Morning Joe among many others in the media were quick to register their disgust at Mike Pence for praising convicted criminal Joe Arpaio at a rally last night in Tempe. Arpaio is currently running for the open U.S. Senate in Arizona.

Source: The Week

At an event Tuesday afternoon in Tempe, Arizona, hosted by America First Policies, a group led by controversial former Trump administration official Carl Higbie that promotes President Trump's agenda, Vice President Mike Pence had a special shout-out for a "favorite" member of the audience. "A great friend of this president, a tireless champion of strong borders and the rule of law," Pence said, "Sheriff Joe Arpaio, I'm honored to have you here." A federal judge ruled Arpaio in criminal contempt of court last year, after Arpaio had already lost his bid for re-election as Maricopa County sheriff, and she refused to vacate his conviction even after President Trump controversially pardoned him.

A conservative columnist had this take.

Arpaio is a moral stain that America should be desperately trying to make right. This is sick. https://t.co/G5GtslC7Cl https://t.co/sehOTXnFs0 — Bethany S. Mandel (@bethanyshondark) May 2, 2018

Liberal Paul Krugman had a different take.

Why are people surprised that Mike Pence praised Sheriff Joe as a champion of the "rule of law"? For a large segment of the population, "law and order" has always meant "keeping people of color down" -- full stop https://t.co/Fni2YX2NVP — Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) May 2, 2018

One of Politico's writers had this to say.

This is embarrassing for Pence.



Arpaio is reviled in Arizona’s law enforcement community because he did *not* champion the rule of law. https://t.co/Tq4yI0jhE7 — Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) May 1, 2018

Scarborough made his views known last night on twitter.

Mike Pence is “honored” to have Joe Arpaio at his event? And he calls a bigoted criminal who tortured inmates a “strong champion of the rule of law”? Even Arizona Republicans know this man undermines the most basic of American values. https://t.co/RwcQtKk86S — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 2, 2018