Republicans...

Looks like we have a pretty interesting crop of candidates seeking the Republican party's nomination in next year's presidential race, even more interesting are the crowds that keep coming out to see the candidates debate.

In the second debate we heard members of the so called "pro-life" Republican party cheer when the hundreds of people were mentioned that have been executed in Texas since Rick Perry became governor and later on in the evening when Ron Paul was asked if someone should be allowed to die simply because they couldn't afford health insurance members of the audience shouted their support for letting the poor die.

So the "party of life" seems to be made up of individuals who are big fans of killing and death and while they don't want to sacrifice anything themselves by doing something crazy like paying their fair share of taxes at least they support the military, right? Well maybe not. Last night's debate questions came from average, everyday, people who posted their questions on youtube. One of the questions came from a member of our military who is currently stationed in Iraq. Did the crowd cheer this man on to show their support for a member of the US military? No, they booed him because he is gay.

This man risks his life to serve our country, has been forced by his government to lie about who he is until the last few days, gets booed for being gay, and when he asks if the Republican candidates will try and remove some of the gains that gay and lesbian members have made in the military Rick Santorum (google his last name) says that the man should be forced back into the closet and the crowd erupted in cheers.

Members of the Republican party have said that they want to take our country back, take it back? Take it back to what? Jim Crow laws? The Dust Bowl era? The Salem Witch Trials? Or do they want to take us all the way back to the Roman gladiatorial spectacles? It seems like they are turning into, not a "party of life", but a party of death and bigotry and hate. I know they are strong words, but they seem pretty weak when you compare them to cheering for a poor person to be left to die.