MARK KARLIN, EDITOR OF BUZZFLASH AT TRUTHOUT



Rick "Man on Dog" Santorum just can't stay away from a sound bite that -- as progressive radio host Stephanie Miller is fond of saying -- makes you want to throw up a little in your mouth.

With an alleged seven trillion dollar deficit in Romney's tax cut plan, one of his few specific targets for cutting government spending in the Wednesday night debate – and remember Romney is promoting tax cuts for the wealthy at the same time --was terminating Big Bird by pulling the plug on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Romney declared Wednesday night, "I'm sorry, Jim [Lehrer], I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I like you too."

Considering Jim Lehrer's abjectly feckless performance as a moderator, many might have been sympathetic to Romney's pledge. But it was just a red meat statement to the Tea Party base who believes that PBS is some sort of socialist conspiracy because the network televises opera and the BBC.

As Loren Steffy of the Houston Chronicle article points out,

If we want to find out how serious the presidential candidates are about deficit reduction, future debates need to avoid the Big Bird Syndrome.

That's when politicians imply they will fix the country's massive fiscal problems by eliminating what amounts to chicken feed in federal spending….

…it's like throwing a few grains of sand over the rim of Grand Canyon and saying you're fighting erosion.

Rick Santorum, who is sort of the deranged Torquemada guru of the Opus Dei/End Times crowd, decided to grab a fist full of sand.



According to a report in the Washington Post,

Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum got philosophical on CNN Thursday night when asked about Mitt Romney’s pledge to cut off PBS funding.

“I’ve voted to kill Big Bird in the past,” Romney’s ex-primary rival said. “I have a record there that I have to disclose. That doesn’t mean I don’t like Big Bird. You can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don’t know."

But even Santorum knew he might have hyper-sound bited and asked if he could amend his Big Bird on the turkey platter declaration. Alas for Santorum, you can't cough up your Big Bird stuffing, once you've swallowed it.

In many ways though, that one interchange in the debate between Romney and Jim Lehrer about killing off Big Bird represented a glimmer into the Bain Capitol founder's view on vulture capitalism: "I got nothing personally against you, but if I'm going to make my million dollar profit, you've got to walk the plank."

Don't take it personally, Romney is saying, it is just that money trumps the well-being of individual lives.

Now, all we need to know is how the Romneys and the Santorums baste a Big Bird?

Sweet potatoes, anyone?

(Photo by SixTwo Points of View)