There’s Always More Room in the Clown Car

Republicans held a debate the other night. All the usual suspects were there (except Buddy Roemer). It was generally a pile on Rick Perry night because Perry has become the Tea Party darling and anyone who wants to be the Republican nominee for President had better take Perry down a notch. And the other debaters didn’t disappoint. They piled on Perry with vigor.

Perry didn’t fare well either. He neglected to defend his positions adequately. Just when you thought Texas couldn’t produce a bigger idiot, they produce Rick Perry; a gun toting, C-student, cheerleader, rootin-tootin’ executioner.

All in all the debate was a circus from the get-go. It was held under a lot of false pretense that the media didn’t bother to question. Michelle Bachmann declared that HPV vaccines cause mental retardation. She based this on a story from one individual who mistakenly believed that the vaccine caused her child’s arrested developement. Never mind that the vaccines saved thousands of lives. The vaccine is obviously the cause of all mental retardation. Way to go, Michele. Set the world back to the dark ages.

The Republican debate was attended by Tea Party activists who cheered loudly for Governor Perry’s execution record. Who cheered loudly for the death of a hypothetical patient in need of medical help who didn’t have insurance. It was disturbing. I was honestly ashamed of America. Embarrassed that this was our legacy.

We hold our freedom in high esteem. Our freedom to speak what’s on our minds in the hope that we have something relevant to say, our freedom to believe in whatever God we choose in the hope that it is a just and forgiving God, our freedom to object to that which we find distasteful in the hope that we may replace it with something better. Yet, when given that freedom, we squander it.

Is this the best we can do? I sure hope not

Related articles

• How Rick Perry can defuse the controversy over the HPV vaccine. (slate.com)
• Republican Debate Night #6: Rick Perry and the Seven Bores (dailykos.com)
• Michele Bachmann Proves She’s an Anti-Science Idiot (reason.com)
• Why ‘tricky’ Rick Perry scares Republicans (thehill.com)
• Rick Perry Joins the GOP Clown Car (bilerico.com)