On Tuesday, Andrew Mitchell addressed a controversy regarding an edited clip of Mitt Romney on her MSNBC show, which received major criticisms for the way it edited comments made by Romney on Monday. Romney was making a stop in Pennsylvania on Monday and was visiting a local Wawa, which is a convenience store. He was at the deli using one of the touch-screens to order his lunch. Romney said of the screens, “It’s amazing. People in the private sector have learned how to compete.”
The video clip that was aired on Mitchell’s show did not show the comments made by Romney about the innovations in the country’s private sector.
“Maybe this was Mitt Romney’s supermarket scanner moment,” Mitchell said. Mitchell was reflecting back to a trade show during the 1992 presidential campaign when George H.W. Bush was fascinated with a supermarket scanner.
“I get the feeling that Mitt Romney has not been in too many Wawas along the roadside of Pennsylvania,” Mitchell added.
Once the clip was done playing, she added, “It’s amazing. You know when these candidates get out of their comfort zones … you’ve gotta be able to speak the language,” she said. The network received quick criticisms for the segment, claiming that the network edited the video to purposefully make Romney appear to be out of touch with reality. Sources have said that the Romney campaign contacted the network to issue a complaint about how the video was edited.
At the beginning of her show on Tuesday, Mitchell said the following, “There’s been a lot of discussion overnight about a conversation you and I had yesterday. The RNC and the campaign both reached out to us, saying that Romney had more to say on that visit about federal bureaucracy and innovation in the private sector. We didn’t get a chance to play that, so here it is now.”
