Romney vs. Big Bird

There were a lot of things to critique in the debate last night. But there was one thing that really stuck out for a lot of people.

Gov. Mitt Romney not only is mean to dogs. He wants to take out Sesame Street. He told moderator Jim Leher of PBS’s NewsHour at last night’s debate:

I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you, too. But I’m not going to keep spending money on things, borrowing money from China

Oh yeah? Let the memes and tweets begin.

According to the Christian Science Monitor:

Both public radio and public television get their federal funding (small but crucial percentages of their budgets, administrators say, which are often earmarked for under-served and rural populations) from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, for its part, gets a bit under $500 million in taxpayer dollars a year to distribute.

No small amount of change by itself, but in the grand scheme of the federal budget, not so much. It’s a few days of war in Afghanistan, according to many estimates. Just to put it in perspective.

As to the percentage of that $500 million that Big Bird actually pockets? Pretty tiny.

Finally, Jezebel wins for best post-debate wrap up:

5. Romney knows all about lying because he’s got 5 sons. Wha?

Despite his non-pants-shitting performance, there were still a few moments of off-putting weirdness in the debate. Specifically, this quote:

“I’ve got five boys. I’m used to people saying something that’s not always true, but just keep on repeating it and ultimately hoping I’ll believe it.”

I’m now concerned with Mitt Romney’s merry band of sociopaths roaming the country.

Speaking of lies, Mitt Romney used last night to resurrect the idea of Obamacare being akin to a government takeover of medical care, which was Politifact’s 2010 Lie of the Year. Yes, Mitt Romney is very familiar with falsehoods that get repeated over and over again as fact.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

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