Howard Kurtz Scolds Andrea Mitchell for Expressing 'No Regret' for 'Deceptively Edited' Romney Video

Noel Sheppard
June 24th, 2012 3:54 PM
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As NewsBusters reported Monday, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell, on the MSNBC program bearing her name, aired a video of presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney selectively edited in a fashion designed to make him look like an out of touch imbecile.

On CNN's Reliable Sources Sunday, host Howard Kurtz scolded Mitchell for expressing "no regret" for airing the clip (video follows with transcript and commentary):

HOWARD KURTZ, HOST: Ever since George Bush, Sr. seemed surprised by a supermarket scanner, the media had been on the lookout for out-of-touch candidates. MSNBC appeared to catch Mitt Romney in such a moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Take a look at this. Mitt Romney has not been in too many Wawas along the roadside of Pennsylvania.

MITT ROMNEY, REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I was at Wawas. I went to order a sandwich. You press a little touchtone keypad or ID to touch that. And you know, the sandwich just - you touch this, touch this, touch this. You pay the cash. There's your sandwich. It's amazing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: But as first pointed out by a blogger named Sooper Mexican, here is the problem. That clip was deceptively edited. Romney had started out talking about a doctor being entangled in government paperwork. And here is how the supermarket anecdote actually ended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: There's your sandwich. It's amazing. People in the private sector learned how to compete. It's time to bring some competition to the Federal Government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KURTZ: So Romney wasn't amazed by the touch screen, but by the contrast between a supermarket chain and the government. That kind of editing is enough to give you indigestion.

Now, Andrea Mitchell played the full sound bite the next day, but expressed no regret for the earlier editing.

NewsBusters publisher and Media Research Center President Brent Bozell was stronger in his condemnation of Mitchell's lack of apology writing Tuesday, "This is another outrageous example of how NBC will do anything to help Obama in 2012, no matter how unethical, irresponsible, and dishonest it is."

Indeed.