MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell slammed President Barack Obama for mentioning the Crusades at the National Prayer Breakfast on Sunday’s edition of “Meet The Press.”
After New York Times columnist David Brooks heaped a good deal of praise on the speech, Mitchell condemned the President’s remarks.
“You don’t use the word ‘crusade,’ number one, in any context right now,” the host of “Andrew Mitchell Reports” said. “It’s too fraught.”
“And the week after a pilot is burned alive in a video shown, you don’t lean over backwards to be philosophical about the sins of the fathers,” she added.
Obama has drawn outrage, mostly from conservatives, for referencing Christianity’s history of religious violence while discussing the Islamic State terror group at the prayer breakfast.
“You have to deal with the issue at hand or don’t deal with it at all, talk about faith,” Mitchell said.
Other panelists were less critical. Stephen Henderson of the Detroit Free Press praised Obama’s allusion to American Christians defending the institution of slavery.
“Our political culture does not allow for much nuanced debate,” journalist Katty Kay added.
Mitchell remained unimpressed.
“But he’s the President,” she said. “You can’t really go back to 1095.”
“If you’re giving a major speech about theology, perhaps. But this is the prayer breakfast,” Mitchell added.
Watch the clip, via Mediaite:
