Anderson Cooper & Walter Cronkite Old Fashion Journalists

The best interviews—like the best biographies—should sing the strangeness and variety of the human race.
Lynn Barber. British journalist

I suppose it’s another sign of aging when I enjoy a public lecture series as much as any concert. The other night On The Mark and I went to see Anderson Cooper interview Walter Cronkite.

Despite Cronkite’s difficulty hearing (he is 90 years old after all), the show was very interesting. I have even higher regard for Cooper’s journalistic skills and integrity than I did prior to the interview. Until Cooper came out and provided a brief introduction to the evening and about himself and Cronkite, I wasn’t aware of Cooper’s depth. He is among the first television reporters to a major battle or catastrophe, he doesn’t have to go, he can send other reporters and question them about what is going, but he goes himself. He has seen the dark choler and rancor of human behavior as well as its caring and consider side. He expects more from politicians than just canned answers. He says that no one has truly accepted the blame for inactivity in New Orleans.

Here are a few of Cronkite’s observations:

• Anna Nicole Smith? (I don’t believe for one second he wasn’t aware of who she was)


• Anderson Cooper is the best newsman/anchor out there, because he is not afraid to go where the action is and report what is really happening.


• People don’t realize how dangerous the situation is in the Middle East. Anyone can be killed at anytime, anywhere. During WWII there was a clear enemy and a frontline for battles.


• We never should have been in Iraq. We should not be there now.


• He does not watch Fox News since it is a biased organization, beginning with the ownership.


• Bobby Kennedy asked Cronkite to run for Senate, but Cronkite did take him seriously, since Kennedy didn’t even know what state he lived in.


• The one person he would have loved to interview was Hitler.


• The most significant event of the 20th Century was an American walking on the moon.


• Cooper asked Cronkite if was ever left speechless, “Often, I would momentarily forgot the date as I was signing off on some nights."

Cronkite and Cooper made for a nice evening and one that made people long for a day when news was more than just ratings and salacious headlines.

RIP Walter Cronkite

Objective journalism and an opinion column are about as similar as the Bible and Playboy magazine.
Walter Cronkite (1916-2009) journalist

I am delighted that I was able to see Walter Cronkite live a couple of years ago where he was interviewed by Anderson Cooper.

All the news reports on Cronkite tonight show how far news delivery has declined, which also includes understanding by viewers.

Sadly, that's the way it was and is today.

The post I wrote about seeing Cronkite: My Post

Iraqi Going Down a Familiar Path

And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Country Joe and the Fish, rock band

Families of fallen soldiers coming out against the war are going to be real problem for the Bush Gang. There is no Walter Cronkite to gage the country's pulse, but grieving parents make a poignant story.

The latest family to speak out against the war is Paul Schroeder and Rosemary Palmer, whose son Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder II, was killed two weeks ago in a roadside explosion that took the lives of 16 Marines from Ohio.

According to the article, the day after burying their son, the parents urged President Bush to either send more reinforcements to Iraq or withdraw U.S. troops altogether.

"We feel you either have to fight this war right or get out," Rosemary Palmer, mother of Lance Cpl. Edward Schroeder II, said Tuesday.

The soldier's father said his son and other Marines were being misused as a stabilizing force in Iraq.

"Our comments are not just those of grieving parents," Paul Schroeder said in front of the couple's home. "They are based on anger, Mr. President, not grief. Anger is an honest emotion when someone's family has been violated."

Palmer accused the president of refusing to make changes in a war gone bad. "Whether he leads them out by putting more troops on the ground or pulling them out - he can't just let it continue," she said.

The White House gang did not comment because, I am guessing here, they have not figured out a way to put a spin on it yet.

We Rather Dan Rather Leave Now

Justice is a certain rectitude of mind whereby a man does what he ought to do in the circumstances confronting him.
Thomas Aquinas (1225 - 1274), Italian theologian and philosopher

We think that Dan Rather has taken the path of cowardice. Rather should have resigned when his colleagues were fired. He read the now tainted Bush report, he gave the report the gravitas it needed, so he was just as at fault as anyone fired. The actions of firing may have been draconian, but nonetheless, he was the captain of the ship or the CEO of his news domain; to let the underlings solely pay the price is wrong.

Rather’s blunder completely obscured the fact that President Bush escaped his government commitment to serve because of favoritism. It is difficult to watch young men and woman being sent to die in Iraq, when the president did not have the guts to serve when he was called.

Rather needs to resign his news anchor seat immediately. His legacy has been tainted, rightly or wrongly, and he cannot hope to go out with all the fanfare of Tom Brokaw or Walter Cronkite, nor should he.