Nerditorial: Oh, Look... Another Romney "Victory"...

So, the champagne from the Romney-Won-The-Debate victory party hasn't even had time to go flat yet, and already we are seeing the closest thing that Romney has had to a good news cycle in... what, 100 days?... fizzle.

Hmm...

First, the new unemployment figures are turning out to be the real October Surprise.

If you watched the debate on Tuesday, you saw Romney point out that the unemployment rate has been over 8% for 43 consecutive months. And he said so with barely contained glee, of course.

Well, as of this month the official unemployment rate is at 7.8%

Surprise!

But even better, the 1% is losing its collective mind over this. Jack Welsh, former CEO of General Electric, has claimed that the new unemployment numbers are the result of the Obama administration somehow cooking the books. 

Here is what Mr Welsh wrote on Twitter...

Unbelievable jobs numbers..these Chicago guys will do anything..can’t debate so change numbers

But there was one other thing about the debates that got a lot of traction. And with the benefit of hindsight, it is difficult to see how anyone could be surprised by it.

While Romney was winning the debate on style (and by style I mean stylishly lying like a designer rug) he mentioned that he was going to fire Big Bird.

I remember seeing Romney say this and I raised an eyebrow, but that was one passing comment in his Lie-A-Palooza. I didn't give it much thought at the time.

But after the debates, Big Bird is everywhere. Look on Facebook. Look on Twitter. You are going to have a difficult time avoiding memes related to Big Bird.

Now, here is where I gotta wonder what the hell Romney was thinking (you know, other than, of course, "winning!").

Because he could have referenced any other PBS related thing. Masterpiece Theater. Frontline. Nova. Mystery.

But no. He just had to mention Big Bird. Not Sesame Street. Big Bird.

Now... if there is a more iconic Muppet than Big Bird... name that Muppet. Seriously. Name it in the comment thread below. I submit that it can't be done. Big Bird is the Ur-Muppet, folks.

Even Kermit the Frog can't surpass the Bird. Elmo may be the new hotness, but Big Bird is far from old and busted.

Now the debates were viewed by about 67 million viewers, according to Neilsen.

And 67 million viewers saw Romney say he was going to fire Big Bird.

I had a feeling that this victory of Romney's was going to be Pyrrhic, but I didn't know how that quality was going to manifest itself at the time.

But Romney has established himself in front of one of the largest audiences that has ever witnessed him in real time... as a guy who likes Coal more than he likes Big Bird.

Jesus Tap-dancing Christ.

Maybe the Children's Television Workshop could develop a new Muppet... Coal-mo.

If Obama "loses" his next two debates in a similar fashion as he "lost" the last one, I suspect that his consolation prize will be four more years in the White House.