GOODY TWO SHOES: Rooney: Imus'd Up?
Humorist Andy Rooney, 88, is in agua caliente for "crossing the line from crotchety to racist," reports The New York Times. In his latest "rant" (the Times’ term) Rooney made an issue of the prevalence of Latin Americans in baseball:
"I know all about Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, but today’s baseball stars are all guys named Rodriguez to me. They’re apparently very good but they haven’t caught my interest."
Rooney says he "regretted" the comment, but not enough to apologize:
"It’s a name that seems common in baseball now. I certainly didn’t think of it in any derogatory sense. That’s what I do for a living, I write columns and have opinions, and some of them are pretty stupid."
Despite the reaction of the blogosphere (one blogger called Rooney "a senile idiot") the managing editor for Tribune Media Services, which syndicates the column told The Times that the editor did not think the comment touched Imus territory. "We try to give our columnists a great deal of latitude. This just wasn’t considered going over the line."
The Stiletto is inclined to agree, but she thinks that Nike should still take out another incoherent full-page ad in The Times.
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