During the first Obama-Romney debate, Mitt Romney stated that he wanted to cut funding for the Public Broadcasting Service, better known as PBS:
I’m sorry, Jim. I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. 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 — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it.
Now, Big Bird, one of the lead characters in the popular PBS children's show Sesame Street, has become a political football on the campaign trail thanks to Romney's opposition to federal funding of PBS, but neither Big Bird nor Sesame Street is the real reason why Mitt Romney wants to defund PBS.
The real reason that Mitt Romney wants to defund PBS: a documentary that is set to air on PBS-affiliated television stations across the United States this Monday night called As Goes Janesville.
As Goes Janesville, produced by Brad Lichtenstein, chronicles the closing of the Janesville GM Assembly plant and the devastating impact that had on the local economy in the Janesville area, as well as how the Janesville area's community leaders attempted to pull through the local economic crisis before Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker came to power and, though enacting his extreme agenda, pit the citizens of Janesville, as well as the rest of Wisconsin, against each other as part of his "divide and conquer" strategy.
Part of the As Goes Janesville documentary have already been used in political attack ads against Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, specifically, this part of the documentary, which shows Scott Walker explaining to Beloit businesswoman Diane Hendricks what the "divide and conquer" agenda is:
The Republican Party is the Party of Scott Walker, and the real reason why Mitt Romney wants to defund PBS is for airing a documentary that many people will perceive to be critical of Scott Walker.