And she's a retiree!

There's a woman whose blog I visit occasionally as part of Saturday 9. I know Bud wants his venerable meme to survive, if not thrive, and since I took the mantle of "Samantha Winters," I've tried to make sure everyone who plays is happy, or at least not UNhappy.

Anyway, this weekend, she posted something that really disturbed me. Not because of her political inclinations. I've long ago given up trying to understand how evangelicals can support a thrice-married, self-proclaimed "pussy grabber" who knowingly lied about President Obama's birth certificate. She and I will have to agree to disagree. (Though she is a proud "Cat Lady" and rescuer, so there has to be a heart in there somewhere!)

No, this was about Walter Cronkite. "Uncle Walter." She wrote that today's news media is "hard to digest when you know a lot of it is fake news.  There are no Walter Cronkites anymore. 😞."

This woman is certainly old enough to know about Vietnam. To know about Walter Cronkite's famous 1968 editorial denouncing long-standing U.S. policy. He said the President was lying to us, and told America that the war was simply not winnable.

Back in those days, we weren't conservatives or liberals. We were Hawks or Doves. And the Hawks sharpened their talons and took off after Walter Cronkite. They didn't use terms like "fake news" because they were more nuanced. They said his reporting was "slanted." But the message was the same -- if you don't just accept what the President says you are wrong, unpatriotic, prejudiced. You are using your media platform to sway Americans to your agenda.

Except, of course, that Walter Cronkite was telling the truth. Just as CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, "the failed NY Times" and the Washington Post are telling the truth about Donald Trump.

So, Madam, there are Walter Cronkites out there. Reporters and newscasters who risk their reputations and sometimes their lives to speak truth to power.  

In his 2017 documentary, filmmaker Ken Burns says some Americans just want to forget about Vietnam. It was so sad, so divisive, so violent. I guess this blogger is one of those people. After all, as a retiree, she was born in the 1950s. She must have been cognizant when Cronkite gave his editorial. She must have known boys who served -- boys who are now old men or who, sadly, were deprived of the opportunity to live to old age.

It's convenient to always believe your POTUS is telling you the truth. It's easier to dismiss dissident voices as "fake news." But it's perilous. We should know that by now.