Whether you watched last week’s first presidential debate or flipped through hundreds of other channels only to find the Kardashians give some sort of new, profound meaning to your own life, it’s impossible by now to have not heard Mitt Romney’s pledge to end federal subsidies to PBS. Since the curtain closed on the debate more than a week ago, I still can’t seem to check my email without, at some point, staring into the blue eyes of a yellow bird with an apparent thyroid problem.

I admit, the Big Bird jokes were funny at first, but the masterminds working in the realm of politics sure do know how to milk an attention-grabber for all it’s worth. The Obama campaign went so far as using the beloved childhood figure in a political attack add earlier this week, comparing the large yellow fowl to the likes of Bernie Madoff and Ken Lay (some of the most notoriously corrupt financial figures). PBS quickly denounced the add with a request that “both campaigns remove Sesame Street characters and trademarks from their campaign materials.”

Finally, the Big Bird talk has petered out but the question still remains: Why, given the current economic crisis, recent attacks on United States’ Embassies, the looming threat of a new-age holy war, war in Afghanistan, a failing public education system, and a degree of political and societal divisions not seen in this country since the Civil War, did we pay attention to this stupid story ... for a week?