Chris Hayes Slips Up, Lists Abortion Among 'Touchstones of Human Evil'

October 27th, 2015 3:13 PM

Chris Hayes made an inadvertent admission about the morality of abortion on his All In program on MSNBC on Monday. Hayes contended that in the case of Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, "It's very hard to get through an interview in which he doesn't compare something either to the Third Reich and Hitler or abortion, right? — the sort of, like, touchstones of human evil." The liberal host later claimed that he "meant slavery, clearly," after someone pointed out the line to him on Twitter. [video below]

Hayes turned to Buzzfeed News's McKay Coppins for his take on Dr. Carson recent rise in the polls, especially in Iowa. The host made his claim about the former neurosurgeon's interviews as he was introducing Coppins:

CHRIS HAYES: Joining me now, McKay Coppins, senior political writer for Buzzfeed News. Carson — so here's what Carson's last few weeks have been: he's out promoting the book. The book's about the Constitution. He's out — it's very hard to get through an interview in which he doesn't compare something either to the Third Reich and Hitler or abortion, right? — the sort of, like, touchstones of human evil. And he's not even campaigning actively. And he's just skyrocketing in Iowa right now.

Former left-wing Mediaite contributor Tommy Christopher brought the line to Hayes's intention in Monday Twitter post. Hayes initially thought he had something else, but when Christopher included the video, he admitted his "mistake":

Christopher then complimented the MSNBC personality for his "evocative" phrase, despite the inclusion of abortion. Hayes replied, "thanks. I apparently spent too much time inside Carson's head today."

Caleb Howe of the TruthRevolt website snarked in reaction to the host's explanation about his verbal slip-up: "Too much time inside Carson's head? Perhaps 'almost enough' time would be more accurate, as he briefly managed to call the destruction of baby human beings as something other than just a 'choice.'"