For those of you on the West Coast, a good 60 Minutes tonight. A discussion of the guy who had been reporting Madoff for years, the drug wars in Mexico, and then a nice interview with the Bobby Jindal I thought we were going to see the other night instead of that guy who reminded me nothing of the Bobby Jindal I had heard before.
Reader Interactions
22Comments
Comments are closed.
donovong
Yes, it was a very flattering portrayal of Mr. Jindal. Worthy of airing again as the fluff piece immediately before he is introduced to the Republican convention in 2012.
CBS News = Fox Lite?
DougJ
I heard it was the first on-air exorcism ever shown.
Comrade Stuck
Just watched the Madoff segment and only one question, How in the hell did he get away with this for so long? He didn’t make any real trades, didn’t do anything but take the cash and shuffle a few papers. It is beyond believable. Really.
Jay
Jindal kind of reminds me of a conservative Jimmy Carter. I like the guy.
D-Chance.
Well, Kenseth goes from first to worst.
Kyle Busch wins. Not to say he didn’t think he had it in the bag; but, as he passed the last driver, he radioed, "Good night, Gracie".
woody
jay, jimmy carter was/is a conservative.
Comrade Stuck I read somewhere that there were fairly definite, though unstated connections between Madoff and a certain Middle Eastrern client state’s intelligence agency.
Azarina
I think the most brilliant portion of the show was Andy Rooney reminding all second graders that it’s FebRUary and not FebUary.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Azarina: I think the most brilliant portion of the show was Andy Rooney reminding all second graders that it’s FebRUary and not FebUary.
Holy shit! Andy Rooney is still alive?
How about that.
Ninerdave
Legalize all drugs, tax them. It’ll save money, create a new revenue stream and innocent people will stop being killed by thugs.
Mike in NC
They don’t come any fluffier than that, do they? I’m old enough to remember when Morley Safer was considered to be a tougher interviewer/bigger asshole than Mike Wallace. Guess he’s just phoning it in now. Did he blow both Jindal and Gingrich off-camera? I had to leave the room…
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Was anyone else put off by Jindal’s apparent repudiation of his Indian heritage?
Dave
donovong and Mike in NC, I agree with you whole-heartedly. It seemed pretty clear to me that the segment was produced in anticipation that Jindal’s speech would, at least, be adequate; when it turned out to be a wheels-came-off-the-bus disaster, Safer & co. made almost no effort to update their report.
Slightly off-topic: Did anyone stick around long enough to hear Andy Rooney complain that the word Wednesday is spelled strangely?
Dulcie
@Ivan Ivanovich Renko: I was. He seemed ashamed to be of East Indian heritage.
samie
Yes, as an Indian American, I was. Jindal is a first-generation American who, while growing up, undoubtledly heard his parents’ language being spoken, ate home-cooked Indian food, participated in some religious rituals, listened to Indian music, etc.
Now, I understand he is a politician in a conservative Southern state sparsely populated by South Asians. Also, I do not expect his wife to be walking around in a sari and a red dot on her head. But the degree to which he and his wife renounce their heritage is still quite jarring.
Ninerdave
Wow, that was indeed a puff piece.
I still love Andy Rooney. Dude cracks me up.
Graeme
I guess the piece about Mexico’s drug war was interesting, but I didn’t think it was good. They didn’t really talk much about why reviving the ‘assault weapons ban’ would make a difference to Mexican thugs. Does a flash suppressor make that big a difference?
Also, there was no treatment of the fact that big players in industry and government on both sides of the border have been doing everything they can to ensure it remains as porous as possible.
Interesting also that 60 Minutes seems to believe the corrupting influence of drug money ends south of our border. A friend of mine with dual citizenship (now deceased, unfortunately) would always point out just how much corruption there is in the Border Patrol and in Law Enforcement in the border states.
Anyway, legalize it and figure out a sane immigration policy that’s transparent… No, I won’t hold my breath.
Comrade Luke
I thought Jindal looked like an automaton: he would hear the question, go into his databank and state the answer he had stored away.
This guy seems like a tool.
va
Holy shit, Andy Rooney has to be schizo. WTF was that? Is was all so inane.
The Madoff thing was interesting, but no one is asking how he thought he could get away with it. I mean, did he like own the SEC or something?
wonkie
I thought the repudiation of his heritage was odd. I was more offended by the description of him delivered over and over as a real patriotic good American conservative. As if conservatives have some sort of claim on patriotism and goodness and Americanness.
He seems like a nice guy but he’s a Republican. Meaning he is either a corrupt, intellectually dishonest dogmatic Social Darwinist or he is an apologist for corrupt intellectually dishonest dogmatic social Darwinists.
And he’s a liar.
JenJen
@Dave:
Best. Andy. Rooney. Ever. There are two R’s in "February!" May and June are nice months, mostly because they are easily spelled. I wonder if people in California get bored with the perfect weather? Women like to buy clothes. I liked baseball better when it ended before football began. Two sports at a time is really an awful lot to deal with and it never used to be like that. Here are some pictures of women in bikinis. Nothing ever happens after March begins unless there’s an election.
I can’t recall a time where I was ever actually amused by Rooney before that segment. To think that he made assloads of money phoning that one in, and that a CBS producer said "Run That Baby!", made my wait for "The Amazing Race" all the shorter.
Rooney For the Unintentional Win.
carl
Bobby Jindal, what a fascinating man. I had no idea he is as young as he is and have done so much. I like him. There is great humility there for him to be a great president one day. I even like it that he is a bit awkward and geeky. I’ll keep an eye out for this one for sure.
Dave
@JenJen: Yes, that’s it! The man and his bushy eyebrows had so stupefied me that I couldn’t remember the difference between "Wednesday" and "February."
I guess CBS would rather endure one embarrassing commentary a week than suffer the shame of putting 90-year-old Rooney out to pasture.