MSNBC Co-Host Touré: Romney Is Taking Part in the 'Ni**erization' of Obama

On Thursday, the panel of MSNBC’s "The Cycle" dissected Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's claim that President Obama should "take [his] campaign of division and anger and hate back to Chicago." Though many would simply write this off as standard campaign rhetoric, co-host Touré argued that Romney was using "deep stereotypes" about black people, calling the comments the "ni**erization" of Obama.

"That really bothered me," he said. "You notice he said anger twice. He’s really trying to use racial coding and access some really deep stereotypes about the angry black man. This is part of the playbook against Obama, the 'otherization,' he’s not like us."

"I know it’s a heavy thing, I don’t say it lightly, but this is 'ni**erization,'"Touré continued, shocking his co-panelists. "You are not one of us, you are like the scary black man who we’ve been trained to fear."

S.E. Cupp was particularly disturbed to hear Touré's accusation. She argued that Vice President Joe Biden's "put y'all back in chains" remarks were much more racially offensive, yet he was calling Romney a "racist" for calling Obama "angry."

“Do you see how dishonest that is?” Cupp asked.

After initially denying that he was calling anyone a racist, Touré clarified his position after Cupp asked, "Certainly you were implying that Mitt Romney and the base will respond to this dog-whistle, racially-charged coding, and hate Obama, the angry black man?"

"Absolutely," he replied.

"That’s so irresponsible," Cupp shot back.

"This is not a revolutionary comment," Touré said. "This is a constituency all-white party that rejects the black vote."

"You have two white guys in Joe Biden and Mitt Romney," Cupp interjected. "Joe Biden made the overtly racial comment and has a history of making bigoted remarks. Mitt Romney was responding to the comment. Yet he is the one responsible for the whole Republican history of racism in politics?"

"That’s not what Touré is saying?" co-host Krystal Ball said, defending Touré. "You’re twisting his words."

"No, he can speak for himself," Cupp said.

"He’s using the playbook Republicans have been using for decades now," Touré added.

Touré's comments are beyond offensive. It should be interesting to see if he faces any type of disciplinary action at MSNBC.

Watch "The Cycle" segment via Mediaite below: