As seen in the above video and already blogged by Joan McCarter, several members of the audience at last night's tea party debate cheered at the idea of society letting people without health insurance just die. According to NBC News, Texas Governor Rick Perry was "taken aback" by this:
The morning after a sometimes-rocky appearance in front of a Tea Party debate audience, Gov. Rick Perry said he was "taken aback" by cheers from some crowd members on a hypothetical question of whether a young man who decides not to buy health insurance should be refused care if he develops a life-threatening illness and be left to die.
"I was a bit taken aback by that myself," Perry told NBC News and the Miami Herald after appearing at a breakfast fundraiser in Tampa.
It's unclear why Rick Perry was "taken aback." At the Republican debate last week, the crowd cheered when moderator Brian Williams said Rick Perry had executed more people than any other governor in modern time. It wasn't a cheer for support of the death penalty, it was specifically a cheer for breaking the modern execution record:
Death is a good applause line at Republican debates these days.
In closely related news, our petition to debate moderators urging them to ask Rick Perry about the execution of Cameron Todd Willingham was written up in Politico. It's taking off, so keep piling on—sign the petition now.