Big Bird Caught in Crossfire at Presidential Debate

I’m putting this out there just so you know that we are a PBS and Sesame Street family. We love Elmo. We love Abby’s Flying Fairy School. We love Cookie Monster (especially the recent episode where he was eating veggies).

And of course, we love Big Bird.

I missed the debate last night, I have it recorded and will likely watch it one night when I can’t sleep. But, I got the highlights from the morning news shows. What I found out is Big Bird is endangered.

Mitt Romney pledged to cancel funding for PBS. He said he loves Big Bird but would cut subsidies for PBS. Such a move would directly affect a show like Sesame Street. I’m wondering how other shows like Curious George, Dinosaur Train, Super Why and Caillou would be affected. Actually, canceling Caillou may be good. He’s such a whiner.

I may have to invite Mr. Romney to my home if he is elected to have him explain to Sofie and Alejandro what happened to their favorite shows.

According to The Daily Beast, the debate will go down as “the Big Bird debate.”

Big Bird also became a topic of Twitter with some really good one-liners about the debate.

My favorite is from journalist Rich Klein:  “per Sesame Street, Big Bird has no comment b/c he is 6 and does not understand why he's in the news. I'm actually not making this up.”

So, what are your thoughts? Should funding to PBS be cut? Does Sesame Street even need a subsidy given how much merchandising is done?  What would life be like without Big Bird?