Debate audiences

I have loathed them lately. Steve Kornaki evaluates the problem:

It could be that this won't end up mattering in the end. If the economy is rotten enough, swing voters might end up voting straight ticket Republican next year no matter how extreme the GOP seems to them. But when members of a Republican crowd at a nationally televised Republican event start booing members of the military, it's safe to say the GOP is playing with fire.

They seem to constantly and consistently threaten the integrity of public political discourse in the United States. Perhaps even more damaging, though, is that they appear to provide the GOP with something of an image problem: as candidates are constantly associated with the patrons and audience members of their events, it's not an entirely positive image when – for example – an audience boos a gay soldier, or cheers at the death of an uninsured man, or – perhaps worst of all – applauds an unmatched execution record. These are not the practices of a well-mannered debate audience.

I suppose I find these moments troubling not because they occur, but because they are simply ignored by those with power, those with a microphone at their disposal. The candidates and moderators have the authority to press for sound and respectful discussion, but for whatever reason they neglect to enforce reasonable conduct among the audiences. Audiences which have undoubtedly become accustomed to frequenting such events, where it seems they can get away with almost anything – cheering death, or otherwise. I don't contest the notion that it's merely a minority; I just suggest that said minority ought to be silenced, and soon.