I did not like Cronkite. I think he was always an ideologue, and I think it was a pity that he was trusted so much by the public.
Be that as it may, Cronkite was perceived to be an objective journalist, reporting the truth as he saw it, keeping the public informed on how the world really was. When LBJ learned that Cronkite was against the war, the president knew that this was a serious PR matter.
Stewart, on the other hand, is a clown. Some years ago, he was talking to a guest (possibly Al Gore?) and the guest was trying to correct Stewart and make sure that the statements on the show were fair and accurate. Stewart let his jaw drop a bit and said, "You ... you realize this is a comedy show, right? I mean ... we're not trying to be fair and accurate here, you know. We're trying to be funny. There's a difference."
But society may have come to the point where the people do not understand what is True, but are prepared to adopt whatever opinion is spouted by the clown on TV -- the guy trying to get cheap laughs while he sells car insurance.
"Truth is funny, and Funny is truth. And that is all we know, and all we need to know." -- apologies to Keats.
Stewart, on the other hand, is a clown...
Clown nose on, clown nose off.
Stewart is a commie vampire...never doubt it.
“But society may have come to the point where the people do not understand what is True,”
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I believe we are far past that point, there seems to be little to no sense of proportion, of the borderline between the serious and the absurd. Obummer stood on the stage at Denver and said that he would DEFEAT POVERTY, DISEASE AND CLIMATE CHANGE! Think about that for a moment! I mentioned that to one man and his response was to tell me that, “They all make promises they don’t keep”! My jaw dropped and I replied that there is a huge difference in making insincere promises that are within human power to keep if a person intended to do so, or at least are not totally beyond the limits of human powers and making the type of promises Obama made which obviously could be kept only by a supreme being, an omnipotent God. He didn’t seem to even grasp my meaning.
I think that even twenty years ago such a statement made by a nominee for president would have guaranteed his loss rather than his being worshiped as a messiah. I find it exceedingly strange that there has been so little notice taken of such an absurd promise. In the past this kind of thing would have been taken as the insult it was. Obama may as well have looked at the audience and said, “I don’t really think I am God but I damned sure think you are stupid enough to believe that I am God”.
The acceptance was the last speech by the Kenyan that I have watched with full attention. I found it to be possibly the strangest political speech I have ever heard. I still shake my head when I realize that he was allowed to get away with something so ridiculous. In a sane world all McCain would have had to do is pick segments of that speech to keep replaying for the voters and McCain, as bad a candidate as he was, would have won with ninety percent of the vote. Instead we were subjected to reviews praising this clown to the skies for that ridiculous acceptance speech! Truth? Nearly half the population has no actual concept of truth.