On her 1 p.m. et hour show on MSNBC on Tuesday, host and NBC chief
foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell decried Mitt Romney
labeling President Obama's big-government philosophy "foreign" to
American capitalism: "...he is still using the term 'foreign' and I'm telling you, this is happening every day, it is a dog whistle." [Listen to the audio [1]]
Chief White House correspondent Chuck Todd attempted to talk Mitchell
down: "...to take him [Romney] at face value – it's about trying to
paint the President as out of touch, that he doesn't have the
experience....out of touch about the American economy, that he doesn't
understand how capitalism works." Mitchell refused to accept that
explanation: "Out of touch is out of touch....Foreign is suggesting
somebody who grew up in Indonesia....I'm telling you....words matter."
Todd suggested: "I think people hear what they want to hear on this."
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza agreed and added: "I'm not in Mitt
Romney's head. I can't say why he is using the word 'foreign.'"
However, Cillizza did suggest it may be a pattern of the Romney
campaign: "I would say look, we had last week John Sununu, a prime, a
very prominent surrogate, former New Hampshire governor, of Mitt Romney,
saying he doesn't understand what it's like to be an American. Now,
John Sununu later recanted because I think they understood that was kind
of a bridge too far. But the context of those things-" Mitchell
interjected: "Context matters."
Here is a transcript of the July 24 exchange:
1:05PM ET
(...)
ANDREA MITCHELL: And this is Mitt Romney with CNBC's Larry Kudlow yesterday.
MITT ROMNEY: It's a very strange, and in some respects, foreign to the
American experience type of philosophy. If you have a business and you
started it, you did build it, and you deserve credit for that. It was
not built for you by government.
MITCHELL:
Without getting into the argument as to whether he is taking the
President out of context over the "build it" business, he is still using
the term "foreign" and I'm telling you, this is happening every day, it
is a dog whistle.
CHUCK TODD: No, I've gotten a lot of – a lot of tweets about this, a
lot of e-mails. People saying, "What's he doing? Why does he keep doing
that? Is he dog whistling?"
MITCHELL: Well, what do you think he's doing?
TODD: And it is about – to take him at face value – it's about trying
to paint the President as out of touch, that he doesn't have the
experience, that it's all about...
MITCHELL: Out of touch is out of touch. Foreign is...
TODD: ...out of touch about the American economy, that he doesn't understand how capitalism works.
MITCHELL: Foreign is suggesting somebody who grew up in Indonesia, who's...
TODD: Look, I hear you.
MITCHELL: I'm telling you...
CHRIS CILLIZZA: Here's the problem, Andrea, from my perspective...
TODD: I think people hear what they want to hear on this.
MITCHELL: ...words matter.
CHRIS CILLIZZA: It's what you would like to hear. It is hard for Chuck
and I to say Mitt Romney means 'X.' And I think that's what's hard for
people to get around. I'm not in Mitt Romney's head. I can't say why he
is using the word "foreign." I would say look, we had last week John
Sununu, a prime, a very prominent surrogate, former New Hampshire
governor, of Mitt Romney, saying he doesn't understand what it's like to
be an American. Now, John Sununu later recanted because I think they
understood that was kind of a bridge too far. But the context of those
things-
MITCHELL: Context matters.
CILLIZZA: Yes.
(...)