Monday, January 14, 2008

Andy Rooney says Ethnic Names aren't Presidential

1st\NW Quadrant of The Approval Matrix: Week of January 21, 2008

Transcript from "60 Minutes" of Andy Rooney's rant :

Both Roosevelt and Jefferson had names that sounded presidential, too. I like that. This year we started the presidential process Thursday with what we call "the Iowa Caucus." The winners were named Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee.

Do you think the name "Barack Obama" compares to "Abraham Lincoln" or "Mike Huckabee" to "George Washington"? Maybe "Obama" is the new Washington, the new Lincoln.

The former mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, wants to be president of the country. Our nation's capital was named after our first president, George Washington. If Rudolph Giuliani had been our first president, do you think Washington would be called "Giuliani"? "Giuliani DC"?

If you were flying from New York to London, maybe you wouldn't go to Kennedy Airport anymore. Instead you'd fly from Mitt Romney International.

Tourists in the nation's capital wouldn't have a "Washington Monument," they'd go climb the "Huckabee Monument."

The names of our government leaders have always been important in this country. A lot of schools were named "Roosevelt." Both Lincoln and Washington have a lot of things named after them: streets, parks, even cars -- the Lincoln Continental for instance. How about a Biden Continental or Kucinich Navigator?

Andy Rooney "60 Minutes" 01/16/08





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