Meet the Press host David Gregory contented the fact a Republican presidential debate audience applauded Texas Governor Rick Perry for allowing the death penalty for murders, and three in an audience of hundreds shouted “yeah” to the idea a man who decided to not buy health insurance may be allowed to die, are “really a challenge to the notion that the Republican Party is the party of life and supports a culture of life.”

After he played a clip of the audience applauding when Brian Williams pressed Perry on how “your state has executed 234 death row inmates, more than any other Governor in modern times,” Gregory declared that “an awkward moment of applause” before demanding of his guest, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell: “Does the audience response in both cases trouble you as a Republican?”

More and analysis of this on the MRC's NewsBusters blog.