Is Mitt Romney trying to shoot Big Bird?

Neither side has been clear about Big Bird. Cutting off federal support for PBS won't kill Sesame Street, which is well-funded with or without federal support, as Governor Romney has pointed out repeatedly.

What cutting off federal support for PBS will do is kill off many public TV stations outside the major urban markets.

Same is true for the Postal Service BTW.

In both cases the Republican model is the market model, naked and unadorned. Treat government exactly like a for-profit business.

The irony here is that the Republican heartland is precisely the territory and the people who will lose out. We in the urban areas--mostly Democratic--will get Sesame Street and our mail regardless. It's the crusty old farmer out in the countryside who will have to drive into town to get his mail, and get Sesame Street for his grandchildren via DVDs or satellite-based transmissions. And in the latter case, what's really lost isn't national programs like Sesame Street but local programming--not just news, but local cultural events, nature shows and more.

Romney sells himself as the right guy to run the country like a business. For being America's CEO.

If that were true, the first thing he'd do is quit taking money from Democrats and sending it to Republicans--which is what the federal government has been doing for decades, since all the Blue states are net donor states in terms of taxes going to Washington vs. business coming from Washington, and all Red states are net recipient states.

What odds can I get on whether CEO Romney would do that at any point in his presidency?

And this is a lot more money than the relative pittance going to PBS.