Andy Rooney? You do me great honor - a very funny man:

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"Second year Fletcher student Jeremy Harrington asked Rooney to "skewer people outside our borders," to which Rooney deadpanned, "There's bound to be a conservative in every crowd."


Rooney responded by referring to the American failure to win the support of Iraqis and the world community in the Iraq war. He said the United States started the war "for good reasons," but he did not think the rest of the world agreed.


"We are in such a leadership position and I just don't feel we are leading as well as we could," he said. "We should try and sell ourselves, and try to convince the Iraqi people - with something other than guns - that we are here to help."


Rooney said he thought Iraq was "an ignorant society, not to be critical of them," a remark which was questioned later in his speech. Rooney defended the comment, saying that it is difficult to sell democracy in a country where few have access to the media and illiteracy is high, but acknowledged that "my attitude of the Iraqis is typical of the America I am complaining about."

He said Christian fundamentalism is a result of "a lack of education. They haven't been exposed to what the world has to offer."


Rooney said he also could not understand how "men who work with their hands voted for George Bush," and again attributing the phenomenon to a lack of education. "The labor force is conservative," he said. "How in the world did that happen?"


Rooney said that he hoped Bush's re-election would give him the "confidence" to end the war in Iraq. "I think if George Bush said tomorrow, 'I was wrong, I ask for an apology,' I bet the American people would thank him, and they would like him," he said.

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Thanks, man.

As for old fart, hey, you came to the right website! The place is crawlin' with 'em!


A