MSNBC commentators were not pleased that Mitt Romney gave a struggling unemployed woman $50 after she told him about her hardships.
MSNBC's Alex Wagner called it "one of the more uncomfortable moments on the campaign trail," setting off an angry response from the analysts on the panel.
"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 contributer 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."
