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MSNBC apologizes to Romney campaign for mentioning our post about Romney using old KKK slogan



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"Keep America American."  Here's where Romney said it a few days ago on the campaign trail (and note how Romney, between the lines, calls President Obama a "socialist" in the same quote - but that's okay apparently):

Romney aimed his fire at Obama, and acknowledged the importance of such interactions with voters.

"There are people in this room who are informed and who care about this election, who recognize that this is a defining time for America," he said. "We have on one side a president who wants to transform America into a European-style nation, and you have on other hand someone like myself that wants to turn around America and keep America American with the principals that made us the greatest nation on Earth. And I will do that with your help."
And Romney used the slogan a year ago as well at the CPAC conference.

And it is in fact a former Klan slogan.  Here's what a book about the era had to say (this is from our earlier post):
And here's what MSNBC said this morning:
So you may not hear Mitt Romney say "Keep America American" anymore, because it was a rallying cry for the kkk group, and intimidation against blacks, gays and Jews, and the progressive AMERICAblog was the first to catch on to that.
So what part of that is wrong, and what part of that deserves an effusive apology such as Chris Matthews gaves this evening on MSNBC? And it was one hell of an apology:



Clearly, Mitt Romney went ballistic at MSNBC behind the scenes over this story, which is telling.  But again, what part of the story is wrong?  Is the Romney campaign seriously going to keep using an old KKK slogan?  I somehow doubt it.  But the Romney campaign appears to be digging in, claiming that this is in fact not an old KKK slogan.  Here's the campaign's digital director:


It is appalling.  But nobody "compared" anybody to the KKK.  The story was, is, that Mitt Romney has repeatedly used a slogan that just happens to be a former Ku Klux Klan slogan.  And it is.  So is the Romney campaign claiming the slogan isn't a former Klan slogan?  Are they saying that Romney will continue to use it?  No chance in hell of that. (And that's news.)

And can you imagine what the networks would have done if the Obama campaign were using an old KKK slogan, even inadvertently?  Oh the never ending prime-time debate it would create.  But, as always, when a Republican is on the receiving end of the criticism, it's no big deal, and in fact, you're a bad person for even mentioning it.

More from another book talking about the slogan:

It would have been nice if the traditional media had had such high standards during the Clinton impeachment, the Swift Boat Veterans, the Reverend Wright story...

Feel free to re-read the original blog post for yourself.  It's correct.

PS So is the Romney campaign now going to apologize for suggesting that President Obama is a socialist?  Oh that's right, Obama's a democrat so it's okay.

UPDATE: Al Sharpton, who also works for MSNBC, has now apologized as well.  He called it "half truths and innuendo."  You mean, like Romney's first TV ad that took a horrible quote of John McCain's and told people it was Obama's?  I didn't hear the Romney campaign apologizing for that one.  In fact, they continue to defend the ad to this day.

What exact part of this story is untrue or innuendo?  Romney has used the phrase twice and it is an old slogan of the KKK.  If the story is half truth and innuendo then I suppose Romney will continue to use the slogan on the campaign trail?  That'll be the day.  We stand by our story.


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