… is, apparently, an applause line in Tea Party circles. Witness:

The applause was elicited by Ron Paul, who was asked what should be done to help a 30-year-old uninsured person who is injured, in a coma and in need of intensive care.

Paul: If you believe in welfare-ism and socialism, he expects the government to take care of him.

Wolf Blitzer: But what do you want?

Paul: What he should do is whatever he wants to do and assume responsibility for himself. My advice to him would [be to] have a major medical policy.

Bear in mind that Paul is a physician, and must be aware that he is giving the poor sap this advice while he is in a coma. But to continue:

Blitzer: But he doesn’t have that. And he needs intensive care for six months. Who pays?

Paul: That’s what freedom is about, you take your own risks.

Blitzer: But Congressman, are you saying that society should just let him die?

Audience: Yeah. YEAAAHHH!

Michelle Bachmann: Ha!

Paul: No…

Paul goes on to say that when he practiced medicine before Medicaid came into being in the mid-60s, hospitals never turned anybody away and that at any rate “the churches took care of them.” How churches are supposed to care for someone in a coma goes unexplained.

I think I am going to be sick.