Justin Amash’s impassioned victory speech slamming his primary opponent was met with horror by MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday, with one guest calling it “not good for America” and another wondering if he was “raised in a barn.”
The Michigan Republican lawmaker’s speech Tuesday evening made waves for its scorched-earth attack against his opponent’s nasty campaign and the influence of outside lobbyists (RELATED: Justin Amash Destroys Republican Opponent In Vicoty Speech).
But MSNBC host Joe Scarborough and journalist Cokie Roberts were appalled — just appalled!
“Oh my goodness, was that the most ungracious thing you have ever seen in your life?” she asked. “Who’s his mother?”
“Who’s his mother?” Scarborough agreed. “Was he raised in a barn?”
“Even if you hate the guy,” Roberts said, “you get up and say ‘My worthy opponent . . .'”
They mocked the support that Amash’s speech received from young people tired of hackneyed political etiquette.
“We had two millennials here saying, ‘Oh, at least he’s telling the truth,'” Scarborough said. “You don’t do that in politics!”
The Hill’s Elise Viebeck claimed it definitely wouldn’t hurt Amash, who “carved his political career out of playing to a certain base that wants him to be as tough as possible.”
“That may be fine for him,” former Obama economic czar Steve Rattner said. “But it’s not good for America. This is not the way we want our politics to operate.”
“Millennials love America too,” Viebeck shot back, “but we also like people to be honest. And sometimes it’s nice in politics to see someone say what they really think.”
But Grandma Roberts had some more finger-wagging to do. “There’s never an excuse for rudeness,” she lectured. “There’s never an excuse for rudeness.”
“I got that,” Viebeck said. “Fine. I’ve been chastised.”