OK, I’m about to get on the road from flash-flooded Philly to Washington for a TAC editorial meeting, but before I go, something to ponder.

I was trying to come up with the liberal version of the Reagan Library audience cheering for Texas’s robust record of executing condemned prisoners. What if we had watched last night a face-off at the Clinton Library, with Democratic presidential contenders? What would be the equivalent moment on the Left?

If Brian Williams had been trying to make a point about a controversial welfare policy, and asked a Democratic governor to explain and defend his state adding an extraordinary number of single mothers to the welfare rolls, and the audience whooped and hollered their approval at this, how do you think that would have come off to those who aren’t partisan Democrats? I think they would find something sickening about it. Even if adding those moms to the welfare rolls was justifiable from both a moral and a policy standpoint, it is not something to cheer, because it reflects a regrettable accommodation to human frailty.

Now, if you are a Republican who thought cheering for capital punishment was appropriate last night, think about how you would view this liberal scenario I’ve come up with. That’s how that probably looked to people outside your bubble.

Anybody have a better left-wing analogy? Post it here. Unfortunately for you, I have to personally approve all comments before they go up, so the fact that I’m going to be on the road for the next three hours or so means no fresh comments till this afternoon. Sorry. Go ahead and post, but don’t think I’m ignoring you.

UPDATE: Or … not. Flash flooding has closed the PA Turnpike and parts of I-76. There’s no way for me to get out of Philly and to Washington, at least not this morning.

UPDATE.2: Oh, of course! In the comboxes, Cfountain72 has offered the perfect analogy from the Left: if a liberal audience had cheered at the mention of abortion rates going way up in a candidate’s state. Even if one supported abortion rights, there would be something chilling and disgusting over an audience actually applauding the ending of unborn life.