An intense segment on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” had some viewers up in arms on Thursday afternoon when panelist Marie Harf, a Democrat (shown above, second from right), defended New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s (D) unpatriotic remark delivered Wednesday at an event in New York City.

The segment kicked off with a video clip of Cuomo’s controversial comments — America “was never that great.”

Close

President Donald Trump and many others have since roundly rebuked those comments.

Cuomo later tried to backtrack with a press release in which his spokesperson, Dani Lever, said in part, “The governor believes America is great.”

Too little, too late. The damage was done.

Many Americans reacted, understandably, with disgust at Cuomo’s anti-patriotic rhetoric, as did most of the panel on “Outnumbered,” especially host Harris Faulkner (above, far left).

But not panelist Marie Harf, who claimed on the show to endorse the idea of American exceptionalism along with her fellow Democrats.

In direct contradiction to the man’s actual words, Harf opined, “I don’t think that Andrew Cuomo doesn’t believe this country’s great. I think that he was trying to turn the president’s slogan around on him and flubbed it.”

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

What?

Related: Cuomo Stuns Crowd with ‘America Was Never That Great’ Comment

Moments earlier, Faulkner, who first noted that commenting in this manner is out of the norm for her, shared a tweet she had posted in which she called on Cuomo to apologize to the military for his disgraceful, disrespectful remarks.

Harf and fellow panelist Katie Pavlich (far right) then got into it after Pavlich remarked that she would find Harf’s defense more believable if Democrats “didn’t have a record over recent years of being unpatriotic.”

Pavlich cited multiple examples of unpatriotic behavior on the part of Democrats, including Hillary Clinton’s recent praise for a child who refused to stand for the national anthem — and the DNC’s support of groups like Occupy Wall Street that have burned the America flag.

When Pavlich asked her if she thought standing for the national anthem was a patriotic act, Harf balked, offering this head-scratcher of a reply: “I think that the highest form of patriotism is protest.”

Oh, so not serving in the military. Not standing for the flag. Not defending America in the public square. But “protest.”

Former White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who also appeared on the show, responded to Cuomo’s remark at the top of the segment, saying, “That is the deplorable comment of this cycle … The idea that he says America is not great undermines so much of the American spirit, the American military … We are a great country. We’re the envy of the world. ”

Later, he astutely observed, “The thing I find fascinating about the coverage of [Cuomo’s remarks] is … if President Trump or any Republican had made a similar statement like that, there would be calls for him to resign.”

Watch this video of the exchange:

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.