Posted on May 21, 2012

Andrea Mitchell: Romney Has Been Getting "Free Ride" From The Media

NBC's Andrea Mitchell says the media has given Mitt Romney a "free ride" by not dwelling on how long it took for his former primary rivals to formally endorse him.



Mitchell says the media has always laid off of examining Romney's record and the clash between the elements that make up the Republican party.



"They believe that the Bain Capital record is their best argument against Mitt Romney," NBC's Andrea Mitchell said about the Obama campaign.



"What you pointed out in your opening segment, and the lead in to the Cory Booker interview, was that the media have not really dwelled on how many of these Republicans are not endorsing Mitt Romney in a very, how would you describe the way they've been endorsing Mitt Romney? An elevator closing on -- George W. Bush," Andrew Mitchell said to MSNBC primetime host Rachel Maddow.



"So that has been sort of a … leitmotif, but not a hammer," Mitchell observed. "That's a really mixed metaphor, but you know what I'm trying to say after all of these hours traveling today, that the Republicans have gotten pretty much a free ride on that."



"And Mitt Romney has managed to pull the party together. And I think that's partly because for all of the bitterness of that campaign, and for all of the more conservative Republican[s] and social conservatives who have longstanding, you know, doubts about Mitt Romney and his authenticity, they still, I think dislike Barack Obama more than they dislike Mitt Romney," Mitchell, NBC's chief foreign correspondent, told Maddow.