Don’t Expect Democrats To Make A Big Deal Out Of Debate’s ‘Let Him Die’ Moment

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL)
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The Republicans may have to answer for the reaction from the crowd at Monday’s CNN/Tea Party Express to the idea of an uninsured man being allowed to die in an American hospital. But it probably won’t be the Democratic party calling on them to respond.

The party will have plenty to use from the debate in future attack ads. But a party official tells TPM one of the most memorable moments from any debate in a while — when members of the audience literally cheered for the idea of letting the uninsured die rather than pay for their care with taxpayer funds — will not be one of them.

“I wouldn’t expect it to come up from us too much,” a Democratic official told TPM. The source said the clip was good for riling up the base and even some independent voters (who the official said “will look at it and say, ‘wow, these guys are out there'”), but like the eerie cheer for Texas’ execution record that marked the first Republican presidential debate featuring Rick Perry, the Democratic party will more than likely stay away from making a big deal out of it at a party level.

There are signs the cheer makes the candidates running for President nervous. NBC News campaign embed Carrie Dann reports Rick Perry quickly distanced himself from the moment Tuesday, saying he was “taken aback” by the cheer.

Democratic-allied groups have certainly seized on the moment. Health care law-defending group Protect Your Care sent out a blistering statement accusing the tea party crowd at the debate of behaving like the members the audience at the Coliseum turning their thumbs down to decide the fate of a gladiator.

“Last night we got a disturbing view into the Tea Party’s extreme right-wing position on health care when members of the audience clapped and cheered the idea of letting someone without health insurance die,” spokesperson Eddie Vale said. “Even worse, none of the Republican candidates on stage expressed a word of disapproval as the Tea Party audience literally clapped for blood. This was a spectacle one would have expected back in the gladiatorial combat of ancient Rome, not at a presidential debate.”

Vale called on the GOP presidential contenders and tea party leadership to “condemn the extreme and un-American value of letting people die” on display at the debate. Vale told TPM the statement is just the beginning, and said his group plans to make a big deal out of the moment in advance of the next GOP debate on Sept. 22 in Orlando, FL.

“We’re plotting more things,” Vale said.

The progressive-leaning Americans United For Change also surfaced the moment, sending out the clip of the cheering under the simple subject line “Disturbing.”

After the debate last night, DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz briefly got in on the act, calling the moment indicative of a Republican party well outside the mainstream.

“The Republicans demonstrated tonight just how out of touch they are, at the end, for more good measure, when Ron Paul was asked whether a 30-year-old without health care coverage should be allowed to die, tea partiers yelled out, ‘yes,'” she told CNN after the debate. “That’s how out of touch this crew is.”

Here’s the video:

But mention of the cheer was absent from Wasserman Schultz’ official statement on the debate, sent to reporters by the DNC after the debate was over. That sounded more like this:

“With Rick Perry and Mitt Romney at the head of the pack, all of the Republican candidates continue to demonstrate their loyalty to the Tea Party’s extreme ideology – one that advocates tax cuts for corporations, special interests and our nation’s wealthiest individuals while asking America’s struggling middle class to pick up the tab.”

The Democratic official told TPM not to expect any more mention of the cheer from the Democratic party from here on out. The official said that because the moment came during a interchange featuring Ron Paul — who is not expected to win the nomination — the party will more than likely stay away.

“I wouldn’t expect to see a lot about it other than from Dem-leaning bloggers,” the official said.

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