They've been running some great history reels on weekends.
Just now, they ran the 5/12/70 “show” by 5 Senators, including McGovern (who would soon landslide-lose to Nixon in the Watergate election) promoting the “Amendment to End the Vietnam War”
It was a week after the Kent State shooting. There was no such thing as “equal time” then - the President had a true bully pulpit. So they bought TV time to try and talk their constituents into, in effect, raising enough pressure on the Senate to pass the amendment reversing the damage done by LBJ and the Tonkin Resolution - and returning to Congress the sole power to declare war and send troops. (Only guy touting such a policy these days is Rand Paul, but discussing the Constitution in the Senate these days just gets you pilloried on CNN.)
The bill failed 55-39, in part because even some Democrats (on the heels of JFK and LBJ) thought a President should be given some leeway to implement the policies that elected them. But the fuse had been lit. “Vietnamization” was on its way to the ash heap. “Equal time” was coming. And seeing the proposal voiced to “get out and limit our support to financial” (which was a lie - we pulled the financial rug out too - the “bug out” was complete and shifted the Cold War back to Europe and the nuke sites) was a reminder that politicians only lie when they speak.
And watching Senators beg for support (“sign our petition” - “send money”) on a paid ad (which ran opposite Walter Cronkite CBS News, irony) was interesting. No talking heads faking news - casting thier politics as facts. Just bald raw footage of a scripted conversation between Senators.not even a moderator.
I miss the days when a Senator understood they worked for the people, and what the people felt and believed mattered, and was not just a political inconvenience to be overcome.
Anyway, watch some C-3. Facts on TV unadulterated by talking heads are a welcome memory during a pandemic isolation.
Just now, they ran the 5/12/70 “show” by 5 Senators, including McGovern (who would soon landslide-lose to Nixon in the Watergate election) promoting the “Amendment to End the Vietnam War”
It was a week after the Kent State shooting. There was no such thing as “equal time” then - the President had a true bully pulpit. So they bought TV time to try and talk their constituents into, in effect, raising enough pressure on the Senate to pass the amendment reversing the damage done by LBJ and the Tonkin Resolution - and returning to Congress the sole power to declare war and send troops. (Only guy touting such a policy these days is Rand Paul, but discussing the Constitution in the Senate these days just gets you pilloried on CNN.)
The bill failed 55-39, in part because even some Democrats (on the heels of JFK and LBJ) thought a President should be given some leeway to implement the policies that elected them. But the fuse had been lit. “Vietnamization” was on its way to the ash heap. “Equal time” was coming. And seeing the proposal voiced to “get out and limit our support to financial” (which was a lie - we pulled the financial rug out too - the “bug out” was complete and shifted the Cold War back to Europe and the nuke sites) was a reminder that politicians only lie when they speak.
And watching Senators beg for support (“sign our petition” - “send money”) on a paid ad (which ran opposite Walter Cronkite CBS News, irony) was interesting. No talking heads faking news - casting thier politics as facts. Just bald raw footage of a scripted conversation between Senators.not even a moderator.
I miss the days when a Senator understood they worked for the people, and what the people felt and believed mattered, and was not just a political inconvenience to be overcome.
Anyway, watch some C-3. Facts on TV unadulterated by talking heads are a welcome memory during a pandemic isolation.
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