Walter Cronkite Is Dead — And That’s The Way It Is
Walter Cronkite is dead:
Walter Cronkite, who earned the accolade “the most trusted man in America” for his earnest and stalwart style as the anchorman of the “CBS Evening News” for nearly two decades, died Friday. He was 92.
CBS vice president Linda Mason says Cronkite died at 7:42 p.m. ET after a long illness with his family by his side.
Over the next few days you are going to hear zillions of talking heads blather on about how Cronkite shaped their careers, how Cronkite was the *most trusted man in America*, how Cronkite invented cheese, etc. While listening to the droning and false platitudes, I also want you to remember how Cronkite undermined Americas war effort against the North Vietnamese and gave the enemy aid and comfort.
About 40 years ago, Cronkite came back from Vietnam and hosted a documentary of The Tet Offensive. And even though history shows that our enemies suffered huge casualties, from which it took years for them to recover, and even though it was a devastating and humiliating defeat for them, Cronkite came back home and said these words:
Who won and who lost in the great Tet offensive against the cities? I’m not sure. The Vietcong did not win by a knockout, but neither did we. The referees of history may make it a draw.
It seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.
“We paid a high price, but so did you…not only in lives and material…After Tet the Americans had to back down and come to the negotiating table, because the war was not only moving into…dozens of cities and towns in South Vietnam, but also to the living rooms of Americans back home for some time. The most important result of the Tet offensive was it made you de-escalate the bombing, and it brought you to the negotiation table. It was, therefore, a victory…The war was fought on many fronts. At that time the most important one was American public opinion.”
July 18th, 2009 at 8:02 am
I am not God, and really not too much like him at all. But I suspect that Pastor Fenris’ sermon might well apply to the vaunted Cronkite.
Cronkite was an elitists elitist. Cronkite was an elitist socialist that believed in control of the masses. He was a miserable human that lived “above” the peons…and believed that a ruling class should be established worldwide.
“Most trusted man in America,” my rosy red butt! I have not one good memory of old Walter, nor one good thing to say about him. The best thing I can say about him is that he has taken the long dirt nap.
The “father of television news.” Excuse me while I go vomit up my morning eggs.
July 18th, 2009 at 8:28 am
I remember Cronkite as the guy that broadcast some of the momentous news events of our era, JFK’s assassination, the Moon Landings, and the Tet Offensive.
Where a news reader got the appellation,”most trusted man in America”,I don’t know. Perhaps it was awarded by his fellow journalists, just as they do here in Canada now with CTV’s Craig Oliver,who most of us think is a nasty old joke.
We “trusted” the CBC News, and I suppose Americans trusted CBS News, and probably some of the public trusted ABC and NBC News as well,the program, not the reader, but as to trusting the reader, I think that’s another typical journalistic stretch.
And America was becoming disillusioned by the war long before Tet, as Canadians from that era can attest to, judging by the number of draft dodgers coming up here.
My generation, the children of The Greatest Generation, were undoubtedly the most spoiled and coddled generation in history, and one of the truest sayings I’ve ever heard is that “adversity builds character”.
Most of us had NO adversity in our lives, and thus lacked the toughness and will, “character”, of our parents generation that had survived the Depression and World War 2.
America probably would have been better off ending the Draft before the Vietnam War, and using a volunteer Army that would have kicked the shit out of the Vietcong, without all the problems the unwilling draftees brought to the whole thing.
It would have helped immensely if the fucking politicians of that era had stepped out, and let the Military do the job they were capable of.
My Uncle, a career Army officer and combat veteran of WW2 once told me that we’d have never won WW2 if we’d had the same level of political interference and MSM coverage of that conflict.
Fortunately, the pols of that age knew enough to declare war and get the hell out of the way.
Yes, I expect the accolades for Ol’Walter will rival those of Michael Jackson, I’ll leave the TV “OFF” this weekend and go golfing or fishing.
July 18th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
He “guided” America
In mid-February, in the immediate aftermath of the Tet Offensive, both Gallup and Harris noted a surge in American support for the war. Both pollsters said 61% of Americans favored a stronger military response against the North Vietnamese Army. 70% of Americans favored increased bombing of North Vietnamese targets, which was up from 63% in the previous December.
Then came Cronkite’s February 27 commentary.
To say that we are closer to victory today is to believe, in the face of the evidence, the optimists who have been wrong in the past. To suggest we are on the edge of defeat is to yield to unreasonable pessimism. To say that we are mired in stalemate seems the only realistic, yet unsatisfactory conclusion.
In early March, just a few days later, 49% of Americans said it was a mistake to have entered the Vietnam conflict. Only 35% believed the war would end within two years. 69% now approved of a phased withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.*
And That’s the Way it is
July 18th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
above sited: “The Virginian”
July 18th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
I think that any person lauded by the Main Stream Media will find this to be the kiss of death for their reputation in years to come.
He is either a useful tool of the Bolsheviks, a dupe; or just a dullard caught up in the fleeting fame of the media.
Who cares?
July 18th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
I love this site.
July 18th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
Good riddance.
July 19th, 2009 at 7:58 am
I was in the service during the Viet Nam War. I watched the news did not pay much attention to the commenter’s like I do now. I do have a good memory though. Then there were only 2 big news outlets on TV at 6:30. Between McNamara and Cronkite and Fonda they probably caused the dead of thousands of soldiers. For that I will never forgive them. NEVER !!!!
July 19th, 2009 at 10:43 am
My experience is at least six degrees from this topic.
My dad’s older brother was a civil engineer, of some sort, and was moved to Saigon.
He relocated his wife and three children there as well, and stayed for ten years.
They left before the fall of Saigon, but from the time they came back and through all the refugee years, Uncle Hilt sponsored several Vietnamese families.
When he died in 1990, I drove my parents to Orlando for the funeral,and the first thing noticeable was an entire side of the church seated with little black, headed Vietnamese, and their sincere affection.
This is where universes intersect.
I was introduced to three teenage Vietnamese girls, and we all shared the named of my grandmother, Nancy.
July 19th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Let me square this up a little..
sponsored families abandoned to the revenge of the VC commie bastards.