Andy Rooney gets record response

[ It's good to see at least one "old person celebrity" call this
bullshit what it is....hollywood.  i have always liked your segment,
rooney ]


Andy Rooney gets record response

NEW YORK (AP) -- Andy Rooney certainly knows how to stir the passion in
his viewers.

The "60 Minutes" curmudgeon said Sunday he got 30,000 pieces of mail and
e-mail in response to his February 22 commentary, in which he called
"The Passion of the Christ" filmmaker Mel Gibson a "wacko."

It's the biggest viewer response ever to a segment on the CBS
newsmagazine, which has been on the air since 1968, a spokesman said.

Rooney also called the Rev. Pat Robertson a "wacko" for saying he had a
conversation with God, but not many people noticed that, he said. Most
of his mail concerned Gibson.

"I think the mail was a good indication of how bitterly divided our
country is right now," Rooney said on his Sunday "60 Minutes"
commentary. "I hope I'm not contributing to that -- even though I'm
right and everyone else is wrong."

He read some of the mail on the air, including one letter that called
him an "asinine, bottom-dwelling, numb-skulled, low-life, slimy,
sickening, gutless, spineless, ignorant, pot-licking, cowardly pathetic
little weasel."

Rooney, 85, noted that many of his critics took shots at his age. Even
Fox News Channel's Bill O'Reilly said he was too old.

"That wasn't nice, Bill," he said. "I didn't get old on purpose. It just
happened. If you're lucky, it could happen to you."

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/03/15/passion.rooney.ap/index.html
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