Todd: ‘Sloppy’ For Me To Say Alison Lundergan Grimes Was ‘Disqualified’

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Ever since he said that Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes had “disqualified herself” in the Kentucky Senate race, NBC’s Chuck Todd has grappled with the fallout.

After his comments were featured in a campaign ad by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R), the “Meet the Press” moderator cringed — even as he stood by his analysis.

The criticism of Todd’s observation, which came after Grimes lamely avoided a question about her support for President Obama, has intensified in recent days, particularly after a poll this week showed the Democrat running neck-and-neck with McConnell.

Todd absorbed more scrutiny for the comment during an interview with Media Matters that was posted on Tuesday and, for the first time, it sounded like he might want a do-over.

And I understand. Like I said, I was shorthanding it, and I — what I — that, to me — I think a lot of voters are going to say that that was a — like, this is ridiculous, and now you’re just trying to pull the wool over my eyes. This is kind of silly. And to voters, that’s a — there’s different — look, voters disqualify candidates for various reasons. I was — you can accuse me of being sloppy, of putting the words in my mouth and I should have put the words in the — in how this will impact, impact voters and impact the race. And, you know, that’s where I was sloppy. I don’t take back the analysis. I mean, I think it’s — I think that — you know, I think it was — I think she had run — she’s been running a poor campaign. I don’t understand how she’s not made this about Mitch McConnell. Like, I’m still — for the life of me, I don’t get how this is not a referendum on him. Right? And you know, that’s — I mean, you know, that’s clearly what the voters wanted to make it. So I — you know, and, you know, so you critique the campaign, but I think this was a — you know, it’s one of those — campaigns have moments.

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