Monday's Morning Joe panel went after Hillary Clinton and her comments at Saturday's Democratic debate for trying to defend connections to Wall Street by invoking the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Host Joe Scarborough called Clinton's gaffe "Hillary Clinton at her very worst."
The New York Times Editorial Board hit Clinton's comments by saying that she should have seen the shot from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) coming. The Times reported that Twitter had exploded with tweets wanting to know how campaign donations from big banks had to do with the recovery in New York after the attacks, and it called Clinton's effort to gain empathy from the American people "botched rhetoric."
Bloomberg's Mark Halperin said that Clinton needs to come out and say that she was sorry for what she had said and that she was taken way off-script.
"One of her weaknesses, besides having to defend the current president's record, when she is forced off script her vast experience in national security, her ability to talk fluidly about the world comes undone. And we saw it there," Halperin said.
The Clinton campaign has since doubled down on her comments by saying that Clinton had sought to rebuild a financial industry in lower Manhattan during her time as senator. The campaign also called the attacks unfair.
"This is the problem when candidates stick to their script and their talking points. She had some answer ready about 9/11 for some other question and she is asked about Wall Street and she uses her 9/11 response on that question. It's ridiculous," Nick Confessore said.
Scarborough poked at Clinton's statement by saying that Clinton was beating the terrorists by accepting checks from the big banks.
Former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt called Clinton's actions "craven" and showed an aspect of her character that explains why she is unpopular with the American electorate.