MSNBC host Joe Scarborough roasted Hillary Clinton for her "gutter politics" when she compared pro-life Republicans to terrorist organizations on Friday’s Morning Joe.
During a Thursday campaign event, Clinton compared her Republican opponents’ views to those of terrorists, drawing parallels between them on what she called "extreme views" about women. The Democratic Party has made a habit of pushing "Republican war on women" rhetoric since the 2012 campaign.
"Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don't want to live in the modern world—but it's a little hard to take from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States," Clinton said.
Scarborough said he was disgusted with Clinton’s comments.
"It’s gutter politics at its worst to compare people to radical terrorists [who've] cut off people's heads and blow up grandmoms," Scarborough said. "It’s not all right."
Scarborough said Clinton used the comparison to distract people from her email scandal. The saga of her private server has badly hurt Clinton in the polls, and progressive favorite Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) has risen in prominence while Vice President Joe Biden could potentially enter the race and shake things up.
"She wanted to throw a bright shiny object out there," Scarborough said. "So they don't talk about the e-mail scandal and so she has to be so hyperbolic and insulting."
Bloomberg reporter and frequent MSNBC panelist Mark Halperin said the comments should be condemned. "It should be condemned in strong terms," Halperin said. "I’m hoping and I suspect she'll take it back today."
"You know what she was doing during the most disgusting part?" Scarborough said. "She was reading notes. This was planned, and the campaign said she has no plans to apologize and now she's accusing Republicans of twisting her words."