Walter Cronkite Needs Some New Stem Cells

Back in “the good old days”—you know, the days when my whole future was in front of me, my body was trim and healthy, my mind was pure, and Bear Bryant was still alive and coaching the University of Alabama to the Sugar Bowl almost every year—any way, back then there was CBS news and "our" most beloved news anchor, Sir Walter Cronkite.

I didn’t know much back then, but I knew that if Walter Cronkite said it, IT MUST BE TRUE. Walter narrated the news for me and my family, beginning in the days of black and white news footage. Things like John Glenn’s first earth orbits, JFK’s assassination, the Apollo moon landings, and the attempted assassination of George Wallace--we could count on Walter to tell us what we needed to know in south Alabama.

The concepts of right and wrong were, like night and day, a given in network TV news back then...we thought. The idea of the highly respected national media taking sides on a given issue, let alone partisan sides, was a totally alien concept.

How things have changed today, relative to the public’s (and especially my own) perception of the media, in general, and the height of the pedestal that 87 year old Walter Cronkite sets on today, specifically.

In an interview with Larry King on CNN last evening. Larry played the latest Osama Bin Laden tape. Then he asked Mr. Cronkite for comments. Walter had this to say:

“So now the question is basically right now, how will this affect the election? And I have a feeling that it could tilt the election a bit. In fact, I'm a little inclined to think that Karl Rove, the political manager at the White House, who is a very clever man, he probably set up bin Laden to this thing. (bold emphasis mine-VRRIII) The advantage to the Republican side is to get rid of, as a principal subject of the campaigns right now, get rid of the whole problem of the al Qaqaa explosive dump. Right now, that, the last couple of days, has, I think, upset the Republican campaign.”

To his credit, Larry King completely ignored the reference to Karl Rove planting the Bin laden tape. Yet one has to wonder why, since this revelation was a major part of the first few dozen words out of Cronkite’s mouth. Then, not suprisingly, King gives “old man Concrete” a pass--not only on the insinuation of potential foul play, but also on the follow-up blithering where he indicates that his rationale for this statement was the mean old Republicans who were trying to get rid of the Al Qaqaa missing explosive story; a story, by the way, that just so happens to be highly suspect and to have been trumped up by the New York Times and Masseur Cronkite’s beloved CBS News show "60 Minutes" against Mr. Rove’s candidate, President Bush.

I’m sorry, but I'm distraught. There is nothing left to believe in any more. No Santa Clause, no Easter Bunny, no Great Pumpkin, and now we find that Walter Cronkite has signed on with the naked, unabashed, run around in your stocking feet, roll your eyes back in your head,wear-a- funny-hat-with-Dan Rather's Bush-bashing-campaign as a card carrying, publicly outspoken, bleeding heart liberal.

Even worse, maybe Walter started it all decades ago and I just didn’t know about it until now.

Oh waiter, check please....