It’s hard to determine whether some liberals are tone deaf or just downright mean. MSNBC hostess Joy-Ann Reid almost certainly falls into the latter category.

Reid was on with NAACP board member Rev. William J. Barber II when the conversation turned to Rep. Steve Scalise, who was lying in a hospital bed in critical condition at the time.

The host and her guest accused Scalise of “extremism” because he wants marriage to be between a man and a woman, he voted for the House health care bill, and he co-sponsored a bill to repeal the ban on semi-automatic weapons.

No, really.

https://youtu.be/LBYph9fFETc

If you want to describe “extremism” as advocating the fringe position on issues, you’re out of luck with Scalise. His position on each of those issues above enjoys the support of large pluralities of Americans. Support for traditional marriage hovers between 35-40% — by any definition, a mainstream position. And only 36% of Americans support a ban on “assault rifles.”

But Reid wasn’t finished. After attacking Scalise while he fought for his life in a hospital, she then blamed Republicans for “divisive rhetoric.”

The Daily Caller:

MSNBC host Joy Ann Reid had the gall to blame Republicans for divisive rhetoric just a day after she took cheap shots at shooting victim Rep. Steve Scalise. On her show Saturday, Reid alleged that Scalise, who has undergone multiple surgeries after being shot at the GOP baseball practice, may be a racist and a homophobe. “Because he is in jeopardy and everybody is pulling for him, are we required in a moral sense to put that aside in the moment?” Reid asked. Reid started the 11 a.m. EDT hour of “AM Joy” Sunday by accusing Republicans of being hypocrites when they called for “toned down rhetoric” after the GOP shooting. “The GOP’s leader is a president who, just a day after the shooting, was back to attacking Democrats on Twitter,” Reid said. “It didn’t take long for the very real political divisions to reappear.” Reid also seemed to allege during a discussion with Republican strategist Evan Siegfried that the left is justified in calling the GOP “insensitive,” “evil,” and “the Taliban” because they want to cut federal spending. Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow at Media Matters, continued the attack on the right wing, arguing, “Nobody from Fox is trying to step back the tone, nobody at Fox is saying, ‘hey, let’s be responsible.’” “If these Republicans are so upset about tone, where were they when a reporter was body slammed?” Boehlert asked. Siegfried clearly became fed up with the constant trashing from Reid and her guests. “They were putting out statements saying it was wrong!” he corrected, pointing out that multiple members of the GOP condemned Gianforte’s body slam. “What planet are you on?”

Boehlert’s crack about a lack of GOP reaction to Montana GOP House candidate Greg Gianforte attacking Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs is typical in this game of political tag. He tells an outright lie about the Republican denunciation of Gianforte and expects to get away with it. Siegfried made sure he didn’t.

Reid’s shameful behavior of criticizing someone when he can’t get to a microphone to respond immediately is nothing less than bullying. But her shocking conclusions about what constitutes “extremism” are very telling and show us why Democrats will continue to lose elections.