Rachel Maddow Laments GOP Audience Cheering Over Death (VIDEO)

Rachel Maddow said she knew who the "clear loser" of Monday's GOP presidential debate was: a 30-year-old sick man with no health insurance.

As Maddow put it, the audience at the debate "wants him dead." She was referring, of course, to the most attention-getting moment at the debate, when, after moderator Wolf Blitzer wondered whether the state should let a sick man with no insurance die, several audience members shouted, "yeah!"

Maddow said that the moment might have been shocking, but for the fact that a similar audience had also cheered executions during a previous GOP debate when a question was put to Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

"The audience was not cheering one specific execution," she said. "They were cheering the very idea...of historically high numbers of executions." Maddow then noted that Texas executed another man just on Tuesday. She lamented the fact that the issue has entered the national conversation because "it is an applause line," and not because Perry has presided over at least one execution -- that of Cameron Todd Willingham -- that many, many people think sent an innocent man to his grave.

"Does anyone believe even that would hurt him with this year's Republican voters?" Maddow asked, before playing the footage of audience cheering again.

WATCH:

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Comments

[Chroesus]

07:00 PM on 09/18/2011

End the death penalty. End the wars. It is the only morally acceptable course. Any civilization that accepts innocent people to be put to death is unworthy of being called a civilization.

[reasonshouldrule]

09:40 PM on 09/18/2011

Excellent comment and so very true. F&F

[Fremon]

06:37 PM on 09/18/2011

Hey, what else is there to think, It is TX after all. They like and cheer death as would any other backward social entities whether they be state or country. Hey death, whats not to like in a prolife country?
Interesting article in LA Times re why Perry is wrong about Social security. Did you know that a city in TX has its own social security plan as touted as being better than the Fed plan? If you think Perry and TX has an answer, read the below article. You will want to say "no mas".

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20110918,0,2015319.column

[reasonshouldrule]

09:46 PM on 09/18/2011

Thank you for the link to that informative article! If Perry ends up the GOP candidate, I hope these things are publicized. F&F

[jsotonyc]

01:31 PM on 09/18/2011

Check This list out: http://www.photius.com/rankings/healthranks.html

[Red45]

12:55 PM on 09/18/2011

Thanks, Rachel, for taking on these guys and this issue. Please consider entering the political arena. I'd vote for you in a heartbeat.

[reasonshouldrule]

09:48 PM on 09/18/2011

So would I. But the politician's life would probably drive her crazy. :-)

[sachazg]

10:03 AM on 09/18/2011

Rachel always gas great perspective on a story.

[Red45]

01:11 PM on 09/18/2011

gas?

[Bobcaaat]

03:35 PM on 09/18/2011

On my keyboard, g is very close to h. Come on, we can all read typo, who cares?

[big tom]

07:14 AM on 09/18/2011

these teabaggers are blood thirsty...perry knew this man was innocent... he didnt care... another notch on his gun.... 234 wow.

[Kentster49]

12:11 PM on 09/17/2011

What if our victim was NOT in a coma and did NOT have life threatening injuries. Say he was in a car wreck and was not injured except for lacerations to the face which will leave him permanently disfigured. Should society pay for the surgery needed to restore his appearance?

[KMoore4318]

07:14 PM on 09/17/2011

each person should buy insurance, or sign a waver; The choice should be theirs, we make decisions, and then we live with them. help a person that made the right choice; and then lost out due to no fault of their own. But a person that makes a decision knowing the consaquences, made his bed. The answer here is a single payer everyone covered, all inclusive medacare insurance, with the option to opt out, or purchase additional coverage. Then live, OR NOT, with your choices.

[StinkyMoBub]

06:30 PM on 09/18/2011

"The choice should be theirs,"

As long as everyone can afford it, yes.

Otherwise, you're simply trying to cull the herd..

[jenkait]

04:09 AM on 09/20/2011

Hey, what do you think of this situation?

I knew a 24-year-old hardcore Republican who didn't have health insurance. She was always going on about "personally responsibility", FWIW. One night she had a home invasion, the guy robbed her and beat her and she got a head injury, requiring admission to the hospital (not just ER), I think she was there for about a week. She couldn't afford to pay for it, and as far as I know, she still hasn't. ...I wonder if she's still so hard on people who don't have insurance for whatever reason...if she still has the "too bad, kick 'em to the curb, it's their own fault" attitude. I mean, people could've said that about her, but they didn't.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

07:57 AM on 09/18/2011

Need a better example as the car insurance pays for that care.

However, you have a point.  Most private insurance companies don't pay for cosmetic issues, which is what I think you were going for.  Back in the day before insurance companies tightened up I knew of docs who would say they were treating a deviated septum when what they were doing was a nose job.

That said, there is always a line and is blurry, but what isn't blurry here is how blood thirsty the TeaCons are getting.

[Clt57]

10:52 AM on 09/17/2011

The healthcare battle that rages on is about haves and haves not. The haves that have health insurance feel that they should not have to pay for the healthcare of those that do not have health insurance.

And I have NO doubt the haves would gladly give up all healthcare if for some reason they lost THEIR health insurance...Yup no doubt.

[Johnd139]

09:29 AM on 09/17/2011

It's, "Lord of the Flies", in slow motion.

[Margo Arrowsmith]

07:58 AM on 09/18/2011

Fanned, faved and badged for very interesting idea!

[reasonshouldrule]

09:51 PM on 09/18/2011

Very apt example! That's exactly what the tea party agenda is like.

[habajebe]

08:57 AM on 09/17/2011

The old song goes,

"If livin' was a thing that money could buy, the rich would live and the poor would die."

I say, "Whadda ya' mean IF?"

[Hutch]

10:47 PM on 09/16/2011

The Maddows show is a "Game Show" at best. Liberal News at it's finest.

[workquick]

12:32 PM on 09/17/2011

How did your mind turn that video into a game show. Had to take one heck of a twist to do that. I guess that means your mind is twisted.

[erikr17]

08:14 PM on 09/17/2011

lol Let me try that again ...

Yep. A guy who's in the party that gleefully celebrates the demise of a sick 30 year old and that gives a proverbial standing ovation for 250 executions in Texas ... that's a guy who's anti-Maddow bile makes me grin.

I mean, I know it's a "sin" to compare the Repubs to the Nzis, but that's the last time I saw such gleeful, giddy, vociferous celebratio­n of the death of fellow humans ... so I know Maddow's doing something right if this guy - someone who espouses the sort of evil "Let him die!" evidences - is against it.

[Bobcaaat]

03:37 PM on 09/18/2011

Truth has a "liberal" bias.

[Hutch]

11:29 PM on 09/20/2011

Unplug from the "group think" for a bit.

[Boomerwoman]

09:15 PM on 09/16/2011

Christians are with you until they are against you. Cuz Jesus said.

[workquick]

12:32 PM on 09/17/2011

Christians are scary and can hurt you in many ways.

[Bobcaaat]

03:39 PM on 09/18/2011

One of the most evil religions around. Little difference between radical Xtianity and radical Islam.

[Mausinn]

07:33 PM on 09/16/2011

You know, the GOTPer's can spin this anyway they want, just so that they can sleep at night. In the end they are the party of death and that is all that matters on this subject. If they were so pro life as they claim, they would be appalled at ANY death, not cherry pick the ones THEY think are just. I find them so repugnant and despicable.

[ParrotPops]

01:22 AM on 09/17/2011

I don't think they're the party of death as much as they are the party that loves to impose their will on someone else. Preferably by force. Death is just the ultimate imposition.
There's a strong totalitarian streak at work, here. and they're finding it easy to gather eager disciples.

[reasonshouldrule]

10:09 PM on 09/18/2011

You've nailed it--totalitarian is exactly the right word! F&F

[KLMorris]

06:44 PM on 09/16/2011

In watching the question as it was put to Mr. Paul, I agree. Individuals taking responsibility for their health and wellbeing is an inherent part of freedom. He was interrupted (and seemed surprised) and did not finish. Yes, health care is expensive. If we took the time to ask why it is so expensive, rather than using it as a tool to incite mob mentality, more of us might hear the wisdom in the answer from Mr. Paul.

[Red45]

01:13 PM on 09/18/2011

Wisdom? HA! He got all his ideas from reading Ayn Rand, whose dream is America's nightmare

[KLMorris]

02:01 PM on 09/18/2011

Intelligent replies that further the discussion are preferred rather than sacastic rants. Having read authors from several fields, I do not see the connection. Unless you believe her message was "take responsibility for your own choices and actions."

[JasonTromm]

04:35 PM on 09/16/2011

So it's OK for liberals to wish death on a real woman in a coma (Terri Schiavo) but it's not OK for Tea Partiers to wish death on a fictional coma patient?

[wespenn56]

06:17 PM on 09/16/2011

The party of "pro life" at its finest

[BurkeTocqueville]

01:41 AM on 09/17/2011

Conservative does start with "CON"?

What is a Liberal, historically? Find the answer to that question, then talk to me about a "CON".

[jazz41]

06:42 PM on 09/16/2011

I believe this was about the lack of health insurance.... not the coma. You missed the point.