Well, It Wouldn't Be Devastating For The Budget, Or The Taxpayers Who Pay For It.

Vivian Schiller, the NPR Commissar, says defunding public broadcasting would be "devastating" to... public broadcasting.

Comrade Schiller gave her little pep-talk for state-controlled media at an Episcopal Church, so it's no surprise her reason to keep the government cash spigot turned on came right out of the Kate Schori elitism-on-parade excuse-book:

Schiller criticized cable news during the forum for what she sees as its partisan nature. She also praised NPR’s audience as more intelligent than other media audiences...(emphasis mine)

In other words, public broadcasting's audience is waaaaay smarter than us ignorant rubes in flyover country, so of course PBS/NPR deserve some of our hard earned jack.

Public broadcasting is the very poster-child of a government program that has lived on far past it's reason d'etre. 50 years ago - in the era of three TV channels - public broadcasting made good sense. But in the era of cable, satellite and XM/Sirrus - with their hundreds of channels for viewers and listeners to choose from - it doesn't. So, why are we still paying for it?

If the limousine liberal set want to listen to NPR and watch PBS, fine - privatize it and let them pay the cost. If PBS/NPR are as important as their proponents claim and have the loyal viewership they imply, then the networks will survive. And if they don't, MSNBC could use some diversity...

UPDATE: D'Oh! I should check Stand Firm first. My friend Jackie already posted on the Schiller/Schori elitism connection. Jackie's link to Schori's infamous quote about Episcopalians being better educated was better than the one I had, so I stole hers.