As he became older & feebler he let his liberal asswipe background shine through for all to see.

Do you really think this liberal asshole would have had one negative syllable to say about JFK and the ongoing & escalating Vietnam War if JFK had not been assassinated? Of course not. He would have just Obamaified the results just like the sycophant media does today.

He covered Johnson’s liberal ass for as long as he could endure. Johnson was just a dumb southern hick Texan after all ….. not one of those bright east coast ivy league types in government.

One of his most obvious sins (history will surely & boldly prove this) was his declaration that the Vietnam War was indeed lost.

Such a walk-on-water jerkliist was he, that he only required several hours on the ground and he was an instantaneous expert on the Vietnam War! Such gravitas.

Gag me.

Let me tell you …. I was in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive with the 1/7th Cav, 1st Cavalry Division, at Quang Tri, Hue and Da Nang. This jackass was clueless. When I returned home around February-March 1969 the Vietnam War was all but over except in the USA.

His legacy is just as spotty. Dan Rather’s career began by reporting the yet unknown & unconfirmed death of JFK to good ole Uncle Walter. And Uncle Walter had no problem reporting hearsay. Such a fine reporter.

Insofar as his ongoing network news reporter legacy, his characteristics do indeed shine through. The ongoing, daily high-mindedness, arrogance, disdain, and absolute cluelessness does indeed continue via the major network newsreader hacks that currently “report” the “news”. The “news” they deem important, of course. Just like Uncle Walter did.

After all, that is how he signed off. “That’s the way it is”, he self-importantly reported. He just did not finish the sentence with “according to liberal-leftist Uncle Walter.”

Good ole Uncle Walter appeared to be a reasonable sort of fellow on the surface …. but he ranks right up there with Hanoi Jane Fonda in my opinion.

D.T. Miller
Vietnam 1968-1969
1st Air Cavalry (Airmobile)
Company B, 1st Battalion, 7th Cavalry (1st\7th Cav)
An Khe, Tet, Quang Tri, Hue, Da Nang, Camp Evans, China beaches, Khe Sanh, A Shau Valley, Tay Ninh, Black Virgin Mountain, Cambodian border and endless places between.
Garryowen.

The most over-rated blow hole in the history of journalism.

revolution on July 19, 2009 at 3:29 PM

And one might add, around these parts anyway, the most overblown scapegoat in the history of the Vietnam war.

Are you suggesting that, because there were some in power who lied

Some in power? Just the President and the SecDef for starts. Not my idea of just “some”.

that it makes the mis-reporting OK?

What did he so egregiously misreport? Tet? From what Johnson, McNamara and others had said even a short medium scale offensive should have been impossible.

It sounds like “two wrongs” here – and we know how that aphorism goes, don’t we?

massrighty on July 19, 2009 at 7:46 PM

Johnson, McNamara, Bundy, etc. sent tens of thousands of American’s to their deaths in the process of trying to cover their lies. I see no moral equivalence here. Cronkite was very much a bit player who actually implicitly went along with their lies for half the war and then just said what most Americans, including most in the Army, already knew or soon would know. He just mostly brought up the rear.

Joe Bloggs on July 19, 2009 at 1:47 AM

Are you suggesting that, because there were some in power who lied, that it makes the mis-reporting OK?

It sounds like “two wrongs” here – and we know how that aphorism goes, don’t we?

I believe that is his karma for his treason after the Tet offensive.

Ain’t no fool like an old fool.

I don’t think he was evil, just stupid.

While it is sad to speak ill of the dead, it would even be sadder if the living will deliberately overlook such a deed that undermined the US military, eroded the public confidence and resolve, and eventually led to the death of so many patriotic Americans.

Far more men of the “baby boomer generation” joined the Army (or Marines) than have the men of whatever one calls the current generation and far more died in that service. The number of Medal of Honor holders from Vietnam/”Baby Boom generation” dwarfs that from Iraq/Afghanistan/Current Generation.

Joe Bloggs on July 18, 2009 at 5:45 PM

True, but there was a draft then and there isn’t now. Today’s generation, my children’s generation, is called Generation Y. My son is serving, but you’re right, there aren’t many. Bush kind of dropped the ball when he was standing on the rubble of the WTC and telling us all to go shopping and live life like normal. He should have asked for people to enlist; I think there would have been a high turn-out.

I was born in 1965 and served in the AF while my husband, born in 1967, served 22 years in the Army. We’re GenXers, and I’d be curious to know how many of us served. We were part of the huge military build-up of the 1980s, when it became cool again to serve voluntarily–we both enlisted under Reagan. Bush 41 dropped the ball after the Persian Gulf War, where we deployed over half a million, by cutting our military so much. Depresses me to go through Fort Ord, which was a huge post back in the Cold War era, and is now a ghost town.

Cronkite, hope you’re now face to face, answering to each and every one of the 58,000 American heros you sold down the river.

Good riddance.

So, I get your drift now.

You judge the entire baby boomer generation by all of the a-holes that were a part of that generation, and dismiss the positive contributions of all others.

fogw on July 18, 2009 at 5:28 PM

Far more men of the “baby boomer generation” joined the Army (or Marines) than have the men of whatever one calls the current generation and far more died in that service. The number of Medal of Honor holders from Vietnam/”Baby Boom generation” dwarfs that from Iraq/Afghanistan/Current Generation.

But there was that one moment when Cronkite made a choice, made a decision, reached a conclusion that the war in South Vietnam was no longer worth fighting.

Skandia Recluse on July 18, 2009 at 10:54 AM

Well there are at least some who would say that he was about 14 years late.

Indochina is devoid of decisive military objectives and the allocation of more than token US armed forces in Indochina would be a serious diversion of limited US capabilities.
(Joint Chiefs of Staff, 26 May 1954)

No, I judge the entire generation on the SEVERE loss of patriotism, common decency, lack of respect that started with our glorious generation. I judge them by Boomers like Clinton, (official 1st White House Stain), Letterman, comedian that makes rape jokes about 14 year old girls, or Boomers like Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Boxer who willfully try to take down a nation. Or because we’re now supposed to be the older “responsible” generation that allowed a low life baby killing Commie to get elected President and allowed an entire industry, main stream media, to help him do it.

Jeff from WI on July 18, 2009 at 5:01 PM

So, I get your drift now.

You judge the entire baby boomer generation by all of the a-holes that were a part of that generation, and dismiss the positive contributions of all others.

That would include a large portion of the 57,000 soldiers who died in Vietnam. I guess they all had a SEVERE loss of patriotism, huh genius? Just like the troops who served in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you have any idea how many people you are offending with your childish jibberish?

I am embarrassed to have you as part of my generation.

BTW, Harry Reid is not a baby boomer, born in 1939. John Murtha is not a baby boomer, born in 1932. Nancy Pelosi is not a baby boomer, born in 1940. Babara Boxer is not a babay boomer, born in 1940. Guess you forgot to do your homework. These clowns were part of the so-called Gretest Generation.

I bet you feel pretty stupid now.

For Cronkite apologists:

Jeff from WI on July 18, 2009 at 5:17 PM

All things should be seen as they are without sentiment, or as BHO would not say, without empathy, one way or the other. The man’s impact should neither be played down nor exaggerated and is it ever being exaggerated by some.