It isn’t surprising that Mitt Romney wants to end government funding for public broadcasting as it’s been a conservative goal for some time now.
Speaking at the First Presidential Debate, and directly to the moderator, Jim Lehrer, Romney said, “I’m sorry, Jim. I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you too. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”
After the debate, the President pounced on the opportunity to joke about the fact that while Romney was planning to get rid of regulations on Wall Street, he’ll crack down on Sesame Street.
However, experts believe that this statement was always a part of the conservative agenda and cannot be included in the long-list of gaffes or slip-ups that he’s been known to make.
Experts believe that this move was not a good one as it challenges the ‘We Love Big Bird’ sentiment that can lead people to worry about educational TV for their kids, especially since most PBS stations for small markets are located mostly in red state rural areas.
Considering the fact that the budget for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting is about $400 million plus, a relatively small amount of the deficit, the ‘liberals are using our money to undermine our values’ argument doesn’t seem to make much sense – except open himself up to verbal attacks.
However, what seems to be clear is that if Romney is elected, come November 6, he intends to follow through with this promise.
