Does chaos of Iowa caucuses tarnish Democratic Party brand?
Iowa Democratic Party chairman apologizes, calls failure to deliver results from caucuses unacceptable; reaction and analysis on 'The Five.'
"The Five" hosts responded to Monday night's Iowa caucuses fiasco minutes after partial returns showed former South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg holding a narrow lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.
"This was the Democrats' first day of school and they showed up in their underwear," co-host Greg Gutfeld said of the unprecedented delay.
"Then they proceeded to throw up on everybody. I think ... they've got a hole they've got to dig themselves out of."
The Iowa Democratic Party released the results for 62 percent of the state's precincts late Tuesday afternoon following a massive delay linked to technical breakdowns that sent shockwaves throughout the political world.
The incomplete returns show Buttigieg with 26.9 percent of State Delegate Equivalents, while Sanders had 25.1 percent. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., was in third place with 18.3 percent and former Vice President Joe Biden was hovering in fourth with 15.6 percent, just ahead of Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar (12.6 percent).
Party Chairman Troy Price offered a public mea culpa for the technical meltdown while defending the accuracy of the data in hand after the delay raised questions about the legitimacy of the contest.
"I actually can't believe I'm going to say this, I've never said it before...but I feel sorry for Democrats," Jesse Watters said of the debacle.
CAMPAIGNS LASH OUT AT 'CRAZY' IOWA DEMS, AFTER 'INCONSISTENCIES' CAUSE MASSIVE DELAY IN VOTE TOTALS
"I feel sorry for the voters in Iowa because elections are supposed to be fun. It's supposed to be a great night and they got robbed."
Watters doubled down in his criticism of party leaders, who he believes have an extra responsibility to appear "competent."
"Democrats, above everything else, they have to be competent and they have to be more competitive because their entire agenda is, 'Put us in charge,'" he explained.
"'Let us control your health care, your food, your energy, your car, your lifestyle because we know how to do it better than you.' And when something like this happens and they face plant, that destroys their entire brand," Watters continued.
Juan Williams called Monday's spectacle an "unmitigated disaster for all the good people of Iowa who came to the gym or the firehouse or the schoolhouse to caucus last night."
Williams added that while the caucus is "a wonderful exercise in American democracy," he recounted conversations with ordinary voters who were "so hurt by what happened."
Gutfeld summarized the night by invoking what he referred to as "Gutfeld's law": "Republicans run things, Democrats ruin things."
"And one difference is the 'I', which for four years stood for 'Impeachment.' They [Democrats] were so consumed by an outside phantom from Moscow, they were unaware that the phone call was coming from inside their own house. They had four years to figure this out and they didn't."
"This is so embarrassing," he added. "It shows Democrats can't run anything."
Fox News' Joseph A. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.
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