I just watched, again, that clip of Rick Perry's answer to Brian Williams's question about the death penalty. In this case, I watched it in the context of Rachel's show, in which she added the side note that since the debate, there has been another Texas execution under Perry's watch, thus bringing the total up to 235.
Listening to his smug declaration in defense of his bloodthirsty groupies (the reason they were cheering was because "Americans understand justice"), it occurred to me that there was a particular irony in seeing that clip on the day that DADT was laid to rest.
It reminded me that the slow march (I believe someone famous used the word "arc"?) of human history does in general face forward. And I realized that just as it would be unthinkable today for this country to elect someone known to be a practicing member of a white supremist group, there will come a day when Americans will wonder how our country could ever have been so barbaric that one of the frontrunners for the office of the Presidency would speak with pride about being responsible for murdering hundreds of human beings, and that his supporters would greet this hubris not with horror, but with whoopin' and hollerin'.
What a day that will be.