The Republican "debate"

Last night I watched one of these, the first that I had seen. All of the commentators have had their say, but some of what is said here may not have been said, regardless of its merit. I had never seen Perry but generally found him to be alternatively repulsive and resilient, purposefully ignorant, and completely capable of winning the Republican primary.

The one thing that I missed in all of the media commentary was the most appalling event of the evening. When Perry was asked about the 234 executions under his reign as governor of Texas, the audience applauded more loudly than at anytime during the droning one hour and forty five minutes, even before he responded. When he did respond that he never missed a minute of sleep about this, the applause was resounding. Who are these people. Who is this man. Who are these Americans?

A month ago in Costco I saw a pile of paperbacks of John Grisham's "The Confession" on sale at $5.59. Grisham is a good story teller but it had been at least 15 years since I had read one of his books, even on airplanes. This one had the same one dimensional characters but was, as the Washington Post said, "a superb work of social criticism in the literary troublemaker tradition of Upton Sinclair".

To revert to what may be book review cliche, it is a "compelling and scathing" tale of the Texas judicial, penal, and execution system. It is fiction, but it is a well researched book and Grisham is no off the wall leftie. Read it, skim it, whatever, and you will have some idea of what Perry is proud of and what this ignorant audience applauded. I can't imagine that Nancy Reagan felt comfortable there, and she was only pressured to be present to respect the honor to her husband. She certainly did not look pleased to be part of this group. Maybe it's just age or grief that I saw, but her work in the total anti-tea party stem cell research area over recent years would certainly not put her in that camp.

Short comments:
---I like Huntsman
---Paul was as predicted but interesting, and his comment that "putting up a barbed wire fence and machine gunning people who tried to cross is un-American" was refreshing, despite his other Monty Python like beliefs.
---Cain has no chance of course but said a few interesting things. His 999 plan for taxation may be unfair and unworkable, but it had some radically interesing aspects if reworked and further explained. I had never heard of it. But the real true thing he said about the taxation system is "that we can no longer work around the edges". It needs wholesale change.
---Gringich was a clown and enjoys the role, but makes some good points when he is not showcasing himself.
---Bachman is a phony as a politician, to the right of Genghis Khan, but may be a wonderful person otherwise. She is certainly more credible than Palin if we would ever need to get into comparing women candidates.
---I don't know if Romney can ever overcome his sort of perceived "elitist" evasive presentation style. As said by a few, the word "elitist" once had some connection to being smart but now to many Americans it is just a curse word. My opinion, he should be the "Democrat" opposing Obama. Switch parties, and get out of these crazy people who in the South will be spooked, word intended, by the "Mormon" phrase. Let Huntsman take on that burden and see if Perry just self-combusts himself with his comments on Social Security, legal killing, complete isolation imprisonment for years before any judgement, and his extreme denial of any responsibility for the health care and education and feeding of the poor within his juridiction, much less his complete lack of knowledge on global issues.

Given the repeated applause at the execution rate comments, I am completely disheartened. Maybe Ron Paul is right. Don't let those fences go up because they may be used to keep us in.