MSNBC anchor Andrea Mitchell issued an on-air apology Monday following a remark last week in which she referred to an area of southwestern Virginia as “redneck, sort of bordering-on-Appalachia country.” Mitchell last Thursday was discussing a campaign stop by Barack Obama alongside popular former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner — a current U.S. Senate candidate — when she began describing the territory where Obama’s campaign trail led him that day: Bristol, Va.
“Interesting images today: Barack Obama, Mark Warner in southwest Virginia. This is real redneck, sort of bordering-on-Appalachia country. This is not the Northern Virginia, you know, sort of high-tech corridor, and these are voters that he would not logically be, you know, gravitating to. This is the beginning of a pivot,” Mitchell said, speaking on-air last Thursday with NBC political director Chuck Todd.
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The local newspaper, the Bristol Herald Courier, seethed: “To correct Mitchell, Bristol doesn’t border ‘Appalachia … country.’ It is part of the Appalachian Mountain region. While the region faces challenges, it doesn’t deserve to be the butt of jokes.”
On Monday, Mitchell issued an apology.
“I owe and apology to the good people of Bristol, Virginia, for something stupid that I said last week. I was trying to explain based on reporting from Democratic strategists why Barack Obama was campaigning in southwest Virginia. But without attribution or explanation, I used a term strategists often use to demean an entire community,” Mitchell said.