MSNBC Contributor Karen Finney landed herself in a bit of hot water on Tuesday when, during a conversation about the future of the Republican Party, Karen Finneyshe pointed to “those crazy crackers on the right” and their use of ”hateful language” as being the reason why conservatives can’t evolve on issues such as immigration.

Finney pointed out that the last time the Republican Party took on immigration reform, it ended up alienating more Hispanic voters than it brought in.

“We had evangelical Latinos wanting to meet with Howard Dean at the DNC,” said Finney, who worked at the Democratic National Committee. Finney was noting the shift which drove Latinos into the Democratic Party.

“We saw in droves the Latino community moving over to the Democratic Party largely because of the tone,” Finney continued. “Even Republicans in the Republican Party who were Latino just disgusted with the tone.”

“Those crazy crackers on the right, if they start with their very hateful language, that is going to kill them in the same way that they learned, at their little retreat, let’s not talk about r*pe,” Finney concluded.

Finney apologized for her comments on Twitter, saying “crackers” was meant to refer to “crack pots”, and that she never intended the comments as racial. But many of Twitter held her to account, noting that the term “cracker” has always been used as a racist term, and can’t be construed any other way.