PREP 9

I think Romney had good intentions in acting amazed with the ordering process at Wawa. No, he probably should not have acted as if he'd been living under a rock but I don't think he had intentions of giving off the impression he did. I think MSNBC's handling of the Romney incident was taken in the complete wrong direction. It made it look as though MSNBC's intentions were to put Romney in negative light. In handling MSNBC from Romney's side, I would have advised Romney to respond to MSNBC's comment as if was mis read and not a big deal. I think the fact that this one incident at a gas station was made into some huge ordeal was stupid. I think MSNBC was wrong in attempting to make Romney look as if he was too good to be shopping in a place like Wawa.

If I were Andrea Mitchell I would have handled the incident with a relaxed approach. In reporting the incident, I would have acted as if it were no big deal. I do not think this incident was anything worth reporting. I think it had bad intentions. In the end, the only positive that came out of it was good advertising for Wawa. This story should not have been blown up like it was. There are numerous accounts of celebrities acting as if they've never experienced something as simple as going to grocery shopping. This incident in particular was an ordeal because it dealt with a presidential candidate who did come from a wealthy background.