Republican Presidential nominee said Wednesday evening that if he were elected Obamacare and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS) would be among the first cuts he’d make as President.
Romney’s position is common among Congressional Republicans, who have tried to defund the National Public Radio (NPR) station and PBS in the past.
The GOP candidate’s comment came as a shock, however, because tonight’s debate was moderated by PBS News Hour host Jim Lehrer.
I”’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS,” Romney told Lehrer. ” I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”
Neither Lehrer nor President Barack Obama responded to Romney’s comment, making the situation less awkward.
It was certainly one of the best zingers in the first half of the debate, though, and one of the most talked about moments from the debate.
Twitter users were immediately outraged asking what America would do without children’s show “Sesame Street” or hit British period show “Downtown Abbey” if PBS were to lose its funding and subsequently shut down.
According to twitter, Romney’s Big Bird line was one of the 10 most tweeted about moments from the debate, which itself was the most tweeted about political event in the history of twitter. Google notes that the term “Big Bird” was the fourth most searched term during the debate. And facebook says that after Romney, Obama and debate, “Big Bird” was the most debate-related term mentioned on the social networking site (Jim Lehrer came in seventh and PBS came in eighth).
Perhaps attacking Big Bird was the wrong way for Romney to illustrate his very legitimate point.
This post has been updated to include additional data.
About Francesca Chambers
I am listening to the presidential debate and am very upset because the president is being allowed to speak any lenght of time not being cut off but the governor is being cut off every time.
Sacrifices will have to be made and that’s the bottom line. If he’s able to turn the country around then I could see funding continue in the future. Some shows like “Sesame Street” would be picked up by corporate affiliates almost instantly. That’s IF the station even goes off air! It’s a harsh reality but in my home when things get tight TV and broadband are the first things to go. Expecting are leaders not to make the same types of sacrifices has, in my opinion, led to the budget problems resulting in such a decision.
I agree, 100%, plus get rid of department of Education! It’s obviously NOT working! Ever since creation of Dept of Ed school and education standards have dropped! You gotta wanna!
I think it proves that he is telling everyone what he will really do. Unlike Obama who tells one group one thing and another group something else just to get elected.