Romney surrogate Sununu calls 'lazy' Obama performance 'the mess the president left on the floor'

Former governor and George H.W. Bush appointee John Sununu (R-NH), currently serving as a surrogate for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, appeared on "Andrea Mitchell Reports" to blast Presdent Obama's Wednesday night debate performance. In the process of doing so, however, he used what many liberal and African-American commentators called a racial dog-whistle by referring to the president as "lazy" -- and promptly compared his debate performance to a dog's house-training accident.

Sununu said, "Andrea, what people saw last night, I think, was a president that revealed his incompetence, how lazy and detached he is, and how he has absolutely no idea how serious the economic problems of the country are, and how he has failed to even address them. And I think even the liberal press reacted with shock at this revelation and I find it fascinating, now this morning after they've slept, to watch 'em all scrambling around to clean up the mess the president left on the floor last night."

Mitchell, who clearly saw the implications of his statement, offered him an out. "Governor," she said, "I want to give you a chance to maybe take it back. Did you really mean to call Barack Obama, the President of the United States, 'lazy'?"

Sununu was having none of it. "Yes," he replied, "I think you saw him admit it the night before when he delivered the pizzas. He said, you know, 'They're making me do this work.' He didn't want to prepare for this debate. He's lazy and disengaged."

Watch the video, which first aired on MSNBC and was clipped by Talking Points Memo, below: