2012 United States presidential election debates

During the 2012 United States presidential election debates, Mitt Romney referenced Big Bird with relation to funding for 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. 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. That's number one."