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**Written by Doug Powers

MSNBC has been leaning forward head over heels to apologize to Mitt Romney over this Thomas Roberts item:

What was that all about? Roberts was quoting a blog that took a phrase Romney has used and found out that the KKK used something similar in the 1920′s. There hasn’t been a more incriminating link established since somebody noticed that Sarah Palin and Nathan Bedford Forrest are both right handed.

Anyway, today, Roberts apologized:

The Roberts apology was preceded yesterday by Chris Matthews:

Matthews yesterday: “It was irresponsible and incendiary of us to do this, and it showed an appalling lack of judgment. We apologize, we really do, to the Romney campaign.”

Roberts today: “It was irresponsible and incendiary of us to do this and showed an appalling lack of judgment. We apologize to the Romney campaign.”

The latter is dangerously close to adding apology copycatting to the list of things for which he needs to ask forgiveness.

And even Al Sharpton even got in on the apology (“you know it’s bad when…”):

Sharpton also later apologized for accusing Romney of eating all the blueberry pie.

Maybe MSNBC has changed how they operate, because “irresponsible, incendiary and an apalling lack of judgment” didn’t used to be things some of their hosts apologized for — they were job requirements. What gives?
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Update: A reader emails to say that Nathan Bedford Forrest was actually left-handed. That’s based on a book about him. I assumed he was right-handed because of a painting and a photo that showed him carrying a firearm on his right hip. Now that I think about it though, if Forrest was actually left-handed, the slight inaccuracy makes the analogy even more appropriate so I’ll leave well-enough alone.

**Written by Doug Powers

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