Posted on 04/25/2003 9:44:41 PM PDT by SkyPilot
Rooney Draws Ire With Anti-War Statements
Fri Apr 25
By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer
NEW YORK - Andy Rooney, who covered World War II and was one of television's few voices to strongly oppose the war in Iraq (news - web sites), says he's chastened by the quick fall of Baghdad but doesn't regret his "60 Minutes" commentaries.
AP Photo
Rooney said Thursday he received thousand of letters in response to his anti-war statements.
"I'm in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it's wrong that I get fired, well, I've got enough to eat," the 84-year-old Rooney said.
The commentaries were noteworthy since they were a departure from his good-natured comic riffs — this Sunday he'll tell about an unfortunate encounter with vanilla Coke — and because they stood out at a time television was featuring relatively few antiwar voices.
He said on CBS April 6 that he couldn't remember any more unpleasant times.
"I hate everything about this war except that we're winning it," he said. "You can't even be critical, either, without sounding unpatriotic."
He mocked the idea of the war being a coalition, and said "the only real good news will be when this terrible time in American history is over."
A week earlier, Rooney said that "we didn't shock them and we didn't awe them in Baghdad. The phrase makes us look like foolish braggarts. The president ought to fire whoever wrote that for him."
Since Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) hasn't been caught, Americans were transferring the blame for Sept. 11 to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites), he said.
"I found the commentaries irritating," said former Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer (news - web sites), who supported the war.
But except for a brief attack by Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly, Rooney's comments attracted little public attention — even from supporters.
"I don't know why," said Peter Hart, a media analyst at the liberal media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. "I don't know if people don't pay attention to him anymore. It was a rare moment for a journalist or commentator to do something like that and it didn't spark much interest or copycat commentary."
Rooney said he got his share of letters, though.
"Only a handful were `I'm never going to watch "60 Minutes" again' letters," he said. "The worst I got were, `I've always liked what you said and watch you every week but I was disappointed.' I get that kind, which is most influential to me. Those that just condemn me, I throw away."
He's also gotten his share of "I-told-you-so's" recently.
"I felt chastened," he said. "I had to think that I was a little wrong. There's no question that it's better without him in there, without Saddam Hussein."
The question, he said, is how far the United States goes in removing bad guys or going after countries with weapons of mass destruction.
Rooney, a correspondent for Stars & Stripes during World War II, said there was more patriotism in the media back then.
He came under the influence of a pacifist professor before World War II and briefly considered becoming a conscientious objector then. "It has embarrassed me ever since," he said.
"It made me nervous about my opposition to this war," he said. "If I had been so wrong then, might I not be wrong again?"
Bauer said he was impressed that Rooney was willing to admit he was wrong.
"I often disagree with him but I admire the fact that he's a plain talker," he said. "I think more of that will help the debate. I just hope that when we take on the next part of the axis of evil, he'll be on our side."
Rooney had the same opinon about World War II till he saw the concentration camps. Of course if we had required the level of proof Rooney required to justify fighting in World War II prior to decaring war, we would have never fought Germany.
Try considering September 11th 2001, Andy. It's like all of the war critics all have amnesia as to why the war was necessary.
I am glad you pointed that out--I had forgotten that. Yes---even in the midst of WW II Rooney said he felt that our dead and wounded on Omaho Beach were "wasted youth" on a bellicose cause--until he saw the death camps.
As the old adage goes, "Hindsight is 20-20." Anyone who could not see Nazi evil in post-WW II terms needed a morality transplant. It took giants like Winston Churchill to stand up to Hitler when most of the world had either been defeated, appeased, or had surrendered.
At least Rooney does chatter about his feelings of being on the wrong side of the angels. 98% of Hollywood and 99% of the liberal media would rather change the subject.
How about some that can tolerate aging a tad better then?
I heard a talk radio host say Mike Wallace even put makeup on for a radio interview. Said the only other guy he knew
that did that is John F. Kerry.
ROTFLMAO!
When I was a did, we used to gather around the Television set on Sunday nights as a family and watch "60 Minutes. Back then, I really believed this incredible show was out there routing out corruption, standing up for the little guy, and being a watchdog on the powerful.
Mostly, that was an illusion. It was a self-made image constructed by CBS producers--who still believe they are on a messianic journey to expose evil as they believe it to be. The problem from the onset was that they could not see evil in their own midst--and liberalism became their Trojan Horse.
Nobody cares much about 60 Minutes anymore, I guess, which is all to the good.
I would suspect anyone on the receiving end of precision guided bombs may have been shocked and awed, and probably killed too.
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