Republican Bloodlust

The two most striking moments from the pair of recent Republican presidential debates reveal an angry GOP base seemingly bent on death as an answer to some of America's most vexing problems.

In the September 7 debate at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, CA, the biggest applause of the night came in appreciation for Texas Gov. Rick Perry having presided over 234 executions during his time in office.

At the September 12 debate in Tampa, FL, the crowd yelled in approval when the moderator asked Texas Rep. Ron Paul if uninsured sick people should just be sent home to die.

Unapologetic disregard for the old rules of polite society appears to be the order of the day among ardent Republican activists as the 2012 campaign gets underway. There was a time when this kind of naked contempt for the plight of others was a shameful secret, voiced privately if at all. But the new Tea Party-led GOP has decided to rip away the veneer of civility.

At this rate, how long will it be before the mobs begin to chant "kill, kill, kill" at Republican rallies?

Some trace this in-your-face style of GOP politics to the "pitchfork brigades" of Pat Buchanan and his speech railing about America's "culture wars" at the 1992 Republican convention. It returned with a vengeance in 2008, when Republican presidential nominee John McCain scrambled to keep a lid on the boiling pot of right-wing anger, even as his running mate turned up the heat.

Who can forget McCain grabbing the microphone back from a Republican town hall participant who was forcefully accusing Barack Obama from being a Muslim, while Sarah Palin was traveling in red states consistently accusing their opponent of "palling around with terrorists"?

Hard economic times are difficult to endure. The recession and slow recovery have stressed American families to the limit. Voters live with fear that they will be next to lose their job or their home or both.

That fear is being expressed as anger, at least in the recent GOP forums. The Republican base seems intent on choosing a nominee who will feed that anger, give voice to their fears, find someone to blame and then punish them.

In fact, if these unabashed cheers for death are any indication, the Republican presidential field is in danger of becoming something out of "Lord of the Flies," where the race devolves into a life-and-death contest where rescue from danger takes a back seat to a plan for destroying anyone who doesn't agree with the bloodthirsty, power-mad mob.