Undoubtedly you will recognize the name Mitt Romney, but you might not be familiar with the name Melissa Harris-Perry. Let’s take a look at her.

Harris-Perry is a talk show host on MSNBC. That alone should automatically trigger your mind to Harris-Perry’s ugly genre, but the details of the event that recently gave her notoriety are even uglier.

Mitt Romney, inarguably a wonderfully decent man wholly devoted to his family, posed for a Christmas-card picture with his lovely wife Ann and 22 grandchildren. It was a sea of pink and blue and love. A beautiful thing.

But not so for the likes of Melissa Harris-Perry and her host of “comedians,” Pia Glenn and Dean Obeidallah, who had no problem weighing in on the subject. You see, in the photo, on Romney’s right knee was infant Kieran Romney, a recently adopted grandchild. Oh, did I mention Kieran is black? Harris-Perry, Glenn and Obeidallah certainly did. In fact they found it so funny, they devoted an entire segment to the ridicule.

To put all of this in clearer perspective, here’s more of the Harris-Perry bio.

Melissa Harris-Perry, aka Melissa Victoria Harris-Lacewell, is credited as Ivy-league educated, a professor of political science and an author, all with heavy focus on African American politics and life including being “the founding director of the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South.” She studied theology and even has an honorary theological doctorate. Oh, did I mention Harris-Perry is black? Actually, that chosen claim of hers is only partly correct. Her dad is black but her mother is white. Clearly Harris-Perry rejects the latter.

Understanding all of that, provocateur Harris-Perry summoned and enjoyed the comments of cohort comedians who referenced the Sesame Street song, saying, “One of These Things Is Not Like the Others,” and (the photo) “really sums up the diversity of the Republican Party.” Harris-Perry herself offered that maybe Kieran could marry Kanye West and Kim Kardashian’s illegitimate child, pointing out Kanye West and Mitt Romney as in-laws.

Decent Americans were and are offended and do not see the humor.

Days later, Harris-Perry dutifully went before the cameras and spoke words of apology. She even managed to elicit some voice-cracking, possibly near-tears emphasis. Her bio didn’t tell us of her actress abilities. Farce. Not only did she intentionally design and maliciously craft this topic as her show’s theme, but it also took a number of days of backlash to drive her to her “apology.” Certainly it’s reasonable to conclude that forces like pro-adoption folks rattled her cage, because conservatives wouldn’t have moved her one iota.

Romney was asked about the subject on Chris Wallace’s show the following Sunday. The quintessentially gracious Romney said he accepted the apology and thought it was “heartfelt”; that MSNBC made a “big mistake” and basically everyone should move on.

Its all a matter of opinion whether the high road was the path to take. Some will see Romney’s kind approach as that of a faithful, good man living a great life of love and charity while leaving the trash in the street. Others, like me, are livid that the Harris-Perrys have advantages many do not to affect the world in positive ways but are allowed the big stage to foist their horrid cruelties onto good human beings without penalty – and moreover with a paying job to do it.

There were comments that the adoption was for political reasons. Note to Melissa Harris-Perry: 1) Mitt Romney did not adopt Kieran; one of his sons did; 2) Mitt Romney is not running for any office, nor is his adoptive son; 3) the family has the resources to get any baby, and it chose Kieran.

Further to Harris-Perry: How many children have you adopted? Would you adopt a child of any skin color? And what would the theme of your show have been if you found out the Romney family had the option of adopting Kieran but did not and chose a white child instead?

Melissa Harris-Perry, wipe off those phony tears and look in the mirror. The Romneys are not the racists.

Betty Arenson has lived in the SCV since 1968 and describes herself as a conservative who’s concerned about progressives’ politics and their impacts on the country, her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She says she is unashamed to own a gun or a Bible, couldn’t care less about the color of the president’s skin, and demands that he uphold his oath to protect and follow the Constitution of the United States in its entirety. Her commentary publishes Fridays.