Former presidential candidate Rick Santorum says, "You can kill things and still like them."
The Pennsylvania Republican made the suggestion in defining his stance on the idea of pulling funding from PBS during an appearance on CNN on Thursday night.
"I've voted to kill Big Bird in the past," he said when asked about his position on the issue. "So, I have a record there that I have to disclose. That doesn't mean I don’t like Big Bird. I mean, you can kill things and still like them, maybe to eat them, I don’t know."
Santorum, who fell short in his presidential primary bid against Republican nominee Mitt Romney earlier this year, appeared to recognize that his choice of words could ruffle some feathers. After asking, "Can we go back on that one?" he quipped, "That's a bad youtube moment right there."
The comments come on the heels of Big Bird getting caught in the crossfire in Wednesday night's presidential debate between Romney and Barack Obama.
Romney vowed to defund PBS if elected president during the event moderated by PBS NewsHour Executive Editor Jim Lehrer. He said, "I'm sorry, Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I like you too."
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