On “Hardball” this evening, Chris Matthews apologized for a story that ran in an earlier hour on MSNBC. During the 11amET hour, anchor Thomas Roberts read this short item:

So you may not hear Mitt Romney say Keep America American anymore, because it was a rallying cry for the KKK group, and intimidation against blacks, gays and Jews. The Progressive American blog was the first to catch on to that.

Matthews called it “irresponsible and incendiary” to run the story, adding, “it showed an appalling lack of judgment. We apologize. We really do, to the Romney campaign.”