Last night's "Real Time with Bill Maher" got combative when New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, chose carefully to say "violent extremism" rather than "Islamic extremism."
Maher, a documented opponent of political correctness on the issue, took issue with the phrasing, saying, "I think the Democrats risk losing this election if they cannot put together the words 'Islamic extremism' as opposed to 'violent extremism."
"Please just tell me that you recognize that it is a distinct threat much greater than any other violent extremist threat," Maher pleaded. "You don't really think it's on the same order as the KKK. Are you really worried about the KKK?"
"If the Democrats lose because of how they talk about this extremism, then they've got more problems," Booker responded.
"I'm not trying to create a false equivalency here, but since 9/11, we've lost 48 Americans," Booker continued, citing the Boston bombings and Colorado Planned Parenthood attack, the latter committed by a Christian extremist.
Maher countered that "Christians are not trying to get a dirty bomb. That is a false equivalency."
Watch the testy exchange below:
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