Walter Cronkite has died

[Rangerguru]

http://www.yahoo.com/s/1102229" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rgrokelley]

http://www.yahoo.com/s/1102229

As a historian, and one not old enough to fight in the Vietnam war (I was 11 when it ended) I pretty much don't shed a tear for that asshole. The "most trusted man in America" was one of the biggest reasons that public opinion turned against the Vietnam war. After the Tet Offensive the Viet Cong had ceased to exist, and the NVA was hurt so bad that they could not recover for years. In any other war that would have been the turning point, the Stalingrad, the Fallujah, the Midway, but not so for Walter Cronkite. Because a handful of VC got into the embassy compound, and all died trying, Walter decided that there is no way we can win the war, and he told the American public the same.

This was a time without any alternative news source. All you had was ABC, CBS and NBC. Americans believed what they saw and heard on TV, because there was no rebuttal. Cronkite is one of the reasons, a big reason, that we lost the war in Vietnam.

So no RIP from me. Fuck him.

[Black 6]

fuck's sake... 92 fuckin' years old, it's not like it's fuckin' tragedy.

Or much of a surprise.

[Lefty]

Concur 100% with rgrokelley. And, not only did the American people believe him, North Vietnam and others used that against us to help divide the country. Soldiers were often treated like dirt--it was not unusal to be cussed, spit on, etc., in public and he had a part in that during that time period.

I put him in the same group as Jane Fonda.

I don't quite agree. Cronkite did not go to NVN and openly support the NVA. He did go to Hanoi shortly before the POWs were released to report on the status of POWs, especially the most recent ones who had been shot down in the last bombing campaigns. I remember seeing him trying to jot down names of POWs and quick notes for their families before he was stopped by the guards. He appeared openly sympathetic to the POWs and was not critical of them or the US soldiers. This is in complete contrast to Fonda's behavior. (Perhaps this footage gave rise to the false legend of Fonda turning the notes over to the guards)
He may have been part of the liberal media who were pessimistic about the war, but he wasn't running with the pro-NVA crowd with Fonda and her ilk.
Tet 68 was a massive defeat for the VC and NVA. It was misreported not just by Cronkite but by all the major news sources. Believing there would be a popular uprising of the people, the VC shadow government surfaced during the offensive and were decimated, eliminating them as a factor in the war. It crippled the NVA too. Average of the NVA soldier pre-Tet was something like 17-19. Post-Tet the average age was down to 15-17. Most of the dead and captured NVA I saw were just kids.

All the spectacular street fighting, dramatic footage for the TV news, was used as proof of the media's conception that the country was out of control and "unwinnable". Highlight of all that was the footage of the VC who got into the embassy compound but never made it into the embassy itself.

[rgrokelley]

So no RIP from me. fuck him.

I suppose you can send him off as you wish, but I didn't hear anyone on the left was saying "fuck him" when Charleton Heston died. due to the fact they opposed his pro gun stance. Perhaps I'm wrong and they were saying fuck him, who knows! If they did I won't stoop to their level.

It's wrong for groups to oppose and disturb funerals of veterans because they don't agree with the war they're fighting. I also think giving the respect we want in return is not abnormal.

Actually you weren't looking very hard. There were literally hundreds of left leaning blogs that talked serious smack when Heston died. However this is a bit different. Whether you cared for Heston's stance on gun control, or not, he did contribute to one of the major defeats in United States military history. His actions did not aid the enemy in a time of war. His biased viewpoint did not cause the deaths of thousands by creating an atmosphere of defeatism.

Cronkite... Fuck him.

[Lefty]

I have no idea what traitorous acts Cronkite committed so I can't comment on it.

I challenge anyone to document any acts of treason committed by Cronkite. He simply stated, in a moment of candor, his opinion that the war could not be won.

Jane Fonda, in complete contrast, went to NVN, appeared in newsreels denouncing the US war effort, denounced US troops, praised the NVA, and posed for that infamous photo of her on an NVA crew served AA gun complete with helmet. Throughout the war, and after, Fonda continued to denounce the US.

[rgrokelley]

I have no idea what traitorous acts Cronkite committed so I can't comment on it.

I challenge anyone to document any acts of treason committed by Cronkite. He simply stated, in a moment of candor, his opinion that the war could not be won.

Jane Fonda, in complete contrast, went to NVN, appeared in newsreels denouncing the US war effort, denounced US troops, praised the NVA, and posed for that infamous photo of her on an NVA crew served AA gun complete with helmet. Throughout the war, and after, Fonda continued to denounce the US.

Somehow me saying that Cronkite was pretty much the father of defeatism in America during the time of the Vietnam war, has been spun to him being treasonous. He wasn't treasonous, anymore than Christianna Amanpour was when she biased reported what was going on in Somalia. However, both are guilty of giving the enemy hope, incredible hope, and turning the American public off.

I'm watching "Sunday Morning" right now, and, surprise, surprise, it is a tribute to Cronkite and how he turned water into wine and raised the dead. The whole show is actually a memorial lamenting the fact that the big three networks are no longer able to spew one side. Or as one reporter stated the news today, is chaotic and has no more direction, but when Cronkite was on, everyone knew the "truth". Anyway, they showed Cronkite's notes when he went to Vietnam in 1965. At that time he had turned against the war and called it a quagmire and unsolveable. He didn't report this on air, but it was in his notes and this is what he believed. When he did go on the air in 1968 and state that the war was lost, it was unwinnable, LBJ said that if he lost Cronkite, he had lost the American people, and he decided not to run for reelection. No matter how many other variables were tossed into the mix, when Cronkite told the American public that the war was lost, the era of defeatism, and "blame America first" was created.

[Silverback]

one less celebutard

[rgrokelley]

On a sidenote, here is an article from the Wall Street Journal, speaking of the same thing we are:


The Lies of Tet

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120226056767646059.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;