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Old 12-10-2005, 01:09 AM  
Elli
Reach for those stars!
 
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Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Vancouver, BC
Posts: 17,991
http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/rooney4.asp

Claim: Commentator Andy Rooney explains his political views.
Status: False.
Examples: [Collected on the Internet, 2003]
Origins: Curmudgeonly 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney may have delivered a vituperative essay on French politics in 2003, but this piece elaborating on his own politics is not his creation. The text quoted above is too reactionary even for the acerbic Rooney, and the language used doesn't sound like him. ("Shoot your sorry ass" just isn't the kind of phrase Andy Rooney employs on television.) Just to be thorough, we checked the transcripts of all of Andy Rooney's 60 Minutes pieces from the last ten years, and nothing like this item turned up.

Moreover, Andy Rooney himself denied it in 2003, saying:
About a year ago, I became aware of a more serious theft of my name and it is so hurtful to my reputation that it calls for legal action against the thief. Hundreds of people have written asking if I really wrote the 20 detestable remarks made under my name that have had such wide circulation on the Internet.

Some of the remarks, which I will not repeat here, are viciously racist and the spirit of the whole thing is nasty, mean and totally inconsistent with my philosophy of life. It is apparent that the list of comments has been read by hundreds of thousands of Americans, many of whom must believe that it accurately represents opinions of mine that I don't dare express in my column or on television. It is seriously damaging to my reputation.
Mr. Rooney disclaimed the above-quoted piece again in his 60 Minutes segment of 23 October 2005, saying of it:
There's a collection of racist and sexist remarks on the Internet under a picture of me with the caption ?ANDY ROONEY SAID ON 60 MINUTES.? If I could find the person who did write it using my name I would sue him.
The final two items on the list are probably a good tipoff that either this collection was written (by an as-yet unidentified author) as a parody of the "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" spots on 60 Minutes, or someone appended Andy Rooney's name to an unattributed piece because it "seemed like something he would say." Either way, whoever created this version appears to have lifted some parts from an earlier piece known as "Yes, I Guess I am A BAD American" and falsely credited to comedian George Carlin.

Last updated: 1 November 2005
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