CNBC Anchor: ‘I Wasn’t Praising The Dems’ When I Went Off On GOP (VIDEO)

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The CNBC anchor who went off on the Republican Party Tuesday morning says he was not praising Democrats with his speech.

“Can we stop saying ‘the’ Republican Party?” anchor Brian Sullivan said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “As somebody who grew up in a conservative household, I don’t recognize the Republican Party of even my youth. I don’t like what I see. I don’t like the far right, I don’t like the extremism.”

Sullivan revisited his “Morning Joe” bit Tuesday afternoon on his CNBC program, “Street Signs.” He said that he wasn’t commenting on the GOP’s handling of the Benghazi attacks, as some of the other MSNBC panelists were, but instead was making a point about the direction of the party.

“When I look at all of the different social issues, I would be willing as a voter to sacrifice a bad economic policy — or one maybe I didn’t agree with — if it was better than some big social agenda I cannot get on board with,” Sullivan said. “And I know a lot of people that have been faced with the same decision. That’s the point I was trying to make.”

Longtime CNBC host Larry Kudlow chimed in and said that in recent years the Democratic Party has silenced people who stand against the party’s social messaging, including those who oppose abortion.

“I wasn’t praising that side, Larry, I wasn’t praising the Dems,” Sullivan said, adding that American politics looks extremely polarized to outsiders.

Watch below:

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