Redwood Falls Gazette publisher proudly prints bogus Andy Rooney column

Since newspapers that are published in towns near the First's borders sometimes carry news relevant to our mission, we read venues like the Faribault Daily News, the Marshall Independent (a favorite) and the Redwood Falls Gazette. We spotted an approving publication of an urban legend in the latter this week.

Pat Schmidt, the publisher of the Redwood Falls Gazette is so proud of holding "politically incorrect" views that he's letting Andy Rooney do the talking in this week's column, Andy, I wish I'd said that first.

Schmidt couldn't be bothered to check up on the authenticity of the piece, even though he goes ahead and attaches Rooney's name to it:

In my younger days I used to hate listening to Andy Rooney's commentary at the conclusion of the TV show "60 Minutes."

As the years have gone by, I've come to realize some of the things he has to say make sense.

For instance, I was handed a piece he supposedly wrote or spoke. Whether or not he did, what it says does make sense. Here is what he had to say.

Many of our readers probably know what's coming:

"I don't think being a minority makes you a victim of anything except numbers. The only things I can think of that are truly discriminatory are things like the United Negro College Fund, Jet Maga-zine, Black Entertainment Tele-vision, and Miss Black America.

"Try to have things like the United Caucasian College Fund, Cloud Magazine, White Entertain-ment Television, or Miss White America; and see what happensŠ Jesse Jackson will be knocking down your door. ....

We'd first wondered if this was an April Fools joke. The notion that Andy Rooney wrote this piece is so discredited that it's one of three examples given in How To Spot An Urban Legend... and avoid embarassment.

And what has Andy Rooney said about the column attributed to him? Snopes has the score:

Origins:    Curmudgeonly 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney may have delivered a vituperative essay on French politics in 2003, but this piece elaborating on his own politics is not his creation.  The text quoted above is too reactionary even for the acerbic Rooney, and the language used doesn't sound like him. ("Shoot your sorry ass" just isn't the kind of phrase Andy Rooney employs on television.)  Just to be thorough, we checked the transcripts of all of Andy Rooney's 60 Minutes pieces from the last ten years, and nothing like this item turned up.

Moreover, Andy Rooney himself denied it in 2003, saying:

About a year ago, I became aware of a more serious theft of my name and it is so hurtful to my reputation that it calls for legal action against the thief. Hundreds of people have written asking if I really wrote the 20 detestable remarks made under my name that have had such wide circulation on the Internet.

Some of the remarks, which I will not repeat here, are viciously racist and the spirit of the whole thing is nasty, mean and totally inconsistent with my philosophy of life. It is apparent that the list of comments has been read by hundreds of thousands of Americans, many of whom must believe that it accurately represents opinions of mine that I don't dare express in my column or on television. It is seriously damaging to my reputation.

Mr. Rooney disclaimed the above-quoted piece again in his 60 Minutes segment of 23 October 2005, saying of it:

There's a collection of racist and sexist remarks on the Internet under a picture of me with the caption ‘ANDY ROONEY SAID ON 60 MINUTES.’ If I could find the person who did write it using my name I would sue him.

And he denied it yet again to the Associated Press in December 2006:

Rooney said that a racist commentary falsely attributed to him is circulating over the Internet and through e-mails. The "60 Minutes" essayist wants anyone who might have seen it to know he had nothing to do with it.

"I suppose it's not important, but I hate the fact that people think I've been writing these things," he told The Associated Press. "That's hurtful to me."

The missive, which Rooney said had been passed along to him via e-mail several times, is a list of several anti-minority statements. One of the printable ones: "I have the right not to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird or tick me off."

The final two items on the list are probably a good tipoff that either this collection was written (by an as-yet unidentified author) as a parody of the "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" spots on 60 Minutes or that someone appended Andy Rooney's name to an unattributed piece because it "seemed like something he would say."  Either way, whoever created this version appears to have lifted some parts from an earlier piece known as "Yes, I Guess I am A BAD American" and falsely credited to comedian George Carlin.

We called the Redwood Gazette to see if this was an April Fools joke. The person who answered the phone put us through to  Pat Schmidt, who was defensive, denying that he was a racist, even though we didn't bring that term up in the conversation.

Schmidt said that he believed that regardless of authorship, everything in the piece was "true" (his word). He said that he hadn't researched its authenticity as a Rooney piece since the content rang "true" to him. He'll be writing about the reaction in his next column.

We didn't call the sentiments in the piece racist while on the phone with Schimdt. However, Andy Rooney did while trying to establish the facts of the case. After all, it's his reputation getting put on the line when his name gets attached to beliefs he finds repugnant.  We, as a mere blogger, checked that out. 

Schmidt, on the other hand, simply couldn't be bothered with fact checking  details when he knows that something's "true." We're not sure why he thinks this approach to establishing "truth" strengthens his credibility.  Apparently, he thinks ignorance of an article's provenance trumps knowledge.

He certainly has the right to publish it, though we'll let lawyers versed in defamation law consider how responsible it was to bring Rooney's name into this without checking to see if his suggested authorship was a matter of fact or desired by the 60 Minutes pundit.

Schmidt's critics, too, have the right to weigh in on his lack of due diligence as a publisher.  Moreover, any discussion about whether Rooney is right when he labeled the text racist is also protected by the First Amendment. 

Not that Schmidt shares that wide open interpretation of the First Amendment.  After all, since he believes everything in the column is "true," he believes that it's okay to tell people to shut up. Quoting from the piece:

"Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding why there is such a problem in having "In God We Trust" on our money and having "God" in the Pledge of Alle-giance. Why don't we just tell the 14 percent to be quiet."

We anticipate that Schmidt will declare himself a victim, since people wouldn't "be quiet."

Since Schmidt had his defenses up in the phone call, we didn't think to ask who passed the column on to him. Had we asked, he would have been under no obligation to share that information with us.  However, the miracle of Google search is helpful to learn the circles in which a forwarded email message is circulating.  Here's a search for the last month.