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Walter Cronkite

I do love Oliver. I find him much better than a Hannity because 1) he approaches his show with humor which destroys the idea he is a serious journalist and 2) he is not on a news channel.

CO is the one that hated Oliver. But all of them, Oliver included, lead to an issue. Americans are not that interested in current events. If one spends their hour a day watching an Oliver or a Hannity, they are not close to getting a well-rounded presentation.
Where did I say I hate Oliver? I think he is a waste of time. So is Hannity for that matter but I don‘t hate either of them. And I certainly don’t expect a well rounded presentation from anything on TV these days. There simply is no commercial value in a fair political commentary. As I said, the political middle has collapsed. Not only here, but everywhere.
 
I wouldn’t think Oliver would ever want to be confused with Jay Leno. Letterman was great though. If your complaint is there isn’t enough middle-brow entertainment anymore, it’s literally all over the place, including the Oscars, network and cable TV and any streaming service you can think of. There are more options now than ever, for every taste imaginable.
Letterman was good and obviously showed himself to be a left wing Democrat. I’m guessing that is why you think he was great. Today‘s late night celebs don’t get it. They think all you need is to be a left-winger. No, you have to be a good comic
 
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Where did I say I hate Oliver? I think he is a waste of time. So is Hannity for that matter but I don‘t hate either of them. And I certainly don’t expect a well rounded presentation from anything on TV these days. There simply is no commercial value in a fair political commentary. As I said, the political middle has collapsed. Not only here, but everywhere.
Hmm, is "waste of time" a term of endearment in the mountains? If I left a movie review "this movie is a waste of time" I find it exceedingly fair to say I hate the movie.

Do you envision yourself as the political middle that has collapsed?
 
Hmm, is "waste of time" a term of endearment in the mountains? If I left a movie review "this movie is a waste of time" I find it exceedingly fair to say I hate the movie.

Do you envision yourself as the political middle that has collapsed?
I already know that a Liberal is more liberal in finding people and ideas to hate. You confirm that once again. ;) I find a lot of space between something I consider a waste of time and something I hate.

Yeah, like millions of others I am a political refugee.
 
I already know that a Liberal is more liberal in finding people and ideas to hate. You confirm that once again. ;) I find a lot of space between something I consider a waste of time and something I hate.

Yeah, like millions of others I am a political refugee.
Thanks, I now know if you say a movie is a waste of time you mean I should go see it. Ok, CO disdains John Oliver not hates

Funny you find yourself a member of the middle. I am sure you do not see the really really strong irony.
 
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Letterman was good and obviously showed himself to be a left wing Democrat. I’m guessing that is why you think he was great. Today‘s late night celebs don’t get it. They think all you need is to be a left-winger. No, you have to be a good comic

I was in middle school when I started watching and the program was often littered with Clinton/Lewinsky jokes, so that’s not the reason. I will admit that it didn’t hurt that he was from Indiana. As far as today’s late night hosts, it has been a few years since I watched any or them but they must be doing good enough to keep their $15 million salaries. With countless channels and streaming options, I have to think you could find something closer to Leno if you really tried.
 
Thanks, I now know if you say a movie is a waste of time you mean I should go see it. Ok, CO disdains John Oliver not hates

Funny you find yourself a member of the middle. I am sure you do not see the really really strong irony.
Marv, I don’t know what middle even means any more since it mostly is extinct. I don’t think you do either. Do you really want me to list my liberal bona fides once again? I’ve posted about all of them.

Edit: I admit to holding strong well reasoned and substantive opinions. I think liberals confuse that with extremism.
 
The "Cronkite Era" news situation was entirely different than now. Back then three major networks attracted 90% of the viewers. The nightly news was subsidized by the major networks and didn't have to produce a profit.

As a result, money was spent on investigative journalism versus the opinion journalism of today. Republicans and Democrats tuned into the news host who was their favorite personality rather than selecting a newscast which featured their own political agenda.

Consequently a Walter Cronkite gave us highly investigated news with to a huge fan base which included viewers from both parties.
 
Marv, I don’t know what middle even means any more since it mostly is extinct. I don’t think you do either. Do you really want me to list my liberal bona fides once again? I’ve posted about all of them.

Edit: I admit to holding strong well reasoned and substantive opinions. I think liberals confuse that with extremism.

anyone who labels themself a conservative, a moderate, or a liberal, is nothing but a total sheep, thus a total and complete idiot.

labeling one's self so means you defer to nameless people behind closed doors of the team you root for, to decide how you should feel on this or that.

one's view on abortion should have absolutely zero to do with one's view on immigration, or race, or pot smoking, or gay rights, or guns, or vote by mail, nor should one's views on any of those have anything in the slightest to do with one's views on any of the others..

nor should one's views on any of those, or any other social issue, have anything what so ever to do with one's views on minimum wage, or medicare for all, or corporate taxes, or free trade, or corporate consolidation/monopolization, or money in politics, or personal or business taxes, or any other economic issues.

if your views on things mostly fall in line with those pushed by either party, (or more precisely, either branch of our one party), then you're a mindless idiot sheep, who's consciously or unconsciously letting others dictate your thinking and your vote.

every issue is a separate entity unto it's self, and should be treated as such.

to not do so, is allowing others to do your thinking for you.

which is the whole objective of said "others".
 
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I used to watch "Hardball" with Chris Matthews religiously back when he was on CNBC and was sane. Long before his "thrill up my leg" comment about Obama. One night he had Cronkite on, and he got him to admit he was a liberal.

Ironically, I found Matthews much more even-handed on CNBC than on MSNBC. He would routinely call himself "the most conservative Democrat" around.

If you're looking for down-the-middle questioning, I think the only place you're gonna find it is on CSPAN, obviously sans Steve Scully. Still haven't figured out Brian Lamb's political leanings after all these years.

CSPAN isn't the unbiased source most think it is, it just is more subtle about how they go about pushing the agendas of those who control it.

and Brian Lamb nor anyone else at CSPAN control it.

Comcast and AT&T do, and other telecom companies to a much lessor degree.

CSPAN doesn't push agendas though the opinions of the hosts, it does so by picking the topics to be discussed, and the guests discussing them.
 
The "Cronkite Era" news situation was entirely different than now. Back then three major networks attracted 90% of the viewers. The nightly news was subsidized by the major networks and didn't have to produce a profit.

As a result, money was spent on investigative journalism versus the opinion journalism of today. Republicans and Democrats tuned into the news host who was their favorite personality rather than selecting a newscast which featured their own political agenda.

Consequently a Walter Cronkite gave us highly investigated news with to a huge fan base which included viewers from both parties.

Cronkite and all the other anchors lied their asses off about Vietnam for over a decade, and weren't always holier than thou about other things either. (like smoking)

and tens of thousands of America's youth died unnecessarily because of it.

and millions more died from tobacco.

the US govt controlled all the broadcast licenses and frequencies of all tv stations, thus networks, and those with the power to control do so..

and big tobacco was a huge advertiser, thus controlled a lot of the revenues.

today big telecom who own the networks and the distribution platforms, and big advertisers like big pharma/big healthcare/big health insurance, are the ones who shape the coverage to their own self ends, with the US govt still having veto power over everything it wants it on, due to how much control the US govt has over big telecom and big pharma/healthcare/insurance.

money and power, not truth, still run the show.

and no way to ever negate that, thus the viewer has to realize who's dictating all coverage of everything affecting govt or the corporate interests, and filter things as best they can according to said knowledge.
 
CSPAN isn't the unbiased source most think it is, it just is more subtle about how they go about pushing the agendas of those who control it.

and Brian Lamb nor anyone else at CSPAN control it.

Comcast and AT&T do, and other telecom companies to a much lessor degree.

CSPAN doesn't push agendas though the opinions of the hosts, it does so by picking the topics to be discussed, and the guests discussing them.
Topic selection as a form of bias applies to all the networks. Good point
 
CSPAN isn't the unbiased source most think it is, it just is more subtle about how they go about pushing the agendas of those who control it.

and Brian Lamb nor anyone else at CSPAN control it.

Comcast and AT&T do, and other telecom companies to a much lessor degree.

CSPAN doesn't push agendas though the opinions of the hosts, it does so by picking the topics to be discussed, and the guests discussing them.
Good grief.....

You wouldn't know who Brian Lamb was, even if he came up and spit in your bowl of borscht.

I think your tinfoil hat needs some adjusting.
 
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Cronkite and all the other anchors lied their asses off about Vietnam for over a decade, and weren't always holier than thou about other things either. (like smoking)

and tens of thousands of America's youth died unnecessarily because of it.

and millions more died from tobacco.

the US govt controlled all the broadcast licenses and frequencies of all tv stations, thus networks, and those with the power to control do so..

and big tobacco was a huge advertiser, thus controlled a lot of the revenues.

today big telecom who own the networks and the distribution platforms, and big advertisers like big pharma/big healthcare/big health insurance, are the ones who shape the coverage to their own self ends, with the US govt still having veto power over everything it wants it on, due to how much control the US govt has over big telecom and big pharma/healthcare/insurance.

money and power, not truth, still run the show.

and no way to ever negate that, thus the viewer has to realize who's dictating all coverage of everything affecting govt or the corporate interests, and filter things as best they can according to said knowledge.
Cronkite declared the Vietnam War as "unwinnable" which is one of the few examples of injecting his opinions into broadcasts.

Did Cronkite lie, or did all the pundits including McNamara, LBJ, and Nixon who told us "victory was just around corner" mislead the American populace?
 
All the news stories, opinions, and personalities on local, national and cable are just filling space between commercials.
 
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anyone who labels themself a conservative, a moderate, or a liberal, is nothing but a total sheep, thus a total and complete idiot.

labeling one's self so means you defer to nameless people behind closed doors of the team you root for, to decide how you should feel on this or that.

one's view on abortion should have absolutely zero to do with one's view on immigration, or race, or pot smoking, or gay rights, or guns, or vote by mail, nor should one's views on any of those have anything in the slightest to do with one's views on any of the others..

nor should one's views on any of those, or any other social issue, have anything what so ever to do with one's views on minimum wage, or medicare for all, or corporate taxes, or free trade, or corporate consolidation/monopolization, or money in politics, or personal or business taxes, or any other economic issues.

if your views on things mostly fall in line with those pushed by either party, (or more precisely, either branch of our one party), then you're a mindless idiot sheep, who's consciously or unconsciously letting others dictate your thinking and your vote.

every issue is a separate entity unto it's self, and should be treated as such.

to not do so, is allowing others to do your thinking for you.

which is the whole objective of said "others".
This post is moronic. There are deep biological reasons behind a lot of peoples political affiliations.


I label myself a conservative because most of my beliefs line up with the conservative platform.

I’m not being duped and giving up all ability to think for myself. This post is just you smelling your own farts.
 
Hmm, is "waste of time" a term of endearment in the mountains? If I left a movie review "this movie is a waste of time" I find it exceedingly fair to say I hate the movie.
It's according how you mean waste of time. I find Oliver and Hannity a waste of time as far as news. The problem is that a lot of people watch them and think what they say is gospel. But like CO I don't hate them.... just not interested in what they have to say.
 
Cronkite declared the Vietnam War as "unwinnable" which is one of the few examples of injecting his opinions into broadcasts.

Did Cronkite lie, or did all the pundits including McNamara, LBJ, and Nixon who told us "victory was just around corner" mislead the American populace?
I never saw a good description of what "winning' the WIV would look like. I do know that if not so politically restrained, we could have done a lot more damage to the VC while losing a lot less US soldiers. We talked about 16:1 but it should have been 116:1.
 
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Cronkite declared the Vietnam War as "unwinnable" which is one of the few examples of injecting his opinions into broadcasts.

Did Cronkite lie, or did all the pundits including McNamara, LBJ, and Nixon who told us "victory was just around corner" mislead the American populace?
Cronkite fairly often offered opinion & commentary, and when he did so, the screen had the word "commentary" plastered at the bottom. so that you knew that it was his opinion that you were hearing. Such truth in branding is what is absent from all "news" channels today.

My parents were CBS news junkies and I still go to them for 6:30 PM daily news. Norah O'Donnell, I am sure, leans left. But I am generally satisfied with how they back up reports with legit investigative journalism.
 
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I never saw a good description of what "winning' the WIV would look like. I do know that if not so politically restrained, we could have done a lot more damage to the VC while losing a lot less US soldiers. We talked about 16:1 but it should have been 116:1.
CST, you bring up a good point when you ask what would winning the Vietnam war have looked like.

This article entitled "Could the United States Have Won in Vietnam?" tries to answer this question.

In reading the article our efforts in Iraq came to mind.
 
My 89 year old dad used to tell me, "Believe nothing you hear, and only 1/2 of what you see.

He's still pretty wise for a liberal, as evidenced by the fact that my mom is a Trumpy Republican, and they have been married for over 70 years.
If he's 89 and still a liberal, he's not wise.
 
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If he's 89 and still a liberal, he's not wise.
Wow...good to know that elderly parents are not off limits. I'll make sure to let you know when he passes so you can get a couple of good zingers in. He did just get out of the hospital for a bad fall a couple of months ago, so go ahead and get warmed up.
And I can only assume that if none of your peanut gallery buddies calls you out, their parents are fair game as well.
Let the games begin.
 
Wow...good to know that elderly parents are not off limits. I'll make sure to let you know when he passes so you can get a couple of good zingers in. He did just get out of the hospital for a bad fall a couple of months ago, so go ahead and get warmed up.
And I can only assume that if none of your peanut gallery buddies calls you out, their parents are fair game as well.
Let the games begin.
Nah. Your pop didn’t make it 89 years suffering fools.
 
Wow...good to know that elderly parents are not off limits. I'll make sure to let you know when he passes so you can get a couple of good zingers in. He did just get out of the hospital for a bad fall a couple of months ago, so go ahead and get warmed up.
And I can only assume that if none of your peanut gallery buddies calls you out, their parents are fair game as well.
Let the games begin.
You all have been insulting the elderly, including my parents, for over 4 years with your generalizations of Republican voters, which is the primary reason I have chosen to retaliate with personal attacks over the past year. Spare me your johnny come lately outrage. Yet another example of selective ignorance...
 
You all have been insulting the elderly, including my parents, for over 4 years with your generalizations of Republican voters, which is the primary reason I have chosen to retaliate with personal attacks over the past year. Spare me your johnny come lately outrage. Yet another example of selective ignorance...
Exactly the response I would expect from you.
Thanks for not disappointing.
 
You all have been insulting the elderly, including my parents, for over 4 years with your generalizations of Republican voters, which is the primary reason I have chosen to retaliate with personal attacks over the past year. Spare me your johnny come lately outrage. Yet another example of selective ignorance...
It's all good. JDB thinks his parents are blood sucking Boomers who are robbing their children and grandchildren of their future.
 
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