Long-time Hillary Clinton supporter former Rep. Jane Harman (D., Calif.) tore apart Clinton’s claim that the U.S. needs to "respect" and "empathize with" its enemies.
Harman said she did not know what Clinton meant by "enemies" in her controversial statement.
"I take issue with the word ‘enemies,’" Harman told Fox’s Chris Wallace on Sunday. "I think we have to respect people with different points of view in order to win the argument with them. I don't exactly know what she was saying."
Harman, who has thrown her support behind a 2016 Clinton candidacy, said the U.S. does not have to "respect" terrorists ever.
"I don't think we have to respect members of terror groups ever," Harman said. "I think we have to have harsh policies against them."
Washington Post columnist George Will said Clinton’s "gaseous new-age rhetoric about respect and empathy" was a poor attempt at explaining that the U.S. needs to understand its enemies in order to defeat them.
"Let me try to say this as politely as possible: The English language is not Hillary Clinton's close friend. She's just not a fluent speaker," Will said. "We're going to have a lot of experience with this, we've had it already, we'll have a lot more going forward."
Former Fox News host Brit Hume said Clinton’s ‘inane’ comments were reminiscent of her claim that corporations and businesses do not create jobs ahead of the 2014 midterm elections.
"She meant to say something noncontroversial and ended up saying something highly controversial just like she did a few weeks ago when she said, ‘Don't let anybody tell you that businesses and corporations create jobs.’ And, you know, they had to rush the fire brigade out there to try to put out the storm that was created by that inane comment," Hume said.
"You think she'd be sharper than this as a candidate, but so far she's not."