The article at the Washington Examiner quotes the outrage at MSNBC:

“As an African American woman it galls me. I don’t even like to watch it. I felt like it plays into every sort of patronizing stereotype of black people,” MSNBC contributor Joy-Ann Reid said. “‘Oh, here is this little lady let me give her 50 bucks’. . . I think it plays into that conservative meme, that you don’t need actual programs that the government puts in place to help people in need, we’ll just give them charity, I’ll just give him 50 bucks.”

“There are alot of very convenient elements to this story, as you said Joy, it really makes me cringe. We have this black woman who suddenly almost becomes this mascot for the campaign,” said MSNBC contributor Janell Ross. “She is sort of affirming all sorts of Conservative ideas about who is poor and how certain people deal with their poverty and seek out the assistance of a wealthy white man to hand you some form of aid.”

Good grief. I am sure that anyone of us, if we actually had $50 to spare, would have done the same thing. I have a footnote to add to the story, A friend of mine has a family member who worked on one of Mitt Romney’s campaigns in Massachusetts. The family member was a very young man (first year in college maybe), and it was one of Romney’s early campaigns (possibly for Governor). The young man dressed like a college student–jeans, t-shirts, etc. There was a public event coming up in a rather formal location, and Mitt Romney noticed how the young man was dressed. Without a second thought, he handed the young man his sports coat so that he would be dressed appropriately.

Giving a person in need $50 is in character for Mitt Romney. To try to make that act of generosity a racial issue is just wrong. I know that MSNBC will not apologize for their knee-jerk conclusion that this was racist, but anyone who watches MSNBC should make a mental note that their coverage is not always fair.