The TV Zone

You know this, I'm sure, but "60 Minutes" - the great warhorse of news magazines - turns 40 in just a couple weeks, on Sept. 28, when the big four-oh season begins. So, I figured it was time to call Andy Rooney to get his take on the current veepee situation (how's THAT for a nonsequitur?) As it turns out, AR's working on his first essay of the season, to air the 21st, about veepees. His thoughts on Sarah Palin? "She seems fine. It was a strange choice, but I think a very good [one.] It looks better and better. She just looks right and everything she said has been good." Plus, "she's good-looking." Andy a Palinista? Not sure he'd go that far: "I don't know how hard a job begin vice president is." And he dismisses the media preoccupation with age and experience - that septuagenarian McCain will not make it, like, past the first day in office. "You're asking someone who's 88. I don't think it's that much of an issue. He's got a long way to go." What's the essay about? "We've had forty-six presidents of the United States, and if I sat down I could name all of [them], but I doubt I could l name eight vice presidents ... I'm pleased to notice that I'm open-minded about the vice president myself," he adds while noting that Palin is only the second female veepee nominee, Joe Biden is genuinely precedent-setting - "We've never had a vice president named Joe."

(Getty Images Photo)