Mike Wallace's Legacy

"What are the four most dreaded words in the English language?  Mike Wallace is here."  So read an ad that once hung on a wall in Mike's office, overlooking the Hudson River.   Mike commanded attention, whether seated quietly at his desk or gracefully walking the hollowed halls of the 60 Minute's offices on New York's West Side..

60 Minutes was a product of the late great Don Hewitt, its creator and tirelessly energetic executive producer.  He asked the late Harry Reasoner, a brilliant writer, and Mike Wallace, a demanding interviewer, to anchor the program.   60 Minutes is one of the greatest television programs of all time.  The broadcast has finished the season first in the television ratings five times, and it has finished among the season's top 10 programs 23 times.

Since its inception, its quality story-telling and fiercely competitive spirit has characterized 60 Minutes.  And working for the powerful 60 Minutes brand name over the years were legendary journalists like, Morley Safer, Ed Bradley, Diane Sawyer, Dan Rather, Andy Rooney, Lesley Stahl, Steve Kroft, as well as Harry Reasoner and Mike Wallace.

Mike was a perfect fit for 60 Minutes.  His no-nonsense approach to investigative journalism and take-no-prisoners interview style helped define the program in its early years.  He interviewed legends, movie stars and crooks with the same intensity.  He would say, "I'm just nosy."  But he was driven to be first with the story.

Mike was persistent, direct and brash when asking questions of his interview subjects.  In 1979, Mike asked the Ayatollah Khomeini, in an interview with the Iranian leader in Iran, to respond to being called a "lunatic" by then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.  The visibly angry Ayatollah responded that Sadat "Compromises with his enemies."

In his career, Mike interviewed Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush senior and Clinton.  He interviewed world leaders including Putin, Deng Xiaoping, Begin, Arafat and Meir.  He interviewed stars like, Streisand, Carson and Horowitz. He interviewed Reverend Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.  He once said, "There is no such thing as an indiscreet question." 

As a correspondent Mike was a fighter.  He would fight with his colleagues over a story assignment, he would loudly argue with Hewitt over the structure of his magazine piece, and he would push back hard at management when they wanted to change an adjective.   Most of the time good reason and common sense prevailed.  But no everyone he dealt with was a fan of his hard headed approach. 

In 1982, CBS aired a documentary, The Uncounted Enemy: A Viet Nam Deception.  The documentary alleged that U.S. Army General William Westmorland deliberately underestimated the enemy's troop strength to win American's continuing support for the war.  Westmorland sued Mike and CBS for $120 million.  During the bitter trial Mike was hospitalized for depression.  In the end, Westmorland settled the suit with CBS.

The fact is that beneath that tough exterior, Mike Wallace struggled with depression after the Westmorland trial.  Speaking of depression, he once said, "You fee lower than a snake's belly."  He first publicly admitted he attempted suicide in an interview with his friend and colleague Morley Safer. He credited his wife, Mary Wallace, with having saved his life.

Later he spoke out more freely about his struggles with depression in hopes of ending the stigma that is associated with mental illness.  He was honored by many leading mental health organizations, such as the Mental Health Association of New York City, for having the courage to go public so that others may learn.  

"For people who are contemplating suicide, contemplate, who are so damn scared and in pain and all of those things are true when you’re in a bad clinical depression." Mike once said in an interview on WLIW.  "Take a look at me, that what I’ve learned is that because I was saved I had 20 more years of very productive life."

Mike Wallace retired from 60 Minutes on March 14, 2006, nearly 38 years after he helped launch the program.  In June 2008 Mike's son Chris Wallace, anchor of Fox News Sunday, announced his father would not be returning to television; 68 years after he made his network radio debut on WXYZ Detroit.  During Mike's amazing career he won 21 Emmys, five DuPont-Columbia and five Peabody Awards.  He also won the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award in 1996. And in 1991, he was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame.  

In 1997 Mike told People magazine, "Do I have regrets? No. What good would regrets do now? Would I do things differently? Yes, but I wasn't wise enough at the time. Life is full of decisions, isn't it? And I've made some of the right ones and some of the wrong ones, but I made the right choices for me. Now that may sound selfish, but that's being honest."

Thank you Mike for all your support, your advice and friendship.

More on Mike Wallace From CBS News
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Romney's Veep-Stakes Are On!

Former Governor Mitt Romney is on the verge of sweeping this Tuesday's Republican primary elections.  Likely wins in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia will add significantly to his already commanding delegate lead, and increase pressure on his opponents to throw their support to the former Massachusetts Governor.

More leading Republicans are getting on the Romney bandwagon each day in hopes of ending the divisiveness that has characterized much of the Republican primary campaign so far.  Even after all of their harsh criticisms, former Senator Rick Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich have each said they will support Romney if he ends up getting the party's nomination. But they both, along with Representative Ron Paul, are still campaigning to be their party's standard-bearer. 

Rick Santorum shows no signs of easing up.  On Sunday, he compared Romney to Senator John McCain, who lost the 2008 election to President Barack Obama.  "We came up with someone who wasn't able to win," Santorum said on Fox News Sunday. "We don't need to repeat that again. We don't need to bail out and not have the best candidate to take Barack Obama on in the fall."  Santorum has accused Romney of not being a conservative; flip--flopping on many issues and of being the author of Romneycare, the blue print for the President's health care reform law.  Santorum insists he will present a stronger contrast in the general election.

Nonetheless, establishment Republicans have already turned their attention to who would be the best running mate for Romney.  Speculation has Florida Senator Marco Rubio as the best choice.  A Tea Party favorite, supporters believe Rubio could improve the Republican's chances among Hispanics.  Rubio is of Cuban heritage, but Cubans make up only a small percentage of the U.S. Hispanic population.  More than 60% of that population is Mexican, and they tend to vote for Democrats.

Another potential vice presidential candidate is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.  Christie has campaigned hard for Romney, and his blunt, in-your-face style frequently outshines the former governor in joint appearances.  But voters in a presidential election don't vote for a president because of their running mate. That is up until now.

This election will rest heavily on Mitt Romney's ability to convince voters he is more qualified for the job than President Obama.  And that he has a better plan to increase employment, lower gasoline prices and assure America's national security.  Yet many of his proposals feel like déjà vu; the same Republican policies of cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans while ending some loopholes, more oil and gas drilling rather than developing alternatives, and a extremely hard-line foreign policy.  Or will he wipe his Etch A Sketch clean and redo his positions for the general election? 

The fact is Mitt Romney is an opportunist.  That is how he made his money in business.  And Mitt Romney is an elitist.  He is from the upper tier of the one-per centers.  His friends own football teams, they don’t play for them. He cannot easily connect with regular people; he's a Mittbot.  So he is prone to make comments that most normal people consider gaffs.

Who can forget this Romney gem last August from Iowa: "Corporations are people, my friend… of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to the people. Where do you think it goes? Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People's pockets. Human beings, my friend."  Or this heart-warming comment two months ago, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."  And about the same time, "I'm not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there."

Several times over these past few months he has tried very hard to sound like an Average Joe.  “There were a couple of times I wondered whether I was going to get a pink slip,” he said earlier this year to some volunteers.  Or his attempt to feel empathy for a group of unemployed,  "I should tell my story. I'm also unemployed."  Romney is worth more than $200 million.   And the truth surfaced when speaking in Michigan in February, "[My wife] drives a couple of Cadillacs."  Of course, who can forget the $10,000 bet offer to Texas Governor Rick Perry during a Republican debate in December?

Given Romney's difficulty in winning over voters from his own party, the lack of enthusiasm for him among evangelicals, conservatives and members of the Tea Party, his numerous flip-flops, Romneycare, and his propensity to make gaffs, he will need all the help he can get to win over the national electorate.  Help may come if the economy gets worse, gas prices continue to rise or if there is some national security setback for President Obama before the November election.  

More likely, Romney will look to a strong running mate who can fill in the many shortcomings he has as a candidate.   And that person will become the party's frontrunner in 2016 should President Obama win reelection in November.  Even if a twice beaten Mitt Romney decides to make a third run at the White House.

 

Zoe's 16th!

Zoe Peyronnin 3/17/12

The beautiful young lady is my daughter celebrating her 16th birthday at our favorite restaurant with her mom and me.  It seems like just yesterday she was a helpless bundle of joy.  Time has flown by and she has grown older, wiser and more independent.  No matter her age, I am so proud of her and I love her so much!  Thank you Zoe for all the wonderful memories and for all the love!  Dad

November Madness?

"How do we understand this President and his time in office?" asks actor Tom Hanks in his narration for the documentary "The Road We've Traveled," which the president's reelection campaign released Thursday evening. "Do we look at the day's headlines or do we remember what we as a nation have been through?" Well that all depends on your political point of view.

For supporters of President Obama, the documentary is a well-crafted 17-minute story about a man who has achieved an enormous amount despite difficult challenges.  "Not since the days of Franklin Roosevelt has so much fallen on the shoulders of one president," Hanks says.  It tells of a man who is consistently doing what he believes is best for the country rather than what may be most popular. 

The documentary cites the benefits of the health care reform act, a.k.a. "Obama care", by reminding viewers that the elderly, young adults under 26 years old, and people with preexisting conditions will no longer be without health care. It points to the fact that the controversial stimulus package passed in 2009 added or saved millions of jobs.  The film also highlights the great success of the automobile bail out, which is still criticized by the Republican candidates.  Of course, the documentary spends time detailing the president's actions that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda. 

The timing of the film, released on the normally unlucky "Ides of March", marks the true beginning of the president's reelection effort.  Simultaneous with the film's release, candidates Obama and Vice President Joe Biden sharpened their attacks on their Republican opponents.

On Thursday the vice president said, “Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich — these guys have a fundamentally different economic philosophy than we do.” He continued, “We are for a fair shot and a fair shake. They’re about no rules, no risks and no accountability.”  Speaking of the auto bailout, Vice President Biden then said, “he made the tough call and the verdict is in. President Obama was right and they were dead wrong.”  A few hundred miles away the president criticized at his opponents, “If some of these folks were around when Columbus set sail, they probably must have been founding members of the "Flat Earth Society". They would not believe that the world was round."

But, flat earth or not, recent national polls showed a sharp decline in the president's approval rating.  The latest New York Times/CBS News poll shows Obama's overall approval rating at 41 percent, down 9 percentage points in one month.  The president's rating also slid about 10 percent in a month according to a Washington Post/ABC poll.  Rising gas prices and a slow recovery seem to be dragging the president's numbers down.  The heated debate over contraception and religious rights are not as high a priority to most Americans.

Of course, the man in charge is held accountable for rising gasoline prices, even though they are caused by events that the president has little control over.  Speculators and the fear of war with Iran are driving the prices up.  If all the suggestions that Republicans are making to deal with the problem were enacted they would have little impact on the price.  In fact, the last time gas prices were this high was in July 2008, when George W. Bush was president, and they came crashing down because of the recession that soon followed.  

Here we are in the height of college basketball's exciting tournament known as "March Madness."  Already many fans who have forecast the outcome of the tournament, the "bracketologists," have seen their predictions turn out wrong.  That is because several top-seeded teams have gone down to defeat at the hands of lower ranked opponents. The fact is that any team has a chance of winning on any given day. 

We are still many months away from "November Madness," and the race will not be a slam-dunk for either candidate.  While it is pretty clear that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney will be matched up against President Barack Obama, the election will be very close.  Victory will depend on who has the better ground game and passionate voter support.  But, chances are that many voters will be more motivated by "the day's headlines" than "what we have been through" as a nation.      

Oreo: Happy 100!

Happy birthday to the Oreo cookie.  Thank you, and your parent, Nabisco, for all the years of joy you have given me! 

Casual Talk of War

President Barack Obama sharply rebuked his Republican opponents for having "a lot of bluster" and "beating the drums of war" with Iran.  The president's comments, which came in response to question at a White House news conference Tuesday, were clearly directed at Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, all of whom have been highly critical of President Obama's Iran policy. 

"Now, what is said on the campaign trail, you know, those folks don't have a lot of responsibilities. They are not commander-in-chief," The president said. "And when I see the casualness with which some of these folks talk about war, I'm reminded of the costs involved in war."  He then said, "This is not a game, and there is nothing casual about it. And, you know, when I see some of these folks who have a lot of bluster and a lot of big talk, but when you actually ask them specifically what they would do, it turns out they repeat the things that we've been doing over the last three years. It indicates to me that that is more about politics than actually trying to solve a difficult problem."

The president then challenged his opponents to make their case for war, "If some of these folks think that it's time to launch a war they should say so, and they should explain to the American people exactly why they would do that and what the consequences would be."

At one point in his news conference the president suggested that, "We have a window of opportunity" to resolve the nuclear issue with Iran diplomatically.  He then said, "It is deeply in everybody's interest - the U.S., Israel and the world - to see if can be resolved in a peaceful fashion." He began his news conference by listing the steps he had taken to tighten sanctions on Iran and unify the world around the issue.  And he repeated his support for Israel. 
 
Romney, Santorum and Gingrich have all been outspoken on Iran during their campaigns.  Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, speaking to the Israeli lobbying group AIPAC, said, "Hope is not a foreign policy...The only thing respected by thugs and tyrants is our resolve.”  Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum also spoke to the group about the president, “He says he has Israel’s back...From everything I’ve seen, he has turned his back on the people of Israel.”  And Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich spoke to the group about what he would do as president, “We would not keep talking while the Iranians keep building.” Gingrich continued, “The red line is now...It is an unacceptable risk.”

The Republican candidates were clearly pandering to the pro-Israeli lobby, as well as to neo-conservatives.  Romney has gone as far as to say that if the president is re-elected Iran will get a nuclear weapon.  In fact, Romney has called President Obama, "The most feckless president since President Carter."  When asked to respond to Romney's quote, the president said, "Good luck tonight."  The President was referring to the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses.

Republican candidates have lost ground to the president in the "national security" perception battle.  President Obama has many successes in this area, including the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  Yet Republican candidates see Iran as an issue that can be exploited, especially among their conservative base.  The fact is that recent polls show a majority of Americans are not interested in another war.

President Obama was very tough on his opponents Tuesday.  But he also exuded confidence, competence, thoughtfulness and compassion.  He displayed, in a word, leadership.   The kind of leadership that can easily quell senseless bluster. 

Limbaugh's Disgrace

Rush Limbaugh is a national disgrace. He is a blowhard and a bully who earns an enormous amount of money by fanning the flames of hatred and divisiveness in this country.

The tragedy is that several million people listen to his program and actually believe he is an intelligent, responsible and caring person. Even more outrageous is the fact that he has most Republicans so cowed that they are unwilling to speak out against him when he says something disgusting and maliciously hateful.

On Wednesday, Rush Limbaugh decided to take on a college student, someone's daughter, for supporting a requirement that health insurance cover contraception. He called Sandra Fluke, a 23 year-old Georgetown law student, a "slut" on his radio broadcast. On Thursday Limbaugh continued his attack.  "A Georgetown coed told (Congresswoman) Nancy Pelosi's hearing that the women in her law school program are having so much sex they're going broke.  So you and I should have to pay for their birth control. So what would you call that?  I called it what it is," he harrumphed.  "So I am offering as compromise today: I will buy all of the women at Georgetown University as much aspirin to put between their knees as they want." 

The "aspirin between their knees" was obviously Limbaugh's tribute to Santorum supporter Foster Friess who left MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell stunned when he outrageously made the suggestion as an alternative to contraception on her program last week. But Limbaugh was not done with his tirade.  "So Miss Fluke, and the rest of you Feminazis, here's the deal. If we are going to pay for your contraceptives, and thus pay for you to have sex, we want something for it. We want you post the videos online so we can all watch."

 Later on Thursday 75 members of Congress sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner expressing their anger at Limbaugh's remarks and calling for Republican leaders to speak out.  But the Republican Party appears to have a tin ear when it comes to women's health issues, especially contraception. 

Leading Republican candidates are against having the federal government require employers to provide access to certain health care coverage including contraception.  An attempt by Republicans to pass such an amendment in the Senate on Thursday was defeated.  The Republicans are trying to spin this an issue of the federal government trying to interfere with religious freedom and the Catholic Church.  The Catholic Church has forbidden the use of contraceptives for 50 years.  However, most Democrats say the underlying issue is giving women access to the health care they need.

Now this debate has become central in the Republican presidential primary.  Candidates Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney (after a brief flip-flop) supported the Republican amendment that went down to defeat.  And Santorum, a Catholic, has been very clear about his view on contraception.  "One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country," he has said.  "Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that's okay, contraception is okay. It's not okay. It's a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be." 

  

But it appears that Santorum has staked out a position on contraception at odds with most women.    99% of all American women, and 98% of all Catholic women in the United States, have used contraception at some point in their lives according to published statistics.  For most of them it is a health issue. 

However, don't try telling that to Rush Limbaugh.  He is having too much fun harshly attacking a young lady for speaking her heartfelt opinion about an issue of concern to all women.   But how can his advertisers support his debasing rants? This world would be so much better off if Limbaugh put two aspirin between his lips and he kept them there!