Crying "Fowl"
Mitt Romney ruffled feathers by declaring in the presidential debate that he would defund PBS although he loves Big Bird.
He'd fire Big Bird?
Why should that surprise anyone? Remember Romney previously admitted that he likes to fire people!
According to Twitter, Romney's comments generated 17,000 Tweets per minute for "Big Bird" and 10,000 Tweets per minute for "PBS".
The Internet has been atwitter with messages that Romney should not mess with Big Bird.
People have been quick to defend the beloved Sesame Street character and PBS.
Among their notable remarks: "Obama got Bin Laden. Romney wants to put a hit on Big Bird"
The Alternet post The Seven Best Jokes About Romney's Threat To Off Big Bird conveys that President Obama looked a tad preoccupied during the debate, almost as if he'd been distracted from his campaign by running the United States of America. The post also provides what it calls "a roundup of the best Big Bird propaganda".
Here are two on that list:
"Big Bird is part of Romney's 47 percent."
"Romney will fire Big Bird and Cookie Monster and replace them with the replacement refs."
Elsewhere on the Internet----
An Oct. 5 Daily Kos post states "Richard Nixon, like Mitt Romney, wanted to cut PBS... Until Mr. Rogers showed up in Congress.
That Daily Kos post provides a clip of Mr. Rogers defending PBS to the U.S. Senate.
Also, Joan E. Dowlin's op-ed on Huffington Post contends that Mitt Romney revealed his true self with his PBS comments.
She observes:
"The governor was doing a pretty good job of re-selling himself as a caring person who wanted to help the middle class -- until he slipped up and the real man showed up. That moment occurred when he said he wanted to cut PBS. Right away I thought uh, oh. This is going to be his zinger, but not in the way he intended.
He delivered the line in a carefree, joking way, saying he loved Big Bird and liked the moderator, Jim Lehrer, but that PBS would have to go because his budget couldn't afford it. These comments show the two- sidedness of Romney. He thinks by sweet-talking you, he will somehow soften the blow of getting canned. What an insult to a well-respected news anchor who has done a superb job for many years! Secondly, how can you so casually talk about axing Big Bird, who is an icon to today's children as well as the baby boomers who grew up with Sesame Street?
His behavior was condescending and arrogant and reminds me of a CEO asking a faithful, long-working employee of his company to come into his office to say: "I love you and you have done a good job, but I have to let you go because we can't afford you" while he keeps his own obscene profits."
