Debate's breakout stars: @FiredBigBird, @SilentJimLehrer

By Jessica Roy / Current.com / @CurrentJess

In today's social media-drenched political climate, no event is complete without its own tongue-in-cheek Twitter account. Wednesday night's president debate was no exception.

Before the candidates got to their closing remarks, @FiredBigBird and @SilentJimLehrer were born. Three hours later, they were up to 22,198 and 8,039 followers, respectively.

For those of you who missed it, a quick recap of what the heck we're talking about: When asked how he would tackle the deficit, Mitt Romney said he'd cut any program that wasn't worth borrowing from China to pay for. First and foremost, he'd cut the big blood-sucking leech that is public broadcasting.

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. I 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 it. That’s No. 1.

Besides bringing to mind the many other things that Romney has emphatically told us he loves — humor, coal, jobs, cars, the Constitution — the presidential candidate invoked the name of someone most American children consider a personal friend. How can you suggest cutting funding to the embodiment of childhood educational entertainment? @FiredBigBird made its debut on Twitter faster than most of Big Bird's pals can count to 10.

In addition to being threatened with losing his job, Jim Lehrer played the talked-over voice of reason to Romney's rambling. Every attempt to reign in the talking from either candidate was met with forceful resistance. @SilentJimLehrer captured the moderator's reactions thusly:

Overall, the first debate was a pretty terrible place to be a PBS employee. Scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson got his own zinger in about the whole situation:

Who do you think will be the new Twitter darling in next week's #centreVPdebate? @SadSarahPalin? @JoeBidensFist? Will Paul Ryan come down hard on Elmo? Share your predictions in the comments.

Update: As of 1 o'clock this afternoon, @FiredBigBird has had its account suspended. The Twitterverse is angrily demanding that Twitter #FreeBigBird. We will keep track of this breaking news as it develops.