Walter Cronkite has died. The orgy of media adulation is bound to reach proportions similar to when a President (or singing pedophile) dies, but it won’t include me.
Cronkite was an unabashed leftist, who did his best to undermine the US military effort during the Vietnam War. And succeeded. Jane Fonda was more blatant about it, but Cronkite flat out lied in 1968 when he told the world that the Tet Offensive had been a defeat for the US and a victory for the Viet Cong. The truth is that the Viet Cong suffered over 40,000 losses and ceased to be an effective fighting force trying to seize Hue and other key South Vietnamese cities. After Tet, the major fighting was carried out by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA), not the VC.
Old Uncle Walther helped the Communist forces seize victory from the jaws of defeat by timely reporting that it was hopeless to continue to fight in Vietnam.
Just as his successors tried to do in Iraq and will no doubt do shortly in Afghanistan. Well, they tried in Afghanistan back in 2001 and 2002, but had to rush off in 2003 to try to assure defeat in Iraq.
No doubt they’ll be back on the job in Afghanistan shortly.
No, I’ll shed no tears for this old dead fraud and neither should you.
Compare and contrast Tet and the Battle of the Bulge 24 years earlier. Both were disastrous defeats for the attackers, both came when the defender thought the attacker was "on the ropes".Cronkite was happy to call the second a defeat, but wouldn't have thought to do that to the first.
I'm not… I'm old enough to remember what he did and said.
Does this mean Michael Jackson is still dead?
Yes anonymous, SP is still dead. Old NFO, I had you in mind while I was typing this. Thanks for commenting.
I agree. Tet all but eliminated the VC as a fighting force and proved that the NVA could and would be defeated when standing toe to toe. It should have been the beginning of the end for the NVA. Cronkite convinced the citizenry otherwise and 50k+ were lost for nothing. Thanks Walt, you wanker.
Amen.
Wow, TOTWTYTR… You'll shed no tears at all over the death of a man who was a significant influence on American History died, just because you don't agree with his political views?Really?I don't agree with probably 60% of my family regarding politics, but when Uncle Marv passed, the echo of the 21 gun salute off the northwest Nebraska bluffs still brought a tear to my eye. I don't know enough first hand knowledge about Cronkite to tell if his passing would bring me to tears, but I certainly feel sympathy for his family, which you, apparently, do not.Maybe I'm not as heartless as you. I can live with that, I reckon.
Guess the real question is did the good outweigh the bad…In my mind, no.
Sorry, my friend, but you are wrong. Cronkite might have been a significant influence on American History, but I don't think he was a positive one. I'm not heartless at all. I feel a great sense of loss for the 50,000 Americans who died there, their families, and the countless South Vietnamese who were murdered, tortured, imprisoned, or who had to risk everything to get out of their former country. Not to mention the message that was sent to the enemies of our country who learned that America could be made to change foreign policy at the whim of a news reader.