dad used to call them “Butinskis”. Maybe you can figure out why, Comrade.

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Jim Vicevich

Jim is a veteran broadcaster and conservative/libertarian blogger with more than 25 years experience in TV and radio. Jim's was the long-term host of The Jim Vicevich Show on WTIC 1080 in Hartford from 2004 through 2019. Prior to radio, Jim worked as a business and financial reporter for NBC30 - the NBC owned TV station in Hartford - and as business editor at WFSB-TV in Hartford for 14 years while earning six Emmy nominations and three Telly Awards.

11 Comments

  1. Plainvillian on May 20, 2011 at 8:25 am

    Irrespective of ones position on the topic under discussion, one cannot be but appalled at the graceless, childish, and non-productive nature of the dialogue.? It is a telling comment on and example of our fractious culture.
    ?
    I happen to agree with Cavuto, but his position would be strengthened by following the quiet model of Condeleeza Rice’s handling of Lawrence O’Donnell.? Ms. Rice, even as a guest, controlled the event by insisting on simple standards of debate.? Cavuto, as host, should be able to do the same.



  2. winnie888 on May 20, 2011 at 8:26 am

    What Banzhaf is saying is that parents are too stupid, given the opportunity, to order their kids salad and yogurt so the alternative is to take away choice altogether.? What an arrogant jerk.? Does he reeeeeeally believe that killing off Ronald McDonald will cause anyone to stop patronizing McDonald’s?? I guess he wants to see the Ronald McDonald House fail, as well.? No clowns for sick kids.? I’m just blown away by this.
    When my kids were young, a stop at McDonald’s was a treat…a once in awhile thing.? I see government school lunches as more of a problem than McDonald’s when it comes to obesity.? Most schools have an a la carte system in place and there is no portion control as there was in the now distant past.? Maybe Banzhaf should make a visit to a school cafeteria to see the garbage the government is serving up and leave the clown alone.
    ?



  3. Marilyn on May 20, 2011 at 8:41 am

    Look out Shriners, here comes the Government!



  4. Don Lombardo on May 20, 2011 at 8:59 am

    Orwell’s? “1984.” And every one thought it could never happen.



  5. CT-Amy on May 20, 2011 at 9:07 am

    There is a word that parents can use. That word is NO! No is a good word and should be used more often.



  6. Dimsdale on May 20, 2011 at 10:27 am

    They just keep chipping away at our freedoms, bit by bit, step by step, creating crises, then taking advantage of them to push their agendas.
    ?
    McDonalds offers choices, e.g. oatmeal or a Egg McMuffin, fruit or an apple pie.? Banzhaf and his ilk seek to take choice away.? Just because the liberal controlled educational system in this country has dumbed down people to create more Democrats, that is not sufficient reason to assume that they have to have their right to choose taken away.? If, as Democrats continually claim, people are “smart” enough to make a choice to have an abortion, at any age no less, then why aren’t they smart enough to decide what food they want to eat?
    ?
    Why is it that liberals always assume that we are all too stupid, selfish or childlike to exercise our rights as enumerated in the Constitution?? Why do they always assume that only they can make the right decision, and the rest of us should just obey?? Why is it that liberals always exempt themselves from the overbearing decisions they make for the rest of us?
    ?
    The real clown here is Banzhaf.



  7. ricbee on May 20, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    Neil let the interview degenerate into a shouting match. It did not reflect well on him or his cogent argument.



  8. Tim-in-Alabama on May 22, 2011 at 6:08 am

    I’m leaving on a business trip this morning. I shall stop at McDonald’s and purchase two Egg McMuffin’s for $2.50 US. I win. Liberals lose.



  9. Lynn on May 24, 2011 at 8:24 am

    I will always, always defend Neil Cavuto. He is my voice of reason every day at 4 PM.? His Common Sense talk is always compelling and intelligent usually hysterically funny. I think I adore him because he does lose control.? John Banzhaf is a true blue moron.? The most ridiculous thing he asked Cavuto was “doesn’t he want to do something about spending billions on obesity”. Are you kidding me? What about the billions we are paying or going to pay for Obamacare,? stimulus packages, cash for clunkers, ban on drilling etc.? John B. doesn’t seem to care about those billions of dollars.? Go Neal, you keep screaming for me!



  10. Delta on May 24, 2011 at 4:52 pm

    Banzhaf is to the food industry (and others) as Jack Thompson is to the video game industry, self-served “crusaders” that feel it is their mission, personal or from God, to teach parents what is right and wrong, and they see the government as a end to their means and probably nothing more.
    ?
    These hacks need to be put back down in their place by folks interested in real freedom and change, and unfortunately I don’t see this happening until people start getting out there and really pushing back, not just politically, but real grassroots movements.



  11. wombat319 on May 27, 2011 at 10:33 am

    Whenever I go to McDonald’s for an a.m. coffee, I’m asked, “Would you like our oatmeal today?” Er…no. If I wanted oatmeal I would make it at home for a zillion dollars less, thank you very much. I go to McDonald’s for the food I cannot get–THAT flavor, THAT type, THAT cooking. Ronald McDonald has NO influence on those choises. These liberals are 100% pure idiots, not cooked in transfats, LOL.



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