MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on Monday denounced as “hellacious” and “inhumane” statements made about the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), saying that a reference to his “ghost” was a low point for the event.
“There is no explaining away some of the inhumane statements that were made at CPAC, some of the inane statements, some of the stupid ― just no other word but stupid,” Scarborough, a former GOP congressman who formally left the party in 2017, said on “Morning Joe.”
{mosads}”There were a lot of low points there for a conference I used to go to every year,” he continued. “The worst of course was the celebration of John McCain’s death and the fact that the announcement of John McCain’s death, the mocking and the attacking of John McCain’s ghost caused the people of CPAC to rise to their feet in a thunderous applause.”
The comments from Scarborough came only days after conservative commentator Michelle Malkin made a reference to McCain’s “ghost” while condemning Republicans for failing to make substantive action on immigration.
“Sanctuary cities have metastasized and both parties are to blame,” Malkin said. “And yes, I’m looking at you, retired [Speaker] Paul Ryan; and yes, I’m looking at you, [Senate Majority Leader] Mitch McConnell; and yes, I’m looking at you, Bush family; and yes, I’m looking at you, the ghost of John McCain,” Malkin said, as she looked and pointed a finger upward.
Her comments sparked a wave of applause from the audience.
McCain, a longtime senator who won the Republican nomination for president in 2008, died last year of brain cancer.
“@michellemalkin You never knew @SenJohnMcCain,” Cindy McCain, the late senator’s wife, tweeted. “You should be so lucky.”
Meghan McCain, McCain’s daughter, described Malkin’s comments as “ghoulish” after conservative commentator Allie Beth Stuckey wrote on Twitter that she was “proud of the conversations” she had at CPAC.
“I care that ‘the ghost’ of my beloved father was used as ghoulish and deeply disturbed political propaganda on CPAC’s stage, but hey maybe that’s just me,” McCain wrote in a tweet.