MSNBC panel trashes 'phony' Lindsey Graham for attacking Kavanaugh accuser while expressing sympathy for her

An MSNBC panel jumped all over Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Sunday morning after his passive-aggressive performance on Fox News where he both expressed sympathy for Dr. Christine Ford -- the woman who has accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her -- while still dismissing her.

"I am going to look at this from a prism of being reasonable and fair to Judge Brett Kavanaugh," Graham said. "Everything I know about Judge Brett Kavanaugh goes against this allegation. I want to listen to Dr. Ford. I feel sorry for her. but I think she's being used here."

Asked to respond by AM Joy host Joy Reid, columnist E.J. Dionne unloaded on the Republican senator.

"Those clips you showed were very revealing," Dionne said. "Whatever happened to the occasionally independent-minded Lindsey Graham? That was the phoniest sympathy by him, trying to deny her agency, saying she is just a pawn of the Democrats."

"No," he exclaimed. "She is someone who voluntarily came forward knowing the kind of grief -- and I'm being gentle about it -- she would take for doing so."

According to Neera Tanden, the head of the Center for American Progress, Graham made his comments on Fox News where he feels safe.

"I just want to say, a really critical point here is that Lindsey Graham is happy to go on Fox News, but he's unwilling to ask questions directly of Dr. Blasey Ford," in reference to Graham's desire to have a GOP-appointed woman interrogate Ford.

"I'm sorry, that is cowardice through and through," Tanden charged. "He has a job. His job is to ask questions and he should not be hiding behind a woman's skirts."

You can watch the video below via MSNBC: