I was highly entertained last night when I visited a relative who does not share my personal political viewpoint. She was watching "[her] favorite news show" Larry King Live on CNN and I happened to walk in right when Walter Cronkite was waxing poetic about the war correspondents.
Walter started off by explaining that he was in favor of journalists criticizing the administration, but that once the United States had actually entered into combat, the criticism should be avoided in deference to the war effort. Then, Walter went on for about two minutes explaining in specific detail what statements journalists should avoid, giving one criticism of the current war effort after the other. That's when I started laughing, it was so transparent.
My relative was perplexed, and asked me what was so funny. I didn't have the heart to get into it with her, because I concluded that if she couldn't see it, it wasn't worth trying to explain it to her.
The best part was the end. Walter complained that using the word "embedded" to describe the journalists was a mistake in his opinion, because it sounded too much like "in bed", and that's wrong, for the journalists to be "in bed" with their sources, and journalists shouldn't say things that people might misinterpret or fail to understand fully. Great comedy! Then Larry avoided pointing out the fallacies of Walter's entire liberal diatribe, gushed his love and respect, and said, --no kidding-- "It's an honor just to be in the presence of the man." At that, I actually guffawed and made my way out before someone questioned my sanity. Only the second time in my life I've watched Larry for more than 60 seconds, and worth every minute. |
