It was a misstep in that: 1) it was the most memorable thing taken from the debates. 2) it gives the impression that Romney is not serious about deficit reduction. 3) as has already been pointed out, it's a vastly unpopular cut. You can bet your bottom dollar that long after the "zomg he pwnz0red obama" stuff fades away, the Big Bird meme will be chugging along until election day.
Actually, I don't believe the government has a responsibility in the entertainment business. Most of the crap people watch on PBS would be picked up by the private sector. Lets say PBS only costs the government $1M, I'd rather spend it providing healthcare, food, shelter, schools, etc. Is PBS educational? Sure, but it isn't helping.
But he didn't mean it as a joke. He meant it as part of a solution for how he's going to cut government spending - that's the joke. The amount of money the government sends over to PBS is single molecule in a single drop in the big deficit bucket. And not only that, it's a fantastic and informative resource for the American people, and particularly for the education of our children -- way to value education like you claimed to other times in the debate, Romrom. Way to recognize a good investment when you see it, Romrom. It's an inane point to make and was him pandering to his nutty base. Nice change in pace from the lies he'd been telling the rest of the night to try and appear sensible and moderate. As Obama kept saying, "Sure, if you think the government spending some money on PBS is a problem in this country, then go right ahead, Mitt Romney is the candidate for you."
Except I'm not talking about the idea that dropping PBS will fix the budget, I'm talking about the idea fostered by leftists that somehow "Romney will kill Big Bird" is going to be the main thing taken away from this debate. Donny seems to think that it will be remembered - I didn't see it being remembered all that much yesterday, much less in three weeks from now. The news reporters aren't reporting big bird, they're reporting that Romney kicked ass. That's what will be remembered.
Is this your first election cycle? Once debate #2 hits (or even the VP debate), debate #1 will be all but forgotten except for a few select statements... one of which being Big Bird. Debates are all about memes and soundbites... and the only one to come out of this one was the PBS thing.
Most of the crap that people watch on PBS already is picked up by the private sector, way to ignore the point completely. I don't think it's controversial to suggest that the government should use a public resource like the airwaves to provide a small fraction of the funding for something that promotes popular public goods anymore so than to say the government should run national parks or monuments.
This is political theater at it's highest level! It's the chance for each candidate to lay out their policies and ideas and leave those impressions on the American people. And that's what he left a lot of people with. Why do you think it's just the left taking away "Big Bird" from the debates? The intelligent people in the center are just as capable of recognizing bad policy when they hear it! I'm completely open to voting for a conservative candidate (in fact I think I'll pretty much be doing that when I vote for Obama in November), but they've got to impress and convince me that they've got good ideas and the right vision for our future. If Romney wanted to make a great point about the kind of spending the government should cut, he could have instead made a point about cutting the billions of dollars a year of oil and gas subsidies. But he didn't. He went after PBS. With great conviction. When Obama raised the point of oil and gas subsidies, Romney played along and said, "Oh, yeah, sure, those probably won't survive." Real convincing. Edit: BTW I think we can all agree that Romney stepped up big time at the debate and accomplished his goal of appearing Presidential while standing next to The President. I was impressed in that regard. No one is looking to take that away or to forget it. That's why we're listening to him talk still. That's why it is now about what he actually said.
Do you have children? If you do, and they are old enough to watch television, then I am well and truly shocked. With all due respect, that statement is simply ludicrous.
Today Romney went on Fox to say he was wrong about the 47% video. You know why Obama didn't bring it up during the debate, Romney had a zinger for it waiting in his pocket. He didn't get to use it at the debate so he used it on Hannity instead. Maybe a good move by the Obama team, that way Romney doesn't get to "apologize" for the 47 percent on a bigger stage.
Don't know if it's been brought up yet in this thread... Note cards not allowed by rule at this debate. Romney appears to use notecards... http://www.drudge.com/news/161730/did-romney-have-notecards-debate <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GQZ5_qdHLV8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Absolutely a calculated move on Obama's part. Remember when Gingrich got the "why did you cheat on your dying wife" stuff thrown at him during the debate, and he responded with indignant righteous anger? and his poll numbers went up? Team Obama are no dummies. They didn't want to give Mitt a national platform to correct his mistakes.
Yeah - not sure if his people knew it was coming or if they just got lucky, but regardless, that part worked out very well for Obama. We are a very forgiving nation, and an apology on the national stage would humanize Romney in a way that he has been unable to do thus far. It would have been a homerun for him, in my opinion.
