PBS CEO Paula Kerger accused Mitt Romney of playing politics with the taxpayer funding for her network, which she described as “America’s biggest classroom.”
“With the enormous problems facing our country, the fact that we are the focus is just unbelievable to me,” Kerger told CNN. “This is not about the budget, it has to be about politics.”
Romney said he would cut PBS funding during the debate last night, which was moderated by Jim Lehrer. ” I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS, Romney said. “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 keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.”
Kerger defended PBS as an integral part of American education. “We’re America’s biggest classroom,” she said. “We touch children across the country in every home. Whether you have books in your home or a computer or not, almost everyone has a television set.”
