MSNBC Host On Susan Rice Withdrawal: ‘A Woman Of Color Has Been Forced Out’

By Hamed Aleaziz/Think Progress

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell said this afternoon that Susan Rice’s withdrawal as a candidate for Secretary of State will not “help Republicans at all” because members of the party “forced out” a woman of color “before she was nominated.” For months now, Republicans, in an effort spearheaded by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), have relentlessly pursued blocking Rice’s chances for a Secretary of State nomination. Mitchell explained her perspective on MSNBC earlier today:

MITCHELL: I think that this had become sort of an impossible challenge for her to be confirmed, that she realized that, the White House realized it as well. I think they know that they are on good political solid ground, as you were just pointing out. This is not going to help Republicans at all, the fact that a woman and a woman of color has been forced out of a confirmation process even before she was nominated.

Here’s the video:

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Fellow MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski similarly criticized the GOP last month for what “looks like a bunch of old white men running women out of Washington,” as Brzezinski said. “Do the Republicans really think this is going to help their brand?” Scarboroughwondered, referring to the GOP’s campaign against Rice, adding:

“This is the first big fight following an election where Republicans got routed not just among African-Americans but among hispanics, among Asian-Americans. I really wonder do a bunch of old white guys…want to make their first big battle, post election, a battle going up against a younger woman of color?”

Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) said in November that the use of racial “code words” was rampant in the GOP’s attacks on Rice.

MSNBC host shuts down Romney surrogate: ‘I fact checked the apology tour… it didn’t happen’

By David Edwards/Raw Story

Former Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO), an adviser to Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, was forced to modify his talking points on Tuesday after MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell said she had fact checked the claim that President Barack Obama went on an “apology tour” and determined “it just didn’t happen.”

Mitchell pointed out that during an earlier segment, The New York Times‘ Elisabeth Bumiller had documented at least five issues where Romney had changed his position on foreign policy during Monday night’s final presidential debate.

“I think the opposite is true,” Talent argued. “Let’s just be fair for a second. I think the president is modifying his positions to come closer to Gov. Romney’s, and by the way, to come closer to the mainstream of American foreign policy.”

“He goes and does an apology tour,” the former senator continued. “And then last night he denies it was an apology tour.”

“Excuse me, Senator,” Mitchell interrupted. “I have fact checked the so-called ‘apology tour’ and it just didn’t happen.”

“Yeah, he went to four different cities, said America had dictated,” Talent insisted, before pivoting to say that the president had “resisted sanctions against Iran.”

“I’ve been covering the Iran sanctions at the U.N. in the P5-plus-1,” Mitchell noted. “After that initial attempt… to reach out and give Iran a chance to try to have an engagement — after that initial attempt, there was nothing but a move at the United Nations by Secretary [Hillary] Clinton to try to bring all of the allies aboard. The allies were demanding, ‘Make an overture, then we’ll be with you.’ And they ended up with the toughest sanctions ever.”

Watch this video from MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports, broadcast Oct. 23, 2012.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Mocks Sarah Palin By Writing ‘Cheat Sheet’ On Her Hand

By Faiz Shakir

On MSNBC’s Daily Rundown this morning, Andrea Mitchell reported that “one of the most interesting things” from Sarah Palin’s appearance at the Tea Party Convention this past weekend was the notes written on her hand. “Very clearly,” Mitchell observed, “were some cheat sheets.”

Mitchell then mocked Palin by displaying her own hand, which had some handwriting on it. Holding up her hand for the camera, Mitchell joked that she wrote some things down “just in case I didn’t remember” what she wanted to say:

Mitchell’s joke then segued into an interesting conversation about the press corps’ treatment of Palin. Host Chuck Todd — seemingly wary of taking a jab at Palin — attempted to defend her by arguing, “We’ve all done notes.” Mitchell responded by astutely noting Palin’s hypocrisy in attacking Obama for using a Teleprompter. “So she takes all these snarky shots at Barack Obama,” Mitchell said, leaving Todd to complete the sentence, “she undermined it a little bit.”

“If Mitt Romney had notes on his hand, wouldn’t we take it pretty seriously?” Mitchell asked. Todd responded, “She has different rules.” Watch the segment: