I had just assumed the summer slowdown in politics was the reason Mike Duffy’s Countdown had not been on the air the past month or so.
But tonight on local Ottawa News Gallery Talk, Norm Fetterley mentioned that Mike had open heart surgery today and that he made it through the surgery with flying colours.
I won’t pry for details but I did want to wish Mike all the best and hope he has a speedy recovery and is back in his old seat grilling politicians again soon.
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I also assumed that the show was dropped for the summer while Parliament wasn’t sitting. Also wish him a speedy recovery
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Weird, I was just speaking with someone yesterday at great length about Mike Duffy, someone who knows him pretty well over many years.
This person, a staunch Conservative of many years, praised Duffy to the heavens and how he is one of the few journalists left in the media that he believes is non-partisan and fair. This is coming from a politician of about 40 years and has interacted (and dined) with Duffy for decades.
What he also said yesterday was that he is most concerned with Mike’s size and eating habits, worries for his health, has seen him in action. Your report on open heart surgery will be no surprise but is timely, I will have to phone him and let him know.
Thanks for posting this and I wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back in action sometime this fall.
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I will point out that the show may still be on hiatus due to the summer slowdown. Anne, I often worried about Mike’s health too. But I am willing to bet he has many good years ahead of him covering politics.
My guess is he had the David Letterman pipecleaning surgery which is fairly safe and preventative.
On this note, I do miss Countdown. The Digital TV guide on Rogers still shows it daily at 5pm and 8pm and I keep switching the channel over to see if it’s back.
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I do watch Duff weekdays on CTV. However, I cannot say that Duff is always unbiased. He likes to goad and use hyperboly to make a point but many times it misrepresents the facts. He seems to take the approach of appearing friendly to Conservatives when interviewing them and then friendly to the Opposition parties when they are on. However, he was less than impartial when interviewing Scott Brison and Joe Volpe when they were going through their trials and tribulations.
Having said all of this I wish Mike a speedy recovery and hope that he changes his lifestyle so that he can continue to report on politics for many years to come.