Liberal Website Unapologetic for Romney 'Klan' Comparison
The left-leaning website, Americablog, is not apologizing for linking Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s campaign slogan to the KKK.
John Aravosis, an Americablog contributor, posted a statement Thursday afternoon stating: “MSNBC mentioned our post yesterday morning, the Romney campaign went berserk, and then MSNBC began a long series of public apologies, including yet another one this morning. The only problem? They've not made clear what they're apologizing for, since the story was accurate.”
“Hardball” host Chris Matthews apologized on the network’s behalf, calling the report given by Thomas Roberts "irresponsible" and "incendiary." Matthews also said MSNBC displayed an "appalling lack of judgment" with the report.
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The report by Roberts, based on a post from the liberal website Americablog on Tuesday, said that Romney’s “Keep America American” campaign phrase was a rallying cry often used by the Ku Klux Klan.
"So you may not hear Mitt Romney say 'Keep America American' anymore. That's because it was a central theme of the KKK in the 1920s, it was a rallying cry for the group's campaign of violence and intimidation against blacks, gays and Jews. The progressive blog Americablog was the first to catch on to that."
MSNBC host Rev. Al Sharpton said he approved of the public apology because he could not fully prove the slogan’s relation to the KKK slogan.
"But as someone who has been a victim of unproven innuendo and half-truths I agree the report was not proper if you could nail down all the facts. This network did the right thing by apologizing," Sharpton said in a statement.
Other groups and candidates have used the phrase, or some derivative of it, before.
Romney’s campaign has not responded to the website’s statement or MSNBC’s apology.
