Friday, November 04, 2011

Perspective on a Debacle

When you start the editorial with a paragraph like this one, I know I'm going to have to read through until the end. I did and it was worth it.
This was once a serious country with serious newspapers, back in the day when they were edited by serious editors and a man had the right to confront an accuser before she was allowed to destroy his reputation, career and even his life.
Let's Get the Hanging Over So We Can Celebrate the Coronation

I would sure like to get some unvarnished facts out of this. The "Wilderness of Mirrors" double-agent skulduggery that is being attributed to the various players is confusing me terribly.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

1. If you run for POTUS you can expect to keep no secrets, PERIOD.

2. The author seems to want have his own facts rather than the truth since an attorney for one of the women involved has stated she wishes for the confidentiality agreement be waived so she can tell her story.

3. The sexual harrasment story that politico has run has a half dozen sources. More than enough for old-fashion print journalism which usually requires at least two. Good thing Mr Pruden was not Wooodward & Bernstiens editor or Watergate would have been swept under the rug.

It is fun to watch the GOP cnadidates fighting amongst themselves. Us folks in the Obama Camp are LAAO.

~Leadfoot

Ed Rasimus said...

I still fall back on the language of the Politico story. The "non-sexual gesture" which made her feel "uncomfortable". I live by the rule that adults act like adults. That not only means reasonable behavior but it also means elimination of hyper-sensitivity.

It isn't the GOP candidates fighting among themselves. It is the descent of American politics into the kindergarten playpen of the mainstream media.

And, I really don't know what you "folks in the Obama Camp" have got to laugh about. I think once the fact of your internment becomes fully apparent you might find yourself weeping.

Anonymous said...

All Mr Cain has to do is publicly say, "As far as I am concerned the National Restauarant Association should honor any requests by the women in question regarding waivers to any confidentaility agreements"

The "mainstream media" has gone from Walter Cronkite declaring the Vietnam War was lost to a thousand different voices singing their own tune. Cronkite acted honorably, with patriotism and was right in his viewpoint but do you really want to go back to the day when one journalist had that much power? Especially since Cronkites only come by once a century.

~leadfoot

Ed Rasimus said...

Lead, the NRA has granted the waiver, but the accuser now says she just wants to let the matter be forgotten. Apparently her work is done and the ridicule of her actual accusation doesn't really merit the scrutiny it might receive.

As for Cronkite, anyone who could view the outcome for the VC and NVA of Tet '68 and say WE had lost was not a patriot but a traitor.

Unfortunately, Cronkites are not in short supply. They have multiplied like an evil virus.

Anonymous said...

I've since read that the NRA will grant a waiver. Let's see how that shakes out before we speak too quickly. i's and t's may need to be dotted and crossed. Besides you know as well as I do that monday is the best day for the truth to come out.

You should not question the patriotism of a reporter who voluntarily flew a mission with the Mighty Eighth over Nazi Germany (journalist Robert Post was KIA in another aircraft) and was on a glider with the 101st in Operation Market-Garden.

Unfortunately like WWII for Japan Vietnam was a war that was lost the moment we decided to fight it. You were betrayed by politicians not Walter Cronkite.

`Leadfoot

Ed Rasimus said...

Benedict Arnold fought valiantly at one time, but we wouldn't continue to call him patriotic would we? Lyndon Johnson flew one mission as an observer and they gave him the same Silver Star that I've got. Somehow I think there are differences.

John Kerry, they tell me, got three purple hearts. I was taught that the idea was to shoot the other guy for your nation's defense, not get shot yourself. He went on to throw someone else's Silver Star over the White House fence and testify that all of the rest of the US military were war criminals. Gotta love the guy, don't you?

MagiK said...

Someone referred to Cronkite as a Patriot? Mr. "it isnt news unless I say it is news?" Mr. We lost during the Tet Offensive? The man was a moron with a mircrophone, nothing more.

Anonymous said...

1. Arnold actually worked with the British. Do you you have evidence that Cronkite worked for any Foreign Power?

2. Cronkite was influenced by having dinner with Gen Abrams who said "we cannot win this Goddamned war, and we ought to find a dignified way out."[ I guess Creighton Abrams is a traitor too.

3. Whether the United States could have won the war in Vietnam if journalists hadn’t made mistakes in covering Tet or if Walter Cronkite had kept silent is to ask the wrong question. The right question is whether the United States could have won the war at a cost Americans would have found acceptable. And the truth is that both Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon failed to persuade the American public that it could.

4. Maxwell Taylor may have said it best... "Until we know the enemy and know our allies and know ourselves, we'd better keep out of this kind of dirty business. It's very dangerous."

5. Minor correction Cronkite actually said the war was a stalemate not lost. Although in my view a stalemate in Vietnam is a loss from the US point of view.

~Leadfoot

Ed Rasimus said...

You draw the wrong conclusions in those statements.

Benedict Arnold was wearing the uniform of this country while working for the enemy. That is a pretty basic definition of traitor and not patriot.

Gen. Abrams speaking to his dinner table about frustration with political mismanagement is considerably different than using a pseudo-journalist position to propagandize on behalf of the enemy and diminish the victory of your own military.

Could the US have "won" the war in SEA? We seemed to have been able to wrap things up conclusively in eleven days of 1972 when political restraints were removed and military judgment was able to bring force to bear.

With regard to statements regarding how to win the war, I suggest you refer to the chapter in Fighter Pilot in which Robin Olds tells LBJ what it will take in very clear terms. That took place in late fall of 1967. It was very good advice and very achievable.

Anonymous said...

1. So Cronkite is not a traitor unlike Benedict Arnold. And I never said Arnold was anything but a traitor just to be clear. Your welcome to disagree with Cronkites assessment of the war but to characterize them as the actions of a traitor is ridiculous. It reminds me of the quote to Capt Gustave Gilbert by Goering at Nuremberg.

2. Gen Abrams knew Cronkite since WWII. He knew who he was speaking to and what might happen with the words he uttered.

3. The NVA wrapped things up pretty conclusively in April of 75. Unfortunately

4 I read Fighter Pilot. Good work. I don't recall what level of escalation Col Olds advocated to LBJ. But Col Olds did not have the information that LBJ had. Apparently LBJ's biggest fear was Red China entering the war if the war was escalated.


5. I sure hope we didn't invade Iraq so it could become an Iranian Satellite. Although the 4trillion dollar hanging was nice.

~leadfoot

hitman said...

Yep, the NVA wrapped things up in'75, while the democrats watched with thier fingers in thier asses. Probably the same thing they'll do in a couple of months when the Iranians roll into Bahgdad.