of course. that's "the fox report" for friday, july 17, 2009. i'm jon scott in for shepard smith. [captioning made possible by fox news] "the o'reilly factor" is on. tonight -- >> no one has written your destiny lar -- for you. your destiny is in your hands. i cannot forget that. no excuses. laura:president obama addresses the naacp and talks personal responsibility. is he really the racial healer in chief? >> she's a quitter. let me put it to you this way, she could never make it as a frog man or navy seal. >> the nonstop trashing of sarah palin goes on and on. why is she every liberal pundit's favorite punching bag? >> whatever in vitro, doctor or clinic gives this woman in vitro fertilizeation, it ought

to be closed >> i don't hear people saying men at 72 can't do it. laura: and children at risk -- when women become mothers in their 60's and 70's. the impact. caution, are about to enter the no-spin zone. the factor begins right now. hi, everyone. i'm laura ingraham, reporting tonight for bill o'reilly. thanks so much for watching. the democrats and race is the subject of tonight's "talking points" memo. the president was elected last november in part on the promise to heel the -- heal the racial divide. we were told it was a watershed moment for race relations in the united states. recently his party and he have in different ways demonstrated in different ways they're not above using race to advance

their left-wing agenda. last night president obama spoke to the names and channeled his best germiah wright accent >> if john lewis could brave billy clubs across the bridge, i'm sure our young people can lift up their ability. i know we can be better fathers and better brothers and mothers and sisters in our own families. laura: why is the first african-american president feeling the need to affect an accent he clearly does not possess? or is that the way people speak in honolulu? it's a cheap attempt to pander to people who already support him. and don't forget senator barbara "don't call her ma'am" boxer. at a hearing she tried to belittle one black grourning the black chamber of commerce,

by citing reports from other black groups. >> i am putting in the report -- record a report from the naacp. >> why? >> because i think it is quite relevant. >> why are you doing the colored people's association study with the black chamber of commerce in >> i am trying to show the diversity of support this has. >> diversity? this has nothing to do with the naacp and nothing to did with the national black chamber of commerce. we're talking energy and that road the chair went down i think is god-awful. laura: by the way, on monday, harry alford, the man who had that dust-up with senator boxer, is going to be on the factor exclusively. and by the way this was a hearing on cap and trade, not on race. why was senator boxer playing the race card in but wait -- the racial healing doesn't stop there. when challenged to -- support

-- on support for abortions funding in the district of columbia, senator dick durbin said this -- it's a fact that a disproportionate number of african-americans live in d.c. can you imagine if a republican senator had said such a thing? and of course the media coverage of the democrats sams missteps is almost nonexistent. the democrats are taking for granted an important part of their base and at the same time insulting the intelligence of plaques who dare to disagreement that's the "memo." now for another perspective, dr. mark sawyer, an african-american studies professor from ucla and from the national association of black conservatives. dr. sawyer let's start with you.

parts of the speech i really liked. i liked when he was talking about personal responsibility that we all as individuals have to stand up. i liked that. but what was going on with the accent he was affecting? i thought that was just weird. >> first of all, thank you for having me on. i'm also a member of the political science department alt ucla. the accent? he's embedded himself in african-american culture and been embraced by the african-american community. no one finds it insulting. i didn't. the message was gsm the african-american community has long believed people should pull themselves up by their boot straps and make sure they have boots to pull themselves up by. laura: he doesn't speak that way when he's giving an interview to cnbc. >> buzz -- does he only -- >> if you listen to a speech he gave in new hampshire that was

hardly a black audience. the yes, we can audience. laura: that seems like a long time ago now. >> it was but he uses it regularly. and that was a white audience. laura: it's not the way he speaks if he went to louisiana. to me it's just odd. michael, it's not just the accent i'm getting into here m my "talking points" memo. it's the sense of the guy who was supposed to be the racial healer yet his party time and time again seems to use race in ways i think is clearly just a pandering attempt to advance the left-wing agenda whether the dick durbin comment about abortions or barbara boxer belittling the report by the black chamber of commerce. >> laura, thank you for having me on. i have to agree with you to this extent. i believe that barack obama and the democrat party have proven

them seps unequivocably willing and able to use race whenever it is to their advantage to do so. i don't have a problem with that if they would just be honest and say we're going to use the useful idiots to get our point across. if you're going back to the speech last night and if we can tie in mr. alford's comments to boxer, three quick concerns. the three things i found troubling, first of all in president obama's speech he referenced aids as being the great killer of blacks in america. aids is not the great killer of blacks in america a abortion is. abortion is the number one killer of blacks in america today. the other point i found disturbing is that he was -- barbara boxer had this dustup with harry alford, and i applaud his willingness to

stand up to her, when of course barack obama was there last night but 56% of black americans, 56% in a poll done by the national center for public policy research and wilson research strategies, 56% of blacks believe that policy makers have failed to adequately consider economics and quality of life concerns. they said 76% of blacks want congress to make economic recovery. and one last thing. i fear that this whole speech, this thing about family, this entire thing about personal responsibility, my concern is that this masks a more sinister intention and that being the government has given you the poor family, the black family, the hispanic family, we've given you an opportunity to take care of your children, we're not doing it, we're going to do it for you.

laura: let's get dr. sawyer in. that was a long answer, a lot of points in there. i think what mychal is saying is that the larger state apparatus, that in a sense will be our new family. yet martin luther king and so many other black leaders traditionally talked about the strength of individual families, the black family, the white family, the latino family, what have you. are you not concerned about the encroaching government presence in all of our lives, dr. sawyer? >> not at all. families haven't ceased to exeist -- exist in france or england. families need assistance. they want health care, public investment in education, they want things like public universities like the one i teach at. just because there is a public university doesn't mean my family ceases to exist. many of those things support black families. many work for the post office,

the government -- laura: how about small businesses getting hammered under the obama economy? small businesses are being destroyed in america left and right because of what we're seeing in this economy and black employment -- unemployment is way higher than any other ethnic groums during the last five months. >> and that trend has always continued under republicans and i -- they've done nothing about it. republicans have always been willing to use racism to whip up votes. >> but republicans are not in power. laura: we appreciate your time very much. up next, does the obama administration have any idea to -- how to fix the economy? and then former minnesota governor jesse ventura has harsh words for sarah palin.

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laura: in the "unresolved problems" segment tonight, when it comes to restoring economic prosperity in this country is the obama administration striking out? you may remember what joe biden said earlier this who when the $787 billion stimulus package wasn't a quick fix. >> did the economic package we put in place, including the recovery act, is it the right package given the circumstances

we're in? we believe it is the right package given the circumstances we're in. we misread how bad the economy was. laura: now the have. is offering a new prescription or turning things around. >> even if we wanted to keep it the way we have it now we couldn't do it financially. we're going to go bankrupt as a nation. when i say that people look at me, like what are you talking about, joe? are you telling me we got to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt? anyway -- yeah, that's what i'm telling you. >> joining us, john, and julie. julie i keep hearing from people like larry summers and tim geithner that we're not out of the woods but we've turned the corner. i see in front of us an average combined state and federal tax rate of 52% and 62 million jobs

shed over the past five, six months in this country. even with the numbers they're thinking they can raise from taxing the raise they're not going to be able to pay for this health care reform. how is this working? >> well, we've been in a freefall for is it -- some time. at least what we're seeing is the freefall is stopping. laura: but we have unemployment rates that they warned us against in january if the stimulus wasn't signed. >> the money is getting out as quickly as they could. states and municipalities have to get things in order to be ready for the ready -- money. right now they've used some of this money to keep jobs that would have been lost. that number would have been a lot worse when they had to fire teachers and cops.

laura: oh, that's the old teachers and cops thing. that's the line. brian, you know, if it's cops, you have criminals roaming the streets. i didn't buy this in january and i'm not buying it now. looking at these numbers, regardless of how rosie a forecast we're seering -- hering from larry summers and tim geithner. >> larry summers had originally said "you will begin to feel the effects almost immediately" of the stimulus. president obama said we would create 600,000 jobs by the end of the summer. instead we've lost millions. if that isn't failure, what is? you cannot spend your way out of a recession and this has been proven time and time again. it's 1930's economics. we have run a budget deficit this year of $2 trillion. if deficit spending really

stimulated the economy, wouldn't $2 trillion in deficit spending be overheating it? and if it hasn't why would the next stimulus make a difference? we can't spend our way out of the recession. laura: julie, approval numbers down for the president, economic approval the why do you think that's said in >> well, obviously, they have even said they thought they would have results faster. it's just taking longler than expected. laura: and this is bush's fault? >> you said it. laura: no, that's what they're all saying. "we inherited can." >> realistically if you look at the countdown clock of 2000 when suddenly under clinton we had surpluses and they stopped

the countdown clock and in 2002 when we stopped play -- paying that off -- laura: we can stipulate to the fact that congress spent too much over the past several years but we're in today. we are on the verge of becoming a european style welfare state and on the verge of losing our superior economic standing in the world. china's growth rate, 7.9%. china, india, steems -- seems to be the place today to set up business and do business. they're freeing up business for growth. littles do the math. the top rate snow 35%. president obama wants to add a 5.5% surtaaction on that, then raise them back to where they were under president clinton. when you add the state and local and medicare tax burden we aring loog at a top tax rate of 55% compared with france which has a top rate of 43% and

the president still wouldn't be able too finance his entire agenda with a 55% tax rate. the last time we had taxes like this was the jimmy carter administration. laura: oh, don't scare me here. it's the weekend. i got to be in a good mood. a fox news report. sad news to report. walter con cite -- cronkite, the original television anchorman has died at age 92. the first man to be given the title of anchorman when he anchored a political convention, of which he covered every single one from 1952 to 1980 with the exception of 1964 when he was briefly sidelined for a two-man tandem, walter cronkite has died at age 92. he wade add shore in the normandy invasion to watch american troops trying to free france from the nazis. he made history in so many

respects, including his coverage of the space race. it was 40 years ago today that he was covering in fact the apollo 11 mission, the first one to put man on the moon. in 1963 when the cbs evening news expanded from 15 minutes, walter cronkite became the anchor of television's first 30-minute newscast and was the first to report president kennedy's death in 1963 and remained on the air for much of the coverage of that awful event in 1963. walter cronkite, once again, if you are just joining us, has died at age 9 it. born november 4, 1916 in st. joseph, missouri. his father a dentist. his mother a housewife. the name comes from the dutch merchants from whom he was descended. his mother's stock primarily

german the he had apparently ready an article in "american boy" magazine about the adventures of reporters working around the world and that inspired his interest in journalism. so in 1933 to 1935 he headed for the university of texas at austin where he studied political science, economics, and journalism. he joined the fraternity there and ran in his only political race for freshman class president and wound up losing to a childhood buddy. he melt his future wife, mary elizabeth betsy maxwell while working alt a kansas city radio station, kcmo. at the university. of texas he volunteered for the college newspaper, the daily texan, getting paid for part-time work as a copy boy and reporter for newspapers in the capital bureaus. again, he was the original anchorman. it was noted that he would be

the anchor of coverage of the political convention in 1952 and the name stuck. those of us who have followed him in this business have been anchors ever since but walter con cite -- cronkite was the original. let's talk a little bit about his career with chris wallace. i -- the host of "fox news sunday" is joining us on the phone now. chris, your thoughts on the passing of walingt -- walter cronkite? >> well, i've known him really all of my life. grew up around him, worked for him as a teenager at the conventions. he was a great journalist and although obviously he went to fame and fortune as a tv anchor, his training was in the wire services, in u.p.i. during

world war ii over in europe and he always had that news man's sense of who, what, when, where, why, very much a reporter's reporter as he became a superstar. and there's something so poignant it seems to me about his diagram on this particular weekend. i'm looking as i'm talking to you, the pictures up -- of him up on the screen on fox news, of course this was the 40th anniversary of apollo 11 and he was. -- was the national cheerleader nor -- for the space program and the two iconic moments we remember of walter cronkite were the day john kennedy was assassinated, november 22, 1963 -- chris, let me true. you for a second. we're going to take a look back now at the life of legend

walter cronkite. >> he was once considered the most trusted man in america. certainly in television news. >> president nixon reportedly will announce his resignation tonight. >> his reassuring voice took this nation through some of the most important events of the 20th century. for 30 years americans welcomed him in their homes for a nightly news cast. he was born in st. joseph, missouri. in high school the journalism bug bit. he started reading tales of course foreign correspondents. he joined the school's yearbook and newspaper staff. at the university of texas at austin he took a part time job at the post and that led to a full position. as a sportscaster he had a challenge -- the station had no

wire. so he ran back from next door to broadcast the stories. the station let him go, saying he would "never make a radio announcer." he got a job at the state capitol and this led to a full-time job at the houston press newspaper and the end of his two-year college career. his parents did not seem too disappointed he never graduated. in the great depression a job was considered more valuable than an education. during world war ii cronkite worked for a correspondent for u.p.i. he stayed on as chief correspondent during the nuremberg war crimes trial. in 1950 he was lured to cbs where he covered politics and hosted historical documentaries. he helped found the cbs evening news which he anchored. more americans started to get

their news from cronkite than from nbc's huntley and brinkley report. >> the united states information agency -- >> he broke some of the century's biggest stories. >> president kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. central standard time, 2:00 eastern standard time, some 38 minutes ago. >> when president kennedy was assassinated, the stoic anchor showed emotion for the first time. >> i'm not very cold-blooded. i can cry over wounded animals as well as people. but that was the only time i think i really broke on the air. >> when he finally had a public opinion, america listened. >> if the community intention was to take as -- and seize the cities they came closer here at hue than anywhere else ms >> when he opposed the war in vietnam,. lyndon johnson remarked "if

i've lost cronkite i've lost middle america." >> i don't believe that was a deciding matter at all. it was just another droven water in a great torrent that was overwhelming not lyndon johnson at that point. >> cronkite's focus on the watergate scandal during the nixon administration helped propel that story to the headlines. in the last few months of his tenure, cronkite was given 11 awards, including the presidential medal of course freedom. afterwards he continued to host specials. in 1985 he was the first newsman aside from edward r. murrow to be inducted into the television hall of fame. even in his retirement he was tive in television. during the 1996 presidential campaign he led the fight for free air time 0 on tv networks

for presidential candidates. in his final years he was a highly sought-after public speaker, host of documentaries and avid sailor on his yacht. as television news moved out of its infancy, walter cronkite helped it mature. >> that's the way it is -- >> i'm erik shawn, fox news. >> walter cronkite, dead tonight at age 92 some 28 years after he last signed off on the cbs evening news. let's talk about his life and career with senior political analyst brit hume, joining us by phone the >> hi, there. cronkite was a giant of his time. he defined the jove teaching -- tv anchorman in the era in which he was in his prime and he came out of a tradition that is to some extent lost, and that is say tradition which says news anchors must refrain from in any sense indicating

their opinion of anything and i remember there was a scuffle with dan rather, then a correspondent with cbs news, on the floor in 1968 and con -- cronkite said it sounded like there were a bunch of thumps on the floor. he later apologized for that, saying that the roughing up of a correspondent was even something he should not express an opinion about. it was a different era. it sure was. reading through here, he covered khruschev's visit to the united states, the kennedy assassination, the first part of the space program from the first miserable failures to the triumphal landing on the moon and beyond. what an amazing seat he had for the history of the planet. >> he was a war correspondent in world war i 1 and worked for the wire service. he i think he worked for u.p.i., but it might have been

a.p., i don't recall the in those days reporters who worked for services like that were very strictly forbidden to inject any kind of slant-in their copy and that's the school he came out of. the one thing he could not contain was his enthusiasm for the space program. he was fascinated by it and it showed through on the air and i think his enthusiasm for that space program did a lot to keep it going, in a sense. his enthusiasm was catching and he made americans take an interest in it in a way that a less enthusiastic, less engaged news man might not have. >> he did make that remark about what he believed to be the impossibility of winning the war in vietnam -- >> that was a departure though, wasn't it? that's what made it so remarkable. >> right. and it's my understanding that three years ago or maybe a

little more he suggested it was time for the united states to get out of iraq. >> i thy -- think what we found out in the latter years of his life was that walter cronkite was kind of a conventional liberal but we really didn't know that until after he retired because he kept it to himself in a very disciplined way, which was admirable on his part. i think everyone was kind of surprised to find that out about him and he deserves credit for that. >> i remember watching his final broadcast on the cbs evening news. what i didn't realize at the time was he was apparently getting a bit of the heave-ho from cbs management because they wanted to make room for the man who would eventually replace him and they were in a bidding war at that moment and so cronkite essentially got the shove out of the anchor seat. >> well, you know, i guess he

was -- you know, he was 65 as i recall at the time he did that and he's always -- his vacations had gone longer and longer and as you heard in eric shawn's report on him, he had this sailboat. the name was "assignment" and they would often come on in the evening and say "walter cronkite is oon signment" which was literally true and i think the impression was that cronkite had had enough and wanted to go. but the cbs evening news was never the same after cronkite and has never been the same since. >> he was on top of the world. still number one in the ratings in 1981 when he retired and gave the chair to dan rather, who took it for a long time. let me read a quote from katie couric -- she says "when i think of walter cronkite i think of his high journalism standards and integrity but

most of all his humanity. i think he was so trusted because he exhibited a sense of purpose and compassion night after night. he was the personification of excellence." >> well, he certainly was the personification of a certainly -- certain style of journalism which a great many americans regret its passing and i'm one of them. cronkite came through as a very decent man. i remember at that night i described after the 1968 convention, married married -- mayor daley came up to the booth and he kind of apologized to cronkite and said "you know, you're in our living room every night," and cronkite was quite modest about that. it was a very interesting style and there was modesty in that and i think that's something that to some extent we have lost in television news.

>> walter cronkite dead tonight at age 92. brit hume, thank you. let's go back to chris wallace, who spent a lot of time as he was telling us earlier in the orbit of walter cronkite in his earlier years. was he an inspiration to you, chris? >> he was an inspiration to any journalist and anybody who ever had any thoughts about going into television. brit had it right. we found out in later years he was a liberal but with very few exceptions i think that was hard to pick up in his years of anchoring at cbs news and he seemed equally tough on republican administrations and democratic administrations and really had a wire service, old-fashioned wire service mentality of course tell the lead, tell the facts. incidentally, that woman you see there was his wonderful wife betsy, who died a couple of years ago. she was bright and funny and kept his feet on the ground.

they were great fun to be around. he knew he was walter cronkite but he didn't take it overly seriously and they were great company to be around. three wonderful kids. and they were a wonderful, warm, loving family and he was, you know, he was uncle walter. >> sure. >> the image people had of him was that was what you saw, what you got. he was uncle walter. >> and again, when i'm reading about his career, i watched him a lot during the space shots when i was a junger -- younger man, young boy, i guess really but never realized that he waded ashore at normandy with some of the invading u.s. forces trying to drive the germans out of france. what an incredible career. >> i didn't know that, but i do know he flew on a lot of u.s. bombing runs over germany during world war i 1.

and, for instance, he was so much a part of this that on the 20th anniversary of d-day, we just had, i'm trying to think, the 65th, whatever it was, he went back with cbs news with eisenhower to normandy beach to do d-day. and how appropriate, because he had been there covering it at the time and if there was anybody that ike would want to revisit normandy with, it was walter cronkite. >> so many firsts from that man. anchored the first 30-minute news broadcast, the first color news broadcast. and one of the things you were mentioning in connection with general dwight i'd enhour, he anchored the first live trance atlantic -- trans atlantic br broadcast. walter cronkite's cbs evening

news became the first regularly scheduled half-hour news program, and originated from places like paris. he also spent 24 hours on the air during the apollo 11 lunar landing. walter cronkite, died tonight at age 92. how fitting that as we celebrate the 40th anniversary of apollo 11 this weekend, the launch of that space craft marked 40 years ago yesterday, it is during that 40th anniversary celebration of the landing of the first men to walk the surface of the moon, that walter cronkite, who seemed to love that space program so much, passes away. did he ever giving you any advice, chris? did you recall anything in particular he might have said to you when you talked to anytime well, not specifically. i had another father in the business so i don't think he felt that was his role. but i certainly, as i say, i

knew him from about the age of 8 or 10 and the families got together often. the thing that impressed me and i can remember being a go-fer for him, go for coffee, go for pencils, when i was 16 at the republican convention in 1964, the goldwater convention and also for one of the space flights and the thing that really impressed me about him was his extraordinary sense of professionalism and preparation. he had voluminous notebooks for the space shots and he knew as much as any of the nasa engineers and probably as the astronauts themselves. one of the reasons he had such credibility with the american league -- american public and also people involved in politics or with the space program because they knew he had done his homework and was utterly and thoroughly prepared. he was as much an expert as many of them. >> he was welcomed into so many living rooms in american, mine

included. walter cronkite dead at 92. we have this statement from bush 41. he said barbara and i join the nation in mourning the passing of walter cronkite. as a pioneer in television journalism he was a towering, respected figure. many americans heard it from walter first that. kennedy had died or that man had walked on the moon. he is already missed. you see the banner on the screen there, known as the most trusted man in america and that was actually a title given to him after a survey in one of the popular magazines domed him that and that's what americans said about walter cronkite, that he was the one man they trusted most. a little bit of trivian -- in 196 -- 1975 he actually appeared on "the mary tyler moore show" playing an old boss

of the star of that show, lou grant. and there is actually an asteroid named after him. 6318 cronkite. also a licensed ham radio operate r -- operator and i big sailor. he has written a number of books about his experienced sailing. his boat was named "assignment," so when walter cronkite was on assignment rblingt he well -- really was on assignment. walter cronkite died tonight at age 92. we do have chris wallace still with us. chris, what about some of the political stances he took? it has been mentioned that he did suggest that the vietnam war was not winnable. he also spoke out about the war

in iraq in 2004, saying americans were not any safer because of the invasion. >> well, i think you have to talk about walter and i think brit made this point, that during his professional career and after his retirement. during his career, and i'm sure viewers will point out other things but the only time he really expressed an opinion was on vietnam and in fairness to him it wasn't like he did, just did an editorial. he went over to vietnam in 1968 during the height of the problems and the anti-war movement basically to do a kind of status report as a first-rate journalist, what's really going on there, we hear contrary stories. he came up with less an opinion than an -- a reporter's conclusion that the war wasn't going well and it was he felt unwinnable. it was only after he retired and he was -- he made a number of statements, he wrote a

column and expressed a lot more opinions. i think he probably viewed it as i've taken, you know, pursuit. -- i've put down the mantle as anchor for cbs news and i'm if a different role now and i can do this. if i might offer one other thought. you talked about his appearance on mary tyler moore and i don't mean this in a disparaging way but one of the things you have to remember about walter is why he was so trusted, but he was a great performer. there was a time in the 1950's you talk about historical documentaries, he used to anchor a show called "you are there" where he was the anchor man and it was as if they were covering, in drama, of course, the assassination of julius ceasor -- caesar or the burning

of joan of arc at the stake. em was 9 anchorman and there were reporters, you know, by the battle field or by the stake in medieval europe and he carried it off beautifully. he was a real showman. but he brought a showman's talents to an extraordinary sensibility as a very serious and down-the-middle journalist. >> this from a guy who really cut his teeth in newspapers and radio. he even said that he was maybe an unlikely choice to be a television anchor man but he sure adapted to that new medium, as you said, chris. les moonves of cbs says it's with enormous sadness that we mark the death of walter cronkite. his passing is a great loss for america and journalism. he was a great broadcaster whose prism -- experience,

professionalism and style defined the role of anchor man. he helped our -- inform our nation and bring us together and in so doing he transcended his field to become the most trusted man in america. the legacy he left us all will endure. it was one of the great honors of my career to have had the opportunity to know him. he -- we understand that it was in new york city that walter cronkite passed away a little bit earlier today. don hewitt, the long-time executive producer of cbs news and the man who created "60 minutes" and the executive producer of the cbs evening news with kron kite says how many news organizations get a chance to bask in the half century of edward r. murrow followed by a half century of walter cronkite? it is absolutely true that this man defined so much of what

americans came to know as their world. in fkt that was his classic signoff, "and that's the way it is." liz is the former new york bureau chief of the "washington times." your thoughts on the passing of walter cronkite? >> well, of course i knew him and having worked as a correspondent at cbs news for his program and there wasn't a better guy to work for. i mean he was the real thing. he -- the editorial tone and content of the show radiated from his office and from him and there was no two ways about whether things were going to have true or false. with walter you always knew you were going to be on theme. we first met in laos on our way into north veesm the war was almost over and the prisoners were being released. i remember being introduced to

him and i was working for nbc news at the time, the old chet huntley and david brinkley said -- says -- days and i looked at him and said well, it's about time cbs news has sent me some competition. he was very good natured about it. it was a memorable occasion. he also endorsed my first book and did so very graciously because he knew and i knew and we had discussed this, did not agree on his views on the vietnam war. i don't think he should have said what he said in 1968, that the war could only end in a stalemate. i believed it then and believe it now but that didn't get in the way of our friendship. he was very good about it, he was open minded. 9 man had character. as brit hume touched on earlier, the monday -- man had modesty and humility, which is very much absent in the qualities of so-called

anchormen nowadays. but i have very fond memories of walter cronkite. >> and his ability to stay on a story. the stories that you tell about his work in vietnam, he was no prima donna. he was out there in the field getting his boots dirty and wet. he waded ashore with some of the invading troops during the normandy invasion. i don't want to get out of proportion here. he didn't exactly wade ashore in the vietnam war. he was quite protected there. no one wanted a dead walter cronkite on their conscience. but he stayed there two weeks and did what he had to do and took his risks. but it wasn't the kind of thing the correspondents who were going out there, who were staying months and years so i think we have to put some proportion in this but what was wonderful was watching him work. i don't think i ever saw him pick up a pencil.

it was all out of his head and during the broadcasts in the old days at the broadcast center he would write most of the show and if anybody else wrote parts of news or various stories he would rewrite it during the commercials. so he was an on-hands guy. he was basically a fine reporter and a fine writer, two important characteristics that are for the most part missing today. >> that's for sure. >> there are not many people who can say their very presence on this planet changed history. walter cronkite was one of those. he in 1977 conducted interviews with egypt's president anwar saddam -- sad ad -- sadat and with menachem begin, and those helped to make the trip to israel which resulted in the peace agreement between those two nations who had so long been at odds.

walter cronkite who died tonight in new york at age 92. any other stories from the vietnam era you can share with us, liz? that's pretty interesting stuff. >> as you probably know and certainly the older people in our audience do, it was the advocacy journalism, stating your opinion, had its birth in the 1960's and as all establishments were being challenged, certainly journalism was more than anybody. so all the old traditions seemed to fade away. i would have been much happier had walter not made his statement about the war not ending in stalemate. i would have been a lot happier about that because there was a sense of doom. there was a tremendous amount of misreporting on tet, a series of battles which in the end the united states won. and i think cbs and other networks too contributed to the myth that this was a lost war even before it ended. so i would have been much

happier in a larger context but in looking at it in a more narrow view as walter cronkite, a man of character, a pro, i don't think he's been excelled and i don't think anybody has even come close since his working days. >> that is certainly true. liz trota, former new york bureau chief for washington times and a fox news contributor here. liz, thank you. >> and a cbs correspondent. >> that is true. liz, thank you very much. >> thank you, john. >> the most trusted man in america, walter cronkite, has passed away at age 92 in new york. interesting. he is the man who first reported to americans that president kennedy had passed away. he was the first one to get that news out there. and just a couple years oak -- back in 2006 i believe it was, cronkite said of the oliver stone film "j.f.k." that it was

dangerous and preposterous. this was not a man shy of sharing his opinions with the rest of the country and he certainly did that even after his retirement after dan rather took the anchor chair from him. walter cronkite, dead at age 92. the host of "special report," my colleague bet arbitrary -- bret baier is shoin -- joining us now out of washington, d.c. nur -- your thoughts? >> a lot of us got into journalism looking at walter cronkite in that seat. i was a kid. i aspired to be a journalist as he was signing off in 1981, watching him do what he did, "that's the way it is," and my parents watched him every night in our family room as so many millions of americans did. it was something that you studied in school and you saw how walter cronkite reacted to the death of, the assassination

of president kennedy and the emotion when he reported that. you saw and heard the words on this 40th anniversary of the apollo 11 mission that walter cronkite covered so effectively, the space program that he loved to cover. you saw throughout aught -- all the main moments in hitcht in the 1960's, 1970's and the beginning part of 1980 and 1981 where walter kron kilte was such a figure. and for people who wanted to get into journalism it is a sad day. at age 92, we had heard wrurms -- rumors that he wasn't doing well but when we talked to our colleagues at cbs they were preparing for this. katie couric about -- did a 09-minute special in 2006 about cronkite that aired in -- on cbs and it was a look at his life. "when i look at -- think of

walter cronkite i think of his high journalism standards and intelligence and most of all his humanity. he was the personification of excellence." as an anchor of a show and obviously i took over a show, i had big shoes to fill following brit hume and all that he's done on this program and abc news but an anchor is really, the word came to be because of walter cronkite. we saul, sitting in these chairs aspire to be the down the middle anchor of a news cast that could command that much trust of the american people, to be called the most trusted man in america. i was just looking at some data, some research, and i forgot that in 1980 then-independent candidate for president john anderson actually mentioned that walter cronkite might be his running mate and then cronkite became a

part of president news that he so didn't want to ever be. so it's a sad night but one in which we reflect on his life and for me, look at it as just what i aspired to be, a -- trusted to the viewers at home that welcome us into their living room every night. >> that is certainly the case. it was just about 40 years ago that one of the critics referred to it as walt -- walter to walter coverage when walter took to the air for about 24 of the 27 hours of the landing of at pollo space craft on the moon and the subsequent moon walk. it was a 27-hour television ordeal and walter cronkite was there through virtually every minute of it. he was nick named "old iron pants" as a result of that and some of his other on-air performances during which he would simply silt down in the

chair and wouldn't leave. he wanted to be there, wanted to cover the news and so many americans thanked him for that. there was a little bit of controversy when he was moving out of the anchor chair in 1981 i believe it was. dan rather was taking over and the feeling was that maybe walter wasn't being given quite the grand sendoff that a lot of people felt he deserved. you remember those days. >> oh, sure. now i think you talk to anybody at cbs, i think this will be a big moment for them, to tell his story very effectively. you know, we're getting reaction from all over the world. especially here on capitol hill . the house minority leader, john dane -- john bain irjust weighed in with this -- walter cronkite was a giant in his field and a welcomed guest in american heems for decades. from the kennedy snakes to the moon landing and beyond he was always there to inform and

educate us with the high standard and rigorous commitment to the truth that edward r. murrow set at cbs news. it was murrow who hired walter cronkite and put him in that position at cbs news. obviously the house minority leader reacting and we will get i'm sure reaction from the white house sometime soon and you have already heard president h.w. bush and his reaction that "barbara and i join the nation in mourning the pass sks walter cronkite. as a pioneer in television journalism he was a tower -- towering, respected figure. many americans heard it from walter that. kennedy had died or that man had walked on the moon. he is already missed." i'm sure we'll get a lot of these statements flowing in through the the -- throughout the next few hours. >> moraly simple -- safer says walter was truly the father of television news. the trust viewers based on him was based on his objectivity,

fairness and he was a shoe leather reporter covering world war ii and the aftermath in the soviet union. i used to do a little bit of sailing. i bottle one of his books he had written about it and you sure took from it his love of the sea. the man loved to sail, among many other things. loved the spates program as well, as mentioned a little bit earlier. let's talk about his career with the editor of the "washington times." >> i got know walter cronkite in the early 1990's when we worked on a documentary together. really an incredible voice. the ability to inhabit a line, to tell a story, strong notion of narrative. a generation of journalism that's really passed now with the passing of walter cronkite.

he's a giant but also a flawed giant. we had a debate in the early 1990's about his comments on vietnam and declaring defeat very early during the tet offensive. the tet offensive ended in total elimination of the viet cong as a separate fighting unit. but it was portrayed as a defeat of the american forces. i asked him if he had to do it all over again if he would have reported it differently and he said he wouldn't. he said he was too young to understand. perhaps i'm young enough for those born approximate 1967 to see it more clearly after the passing of the avenlgt the establishment view is always -- was always hits view. that was his genius, his authority, but also his downfall. >> he will always be remembered by generations of americans as

the man to watch. these days neck news shows have fallen on hard times, an pointment viewing like they used to be. but back then you sure wanted to go home and watch walter cronkite or maybe one of the others but especially walter. >>. johnson said "if you've lost walter cronkite, you've lost america." he wasn't bragging. the enormous power and authority of these broadcast giants is something we will never see the like of again. it's interesting he was willing to describe man's first walk on the moon and the same time, the same weekend, to describe the tragedy of chap apquidic. there -- chappaquiddick. there was this incredible narrative ability, truth-telling, story-telling ability. a man almost aside from politics. politics. >> richard