The LuLac Edition #2220, October 7th, 2012

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Mitt Romney and Big Bird.  

ROMNEY AND BIG BIRD 

A few editions ago on LuLac, I wrote that there is every debate where a candidate says something that crystallizes a voter’s decision as to whether they will vote for or against that candidate. In the last three elections, I pretty much knew I was going to vote for a Democrat. But there were moments in the debates that nailed it for me. (Gore’s assertion that his administration could keep on growing the Clinton surplus, Kerry’s comment that Iraq was the wrong war at the wrong time for the wrong reason and Obama’s reaction to a question about the mortgage crisis reaffirmed my decision.) When one watches a debate, you get one of two results, it reaffirms why you are voting for or against the candidate or gives you an introduction into a candidate’s thoughts If you go beyond the bluster of Mitt Romney’s performance and President Obama’s reactions to it, you do get a glimpse into the way Mitt Romney thinks. And it all came down to his statement to moderator Jim Lehrer about PBS. Romney said he liked the moderator and Big Bird but that he was all for cutting funding to PBS. For me that gave me the reason (in addition to a few others) to vote against Mitt Romney. PBS, despite what Romney and the GOP think is a quality of life issue. It’s also an issue about the future. 
Years ago, when I was first in college, I worked at WVIA FM and TV. I was struck by the number of people I met who told me that if it wasn’t for Public TV, their kids would not have that fundamental start they needed as they entered school. If Mitt Romney really liked Big Bird, he wouldn’t threaten the funding of the network that beams him into millions of homes. Sesame Street is the building block of learning for all kids, rich and poor. But it is those kids who don’t have the learning tools of the Romney grandchildren that I’m worried about. Those kids are always going to have resources because of their station in life. But PBS provides early education learning to those moms who sit and watch with their kids and those moms who through necessity plop the kid down in front of the TV and hope for the best. PBS reaches all kids. PBS doesn’t distinguish with market research who is the wealthy kid, and who is the poor kid. By Romney saying he’ll cut PBS, he’s sending a message that he indeed sees it as the network of that 47% he talked about. Those slackers who get something from the government. It’s funny that Romney has no problem with oil companies getting money for research but he wants to stop the network that become one of the first educators of our children. 
PBS also provides programming that increases the cultural awareness of our society. When I was growing up , I saw bits of opera, Broadway, ballet and performances by singers of great renown. I had a working knowledge of those things because before Ed Sullivan gave you the Beatles or the Rolling Stones, he gave us all of the aforementioned. With today’s TV concentration on junk (only in today’s culture with an ugly, dumb woman with an equally abhorrent child get their own series on of all places The Learning Channel) PBS for teenagers and adults is also needed. Badly. 
Mr. Romney looks at the President’s economic plan with his Republican brethren and decry how bad the future will be for their grandchildren because of deficits their party ran up! In the meantime they don’t give a damn about the future of other people’s grandchildren by saying they’ll cut funding to PBS. Those kids they don’t care about. Those kids are part of the 47% that are freeloading off the less than 1% of the federal budget that goes into PBS. Maybe the reason why Romney wants to end the funding to PBS is because it reaches 100% of the people. And we all know how much he loves that 47%. 
Again before you go to vote, know this. This candidate and this party aren’t hiding the ball. They are looking into the camera and saying outright, “We will screw you and help ourselves”. Romney made that loud and clear on Wednesday night. If he is elected, Big Bird will be pushed aside in favor of what the private sector can provide. So you as a vote must figure out whether you want your grandchildren at that young tender age of learning to live in a Big Bird world or a Kardashian world. The choice is so stark. And Mitt Romney told you what he’d do. Think about it.