Melissa Harris-Perry started off her show on MSNBC this morning with an apology to Mitt Romney and his family for targeting his grandson Kieran for ridicule as a proxy for the GOP. Unlike her Twitter apology, with a self-referential hashtag, this apology took place on an equal platform with the insult — and got Harris-Perry emotional when also apologizing explicitly to families with trans-racial adoption:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-tKZ0JtnX0

Showing the photo in that context, that segment, was poor judgment. so without reservation or qualification, I apologize to the Romney family. Adults who enter into public life, implicitly consent to having less privacy, but their families, especially their children, should not be treated callously or thoughtlessly. My intention was not malicious, but I broke the ground rule that families are off-limits. For that I am sorry.

BuzzFeed’s Dorsey Shaw notes that Mitt Romney is scheduled to appear on Fox News Sunday, and suggests that he will respond to Harris-Perry at that time. I’d be surprised, though, if the normally-gracious Romney has anything more to say about it than an acceptance of this apology today. This is the kind of moment most people would do best to rise above, rather than slug it out with their families in the crossfire.

This seems much more genuine and sincere than the Twitter effort from Harris-Perry, and more appropriate. If Romney doesn’t want to keep this alive, I see no particular reason for anyone else to do so. That’s not to say that it should be forgotten entirely, especially in the context of MSNBC’s editorial choices of late, but it’s a good point for everyone to leave this specific incident in the rear-view mirror.