Politico reporter suspended after racial comment on Romney Top Politico reporter Joe Williams was suspended after suggesting on MSNBC Thursday that Mitt Romney only feels "relaxed" in the company of other white people. Politico reported the suspension shortly after midnight Friday. It comes after Williams, White House correspondent for the prominent political news site and newspaper, 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."