At left is a family photo released by Mitt Romney; at right is MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry.
MSNBC’s mocking of the adopted African-American baby in Governor Romney’s family was outrageous, offensive and over-the-line. An after-the-fact apology from host Melissa Harris-Perry two days later is not enough.
MSNBC network executives need to personally apologize to Governor Romney and his family.
Disciplinary action also must be taken against the offending parties, just as it would if the roles were reversed and a conservative had said something similar on a different network.
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Perhaps most alarming about this entire incident is the fact that the offending segment happened on Sunday afternoon and went unnoticed until a blogger flagged it Monday morning.
An entire day lapsed without a word from MSNBC, and it was only after that, when the firestorm grew and the pressure increased, that they felt the need to say anything, suggesting this kind of behavior is acceptable and even encouraged.
Unfortunately, this is part of a growing pattern of troubling incidents at the network.
During the last month alone, MNSBC has had to get rid of two of its hosts for offensive remarks, and the network is morphing into a place where liberals come to discuss their close-minded views and get reaffirmation from their like-minded peers.
There was not one dissenting voice on Sunday. Not one person spoke up and said that it’s wrong to laugh at a baby.
That’s extremely troubling.
It shouldn't be shocking to anyone that a partisan network like MSNBC is attacking a Republican. But targeting innocent family members, let alone a baby, should be -- and is -- completely off-limits.
Their irreverent and inappropriate joking about the Romney's adopted African-American grandson should not be something the network, and we as Americans, take lightly.
If this had happened at any other network, the mainstream media would be enraged.
We have come a long way in this country and comments like these just take us backwards. Melissa Harris-Perry, the host of the show knows better, the panelists on that show know better and most importantly the executives at MSNBC know better.
Over the last two years, the hosts at MSNBC have looked down at the rest of us with their arrogant “lean forward” infomercials telling us how we should live and act. And when you have a family like the Romneys leaning forward and stepping outside the box to give a child a better life, they're mocked.
Enough is enough. The Romneys deserve more respect than that, and so do the American people. It’s up to MNSBC to make this situation right.
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