Mister Rogers Rebuts Romney’s Proposed PBS Funding Cuts (43 Years Ago)

I posted a video to Twitter and Facebook yesterday, but it is too good not to share some more.

In Wednesday’s debate the most specific way that Mitt Romney indicated he would cut the deficit was to eliminate funding for public television. This is absurd mostly because PBS makes up such a tiny portion of the federal budget. If anyone wants to make cuts that can significantly impact the budget they need to look elsewhere.

But in addition to being a minuscule part of the budget, public broadcasting provides a great social benefit, particularly to children, as articulated by one of PBS’s greats in this 1969 Senate testimony. I think Big Bird would agree.