Puppets protest Romney threat to US public broadcasting

Source: AFP

WASHINGTON — Puppets urged politicians Saturday to keep up federal funding for US public broadcasting after Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney threatened to pull the plug on Big Bird and friends.

Organizers of the Million Puppet March on Capitol Hill in support of Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) television and National Public Radio (NPR) put the turnout at around 1,000 people, three days before the US presidential vote.

Characters from the children's show "Sesame Street" -- a PBS staple since the network's founding in 1970 -- figured prominently, including two Big Birds, many Kermits and Elmos, and a Miss Piggy grooving to "Dancing in the Streets."

But the family-friendly rally on a chilly and cloudy day also attracted a frisky marionette of President Barack Obama and a blue-suited protester in a Mitt Romney mask jammed into a trash can with Big Bird on his back.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jCMkfpYFyc12st_V2RFQrtyy_UaA?docId=CNG.cbf28e874bc1457ef30ddaf4ecd3043c.01