“I’m Sorry Jim”

[Commentary] "I'm sorry Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS," GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney told PBS anchor Jim Lehrer, during the first presidential debate. "I like PBS. I love Big Bird," Romney said, referring to the popular ‘Sesame Street’ character. "I actually like you, too. But I’m not gonna keep spending money on things and have to borrow money to pay for it.” With these words, Big Bird became an unwitting and unwilling prop in campaign 2012. Within moments “Big Bird” and “PBS” were each earning 17,000 tweets per minute -- more than Romney earned during his nomination acceptance speech at the GOP Convention, which hit a high of 14,289 tweets per minute. Of course, none of these numbers indicate whether the tweeters were for or against Romney on the "Big Bird" subsidies, but it does indicate a lot of interest in an issue that does not often rise to the level of presidential debate when every sentence, every gesture, every expression of the candidates comes under heavy scrutiny.