How bad will it hurt Romney?

[ocularnervosa]

At the very first of the debate Romney talked about eliminating funding for PBS. The internet pounced on the comment as "I'll fire Big Bird". In fact, almost an hour after the debate Big Bird is still trending on Twitter. Overall people for the most part tuned out the numbers and the rhetoric on both sides but Romney firing beloved Muppets characters from Sesame Street seems to have touched a nerve. Will this hurt Mitt and will he have to spend the rest of the week trying to spin his comment rather than focusing on any real issue?

[Cris Ray]

We are broke screw big bird.

[BadWolf63]

PBS doesn't need federal funds, and they themselves have said it.

[dermot]

the country is going into bankruptcy
millions are out of work
i think PBS
is the least on anyones mind

[America licious]

There is ZERO need to publicly fund any TV network. The original reason for it is long gone...especially since it's so clearly biased toward statism.

Take away federal funding, and Big Bird is not history, just members and donors will be asked to dig deeper. There is actually better programming elsewhere now, better kids shows, better arts and entertainment.

[Antonia Smart]

I know what a Muppet...

[Paul Jackson]

I think what will hurt him is the fact that Obama was able to show that several of Romney's plans aren't realistic. This forced Romney to fall back on an "I won't let that happen." defense.

The Big Bird thing didn't really register with me. I filtered it out because I don't think congress is going to kill PBS. The president doesn't have the power to kill it on his own. I just think it was some BS he spewed to try to appeal to his fiscally conservative base. It was a rather stupid thing to say. PBS is a far too valuable resource for the government to liquidate. From a taxpayer perspective it's free education.

__________________________________________

"There is ZERO need to publicly fund any TV network. "

Anybody who honestly compares the programming on PBS to the programming on any of the "for-profit" information channels and comes to this conclusion is a fool. PBS is unique.

[Seth B]

Of course it's going to hurt Romney. PBS is one of the most unbiased, informative TV networks still in operation. The people who recognize that are quite intelligent, and he's already alienated himself from most of the best minds in the country.