Why Is Tom Brokaw Accusing Gingrich of Republican 'Jihad?

Tom Brokaw, the famed journalist who anchored the "NBC Nightly News" from 1982 until his retirement in 2004, made an appearance yesterday on both NBC's "Today" and MSNBC's "Morning Joe." During his analysis of the 2012 campaign, Brokaw likened the ongoing attacks being waged on Mitt Romney by his fellow candidates to "the Republican Party equivalent of a jihad."

Here's the full quote the newscaster gave first on "Today":

"It's the Republican Party equivalent of a jihad....the real danger for the Republicans is that it will deeply divide the party at a time when they want it to be united."

In addition to using the word "jihad," which is denotatively defined to mean, "a holy war undertaken as a sacred duty by Muslims," Brokaw repeatedly referred to Romney as "George Romney."

When he was corrected, he laughed the blip off, calling it a "generational slip." Considering that Romney's father, George, ran for president in 1968, this is certainly a fair explanation. The use of the word "jihad, though?" Well -- you be the judge.

Watch Brokaw make his comment about the purported Republican "holy war," below:

Of course, it didn't end there. Brokaw must have been so captivated by his analogy, that he used it a second time on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."

"You've got what appears to be a Republican equivalent of a jihad underway down in South Carolina with Governor Perry and Speaker Gingrich going hard after Mitt Romney," he said.

Watch Brokaw below (a clearer version of the clip is present here):