Rooney’s Racism, on ’60 Minutes’

by on January 7, 2008 8

I’m in a sour mood today. Last night the usually-enjoyable Andy Rooney was putting down the presidential candidates because of their names. What if Rudy Giuliani had been George Washington; how would it sound to go to Giuliani, D.C.? That kind of shtik. He threw in a swipe at Huckabee, and Romney too, but those felt like figleaves the producers threw in after the fact. His real target was ethnics with strange names, like Obama and Giuliani. You’re old Andy. Get used to it, or get out of the way.

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Beyondoweiss

{ 8 comments... read them below or add one }

  1. me says:
    January 7, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    Get used to it or get out of the way? There's another choice Phil, we can start fighting back. You seem to share, along with Neocons, the idea that this is a proposition nation. I suggest you read Sam Huntington's "Who Are We" unlike the Neocons, and their "end of history' fantasies, what his arguments and predictions are sound. Of course, you'll have to come up with something better than 'get used to it or get out of the way'.

  2. LanceThruster says:
    January 7, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    As one with an unusual last name (No, not "Thruster") I too found Andy's blather condescending. I am far more upset/embarrassed by naming things after Reagan or Bush no matter how "regular" their names sound.

  3. Leila Abu-Saba says:
    January 7, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    Such comments coming from a guy named Rooney make my WASP side take a deep sniff. (Entirely protective of my Arab side with the funny name full of vowels, natch.)

    Does Mr. Rooney forget that his ancestors were social lepers in the 19th century? That a substantial number of white people in the South in 1960 wouldn't vote for a Kennedy because of dreaded Papism? Does he not remember the "no dogs or Irishmen" signs on bars and public venues in NYC of 150 years ago?

    It's amazing to me how an American of Irish descent can make these jabs at Italians and other funny ethnics- even though the old Irish-Italian hatreds go back more than a century. And of course everybody hated the Arabs in 19th century NYC, too – check the Angry Arab's blog for historical quotes. I guess Mr. Rooney thinks that he's an honorary Anglo now? Not bloody likely.

    No, if we're going to be ethnically pure, then we can't have any Rooneys in power, either. Only Adamses, Washingtons, Lincolns and the like. Romney? I will have to look up Romney. It sounds suspiciously Irish. And Huckabee – what sort of name is Huckabee?

  4. Cee says:
    January 7, 2008 at 4:37 pm

    Did you ever see the Ali G interview with Rooney?

    Enjoy!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KglSPl7g14Q

  5. me says:
    January 7, 2008 at 5:08 pm

    How about angalizing your names and assimilating to the core culture? That was the unwritten contract your ancestors signed when you came here, if you don't like it, leave. because remove the anglo-protestant core – which the neocon/liberal alliance is trying to do and guess what, our ancient anglo-saxon liberties, will go do. Its no accident the gun-grabbers, hate speech advocates and control freaks are overwhelming non assimilated ethnics.

  6. Pvt. Keepout says:
    January 7, 2008 at 8:36 pm

    Lance,
    Re: "I am far more upset/embarrassed by naming things after Reagan or Bush no matter how "regular" their names sound."

    I agree, but sometimes I laugh so hard the milk comes out my nose. For example, The George Bush Center for Intelligence. Yeah, I know it's Bush 41, but recalling those 70s' Team B antics, it's still amusing. If you ever travel the GW Parkway, be sure to bring your camera; the exit sign is to die.
    Source: https://www.cia.gov/about-cia/todays-cia/george-bush-center-for-intelligence/index.html

  7. Leila A. says:
    January 8, 2008 at 12:57 am

    OOh, me, I guess my Dad should have Anglicized his name and assimilated into the core culture to suit you, huh? Since he didn't, I have to keep explaining myself, every day, to all manner of questioners.

    Yesterday in the chemo lounge an aide taking my blood pressure said emphatically: "Abu-Saba, huh? You are Muslim!" She looked and sounded Philipina to me although she could have been from some other South Asian country.

    No, I said, I am not Muslim.

    But your name!

    I may be an Arab, but I am not Muslim, I said. And then I turned away. I am getting cytotoxins infused into a porta-catheter implanted at my collarbone to fight a life-threatening disease. Why must I explain my ethnicity and religion to some random chick with a blood pressure machine?

    It is indeed a hassle not to have an assimilated name, and it would be easier to take on my husband's Celtic surname, since I am half WASP anyway and "don't look like an Abu-Saba".

    But I actually like the melting pot of this country, with its Cuomos and Finkelsteins and Abu-Sabas and Obamas and Changs and Yoshiwaras and Riveras and Rooneys and Schmitts. Being around all Anglos bores me to tears and I go out of my way to live and play in places full of ethnic difference.

    The time for having a pure Anglo-Saxon culture has passed. It has passed in Britain, Canada and Australia as surely as it has passed in the USA. You are not going to turn all those immigrants and their children into white bread Joneses and Huxtables.

    Why not enjoy the strengths that these new folk bring to our culture?

    And if you're so worried about Anglo-Saxon liberties, what are you doing to promote and defend them? I love the US Constitution with all of my half-Arab, half-Anglo heart, which is why I give money to the ACLU.

  8. Leila says:
    January 8, 2008 at 1:09 am

    I made this comment at Sic Semper Tyrannis but it seems germane to this thread:

    I was just talking to an old friend in NYC whose late husband was a captain in the Marines in Vietnam from 1963 to (I think) 1967. Yale to the Marines, he was. Died in '96 of that lung cancer you get from Agent Orange – with about 3 weeks notice. I consider him a very delayed Vietnam casualty.

    Anyway, my friend reports that every Republican she knows personally, including all of her husband's Marine buddies who are now rich Wall Streeters living on the Upper East Side- every one is an ex-Republican. One of the Marine buddies is close to Senator Webb and campaigned heavily for him in Va.

    OK New York is not the rest of the world, but my friend's Republican friends are the old Republican party, the last stand of the WASP elite in this country. Half of them are voting for — Obama.

Leave a Reply