White House reporter 'done' at Politico after suspension over Romney remarkhttp://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/22/politico-reporter-suspended-after-racial-comment-on-romney/?intcmp=obnetwork








Published June 23, 2012

FoxNews.com





White House reporter Joe Williams reportedly says he's leaving
Politico after being suspended for a racial remark he made about Mitt
Romney.

He tweeted Friday that "I'm done @ politico," according to The Daily Caller. His Twitter page is now locked.



Williams was suspended after suggesting on MSNBC Thursday that Romney
only feels "relaxed" in the company of other white people.

Politico reported the suspension shortly after midnight Friday.



Williams, White House correspondent for the prominent political news
site and newspaper, had injected race into his commentary on the Romney
campaign while on MSNBC.

After saying it's "really interesting" that Romney appears regularly
on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends," Williams said the appearances
point to a "larger problem that he's got to solve" if he wants to win
the presidency.

"When he comes on 'Fox & Friends,' they'll like him. They're
white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company," said
Williams, who is black.

The comments were picked up by conservative blogs.



Politico founders John Harris and Jim VandeHei later sent a memo to
staff, according to Politico, flagging "an unacceptable number of Joe
Williams's public statements on cable and Twitter."

"His comment about Governor Romney earlier today on MSNBC fell short
of our standards for fairness and judgment in an especially unfortunate
way," they wrote.

They reportedly said "Joe has acknowledged that his appearance reflected a poor choice of words."