Memo To Walter Cronkite:
Click the Pic
Posted on 01/16/2006 11:32:49 AM PST by kellynla
PASADENA, Calif. (Jan. 15) - Former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite, whose 1968 conclusion that the Vietnam War was unwinnable keenly influenced public opinion then, said Sunday he'd say the same thing today about Iraq.
"It's my belief that we should get out now," Cronkite said in a meeting with reporters.
Now 89, the television journalist once known as "the most trusted man in America" has been off the "CBS Evening News" for nearly a quarter-century. He's still a CBS News employee, although he does little for them.
Cronkite said one of his proudest moments came at the end of a 1968 documentary he made following a visit to Vietnam during the Tet offensive. Urged by his boss to briefly set aside his objectivity to give his view of the situation, Cronkite said the war was unwinnable and that the U.S. should exit.
Then-President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide after that, "If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America."
The best time to have made a similar statement about Iraq came after Hurricane Katrina, he said.
"We had an opportunity to say to the world and Iraqis after the hurricane disaster that Mother Nature has not treated us well and we find ourselves missing the amount of money it takes to help these poor people out of their homeless situation and rebuild some of our most important cities in the United States," he said. "Therefore, we are going to have to bring our troops home."
Iraqis should have been told that "our hearts are with you" and that the United States would do all it could to rebuild their country, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.news.aol.com ...
"I think we could have been able to retire with honor," he said. "In fact, I think we can retire with honor anyway."
Cronkite has spoken out against the Iraq war in the past, saying in 2004 that Americans weren't any safer because of the invasion.
Cronkite, who is hard of hearing and walks haltingly, jokingly said that "I'm standing by if they want me" to anchor the "CBS Evening News." CBS is still searching for a permanent successor to Dan Rather, who replaced Cronkite in March 1981.
"Twenty-four hours after I told CBS News that I was stepping down at my 65th birthday I was already regretting it and I've regretted it every day since," he said. "It's too good a job for me to have given it up the way that I did."
Cheer up, Walter. Merck's new anti-senility drug is in Phase II trials. It won't be too long now.
(I doubt that's what Cronkite and Murtha are asking for...)
Cronkite would also like to start having regular bowel movements too
Walter Cronkite is highly qualified to have an opinion. That's about all he's highly qualified for.
Memo To Walter Cronkite:
Click the Pic
all murtha needs to do is cut off funding for the war ... but he's too big a pansy, as well as shrillary, etal, to suggest such
"Then-President Lyndon Johnson reportedly told a White House aide after that, 'If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America.'"
But you gain Paddy Buchanan? ;-)
"The best time to have made a similar statement about Iraq came after Hurricane Katrina, he said."
This is Cronkite basically admitting that his assessment of the Tet Offensive was not objective and rational - relative to the situation on the ground - but rather a political statement of the war overall, and, I gather, war against Communist enemies.
The reason he did damage to the war cause was because many viewers believed that he was speaking factually, that militarily, Tet was a defeat. What a con! This is how Dems have operated for a long time.
At this point in his life his bowel movements are the only thing he's got going that have anything to do with 60 minutes.
He is regular. Every morning he has one at six o'clock. He wakes up at 7:30.
The conversation turned to the "religious right" and Cronkite turned downright nasty and venomous. Then he went off on Christians in general, and his eyes were full of disgust and anger.
Quit embarrassing our alma mater, Cronkite.
Cronkite, still criminally stupid after all these years.
It kicked in 40 years ago.
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