Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in a Fox News appearance has accepted the apology of MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry for comments she and her panel guests made about his African-American grandson.
Perry’s comments had set off a firestorm of criticism and she apologized several times, culminating in a tearful on-the-air apology yesterday. Romney today said he accepted her “heartfelt apology” and that the MSNBCers made a mistake, noted that those in the political arena fully expect criticism — but children are “beyond the line.”
“I think people recognize, and the folks at MSNBC who have apologized recognize, people like me are fair targets: If you get in the political game, you can expect incoming,” he said. “For children, that’s beyond the line. I think they understand that and feel that as well. I think it’s a heartfelt apology, and I think for that reason we hold no ill will whatsoever.”
Last week, Harris-Perry and several panelists poked fun at the grandson, with one, actress Pia Glenn, singing, “one of these things is not like the other.” The incident sparked outrage online, and Harris-Perry apologized both on Twitter and in a Saturday segment.
“We love this little guy a great deal. He was an answer to prayers. We love that he’s part of our family,” Romney said Sunday. “I recognize people make mistakes. The folks at MSNBC made a big mistake. They apologized for it. That’s all we can ask for. I’m going to move on from that. I’m sure they want to move on from that.”
Here’s the segment:
As usual, this incident has been most notable for several reasons. It again illustrates how people on ideological cable shows can undermine their own brand once they’re on the tube for a while when they surrender their own previous standards in talking about politics as they slip into America’s current political culture — a culture where the bar on respect for those belonging to different parties is lowered seemingly by the week. It’s also notable that even after Perry’s apology yesterday there were still some partisan Internet writers on the attack against her, even suggesting her tears were staged.
The tipoff that Camp Romney was not going to play that 24/7 attack-mode game and that they accepted the sincerity of her comment as a mistake (even though some Democrats were still defending her even as she apologized) came yesterday:
Shortly after MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry offered an emotional apology Saturday for a segment about Mitt Romney’s adopted black grandson, a top adviser to the 2012 GOP presidential nominee reacted with a tone of understanding.
“I believe positive can come from these things,” Stuart Steven wrote on Twitter, adding “we all make mistakes.”
“Here’s to many wonderful adoptions in 2014.”
Steven’s comments and Romney’s are notable in lacking that angry, snarky, no-matter-what-you-say-we-know-you-didn’t-mean it tone of some partisans.
Now the questions become 1)will the incident be laid to rest? and 2)Will Harris-Perry and other MSNBCers take not and perhaps rethink the notion that MSNBC has to be the anti-Fox News? The most perceptive comment on this controversy came from former MSNBC host Keith Olbermann as the firestorm over the comments spread and he Tweeted a question about his old employer:
“Any adults in charge over there?” Olbermann tweeted.
When one of his Twitter followers argued that the “GOP only likes freedom of speech when it applies to them,” Olbermann, who became a hero to liberals and an enemy to conservatives during his time at MSNBC, stood by his criticism.
“Not the point. You can have your standards, or their standards,” he responded.
It’s clear Romney and his adviser used a higher standard in reacting to Harris-Perry than some partisans in their party or the Democrats who were still defending her as she apologized. Will MSNBC ponder taking a step back from the tone of America’s political culture as well and not emulate but innovate?
Here’s Perry’s apology yesterday:
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.