what bothered you about the image of walter cronkite? >> as you remember, we started our conversation involving peter grace spoke and the tet offensive and walter cronkite was famous late in the forefront calling the tet offensive as a victory for the north vietnam and the vietcong and calling it quits on the war effort. that had not really ever been established as part of his legacy. again, one of the things off to the fringes. telling you not to read about and, in a sense. if you go on in the column, that is probably where it goes. you had great journalists like peter grace spoke who dies on sun. >> did you ever meeting? >> yes. >> did you talk about what the book was all about? >> i told the story. he is a former yaley. >> a former "washington post" reporter. >> you talk to him -- just sat in the meeting or after information? >> i cannot remember what your he passed away, but i did get a chance to meet him. i went to open " full metal jacket close " to see if it was anything interesting, and his reaction was it was not that interestin

there is no washington bureau for an arizona news organization, except for cronkite news service, walter cronkite school has the only bureau for, uh, arizona news organizations. so 30 or 40 arizona news organizations use the reporting by students at the cronkite bureau all the time. smith: and that's a nonprofit? downie: and that's a nonprofit, so uh, it, what's happened is that a lot of people have left for profit news organizations and want to still commit journalism and they have found funders of different kinds, angels of certain kinds, foundations that are interested in what's happening to the news, future of news, to help set up these nonprofits. and universities have been doing it also. smith: sure. downie: and, uh, and it does two good things. one, it provides competition with the old media. smith: sure. downie: and that's always, as i said competition is always better. smith: right. a rising tide helps everybody. downie: right. so you're going to cover some stories they're not covering. smith: yep. downie: but even more importantly you're going to, you're collaborating with the old media

what bothers you about the image of walter cronkite? >> we started our conversation invoking peter -- and kronkite was at the forefront of calling the tet offensive a major victory for the viet cong and this was never really established as part of his legacy. this is one of those things off to the fringes. and the old professors told you not to read about this. this could go on in the column and that is probably where it goes. you have great journalists -- who die on song -- unsung. >> did you talk to peter? >> i told him the story. and he knew about the professor and was amused. >> did you ever -- did you talk to him, and the just meet him or were you after the information? >> i cannot remember what year that he passed away. i went to see full metal jacket with them, to see if there was anything to write about. >> how did you know that this book existed. >> i think i came across this in the library. just, innocently. >> you mention him in this column by you see -- the president lost walter cronkite and they still stay with his packagin

passed that about a year ago with my little guy and, yes, uncle willie, it is appropriate, i'm the walter cronkite

nothing is getting accomplished but you know was things really getting accomplished back and walter cronkite was doing things while i'm getting better that would be stupid. and i'm not i mean is certainly am jerry springer and its heyday had you know amazing ratings and i was it was a bunch of yelling fighting who knows that's going to be next maybe the next thing we see is bill o'reilly is going to throw a punch at one of his guests luckily that hasn't happened yet to my knowledge at least i say this yes i this video i have noticed though that the people on if you ever watch political pundits and they you know and then you watch sports pundits and they you know it's like the same yelling except different comic one person yelling about le bron and as one person is yelling about libya and it's the same thing they're interesting they're third people they argue about random things i know i think that's a really good point i mean there i think is the term out there that's one of my guests used the other day with me call that the e.s.p.n. ization of the news i mean it's a it's a popular model it'

walter cronkite's map over there.lt for conversation, built for bringing together people to tell you what's going on in the world. >> of course, you'll get to see it for yourself about an hour from now. >> let's go to howard. sorry, monika. we'll get there early. >> weatherwise, it is colder. i know this weekend it wasn't cold but is is colder this morning. we start 20s and 30s. take some rain gear with you. we'll have a few showers and might even get a little sleet or some wet snowflakes mixing in as well. it is a much colder day. right now, 35 and cloudy at reagan national. sun is up at 7:27 setting at 5:04. looking at the satellite and radar,

but that's the way it is as walter cronkite once put it. that's why people sore angry.edia, at anyone they can be angry at. anyone who will liste

but that's the way it is as walter cronkite once put it. that's why people sore angry. so angry at obama, at the republican establishment, at us at the media, at anyone they can be angry at. anyone who will listen to their pain, the pain that comes, the nastiest to those who thought things would end up better. didn't we all? i've said it before. this is going to be one hot convention when they meet down here in late august. and mitt romney is not the right guy to be standing up there with his neat hair and life so together. they, the republican red hots want someone to match their madness and newt in some mad way, is just what the doctor ordered. and that's "hardball" for now. "politics nation" with al sharpton starts right now. >>> welcome to "politics nation." i'm al sharpton. tonight's lead -- the big fight in florida. the romney/gingrich showdown is on. and we'll cover it. and what it means for president obama, for the hour, we begin with a picture. you want to see an image of panic? take a look at this picture of mitt romney doing his own laundry on saturday, the d

that is the way it is, as walter cronkite put it and that is why people are angry.edia, anyone they can be angry at. anyone who will listen to the pain that comes the nastiest to those who thought things would end up better. didn't we all. i've said it before this will be one hot convention in late august, mitt romney is not the right guy to be standing up there. with his neat hair and life so together. they, the republican red hots, want someone t

that is the way it is, as walter cronkite put it and that is why people are angry.edia, anyone they can be angry at. anyone who will listen to the pain that comes the nastiest to those who thought things would end up better. didn't

>> walter cronkite was my newsman. can you believe that? >> can you believe it? >> i was the worst.d at it at all. this was live television. things can go wrong. >> like what? >> i had a guy who drove a dog sled in the races and he brought his dogs and his sled and everything. >> into the studio? >> into the studio. i had them on. he said don't say mush. the first thing i did was clown around and said mush. they took off. took down the weather set and the cooking set. i mean, everything went. >> was that your last day anchoring in. >> no. >> now at 86, legendary song and dance man admits that his news career was probably over before it started. after all, his idols never sat at a desk. they wore bowlers and bow ties instead. stan laurel, the famed laurel and hardy was a friend and mentor. an inspiration for almost everything dick van dyke did. >> put my hat on my head. >> in fact, van dyke paid homage to stan laurel on his own show. critics say his success was largely due to that kind of experiment. rewriting and frankly, just horsing around. >> everybody came to work every day look

if i lost walter cronkite i lost the war in vietnam.l only get you so far especially in florida and beyond that, newt gingrich made his point about the media. he needs to branch out. he is giving a speech i understand on space which certainly resonates with florida voters since the kennedy space center is there. so much of our manned space program has taken off from there of course the obama administration canceled any future manned space exploration. it riles the base up. gets you so far but doesn't get you all the way. jon: alan, are we going to see a kinder, gentler newt gingrich? >> i'm glad to see all the words in the same sentence. cal is right. only gets you so far. worked in south carolina among white men who love the idea that the media is the enemy. attacked juan williams and juan doesn't understand work after the conflagration they had at the previous debate. he attacked dave briggs and clayton morris on fox an friends over the weekend. it worked very well for him obviously. but i think he has to move beyond that at some poin

uncle willie, it is appropriate, i'm the walter cronkite, the uncle walter, uncle willie of 5:30 a.m. television. what else you got? >> having trouble looking at myself in the monitor. we have richard in new tgio, thank god it's over. the campaigning in new hampshire until september. >> you know, you can rest at about 8:00 tonight when the polls finally close. you get some rest and wait four more years until these people traipse through your state again. how about one more, tower? >> karen in louisiana, still waiting for lsu to score. >> oh. you know i've got madelyn peters here, a huge lsu fan. the email was, still waiting for lsu to score. madelyn, mean, cold, wrong, and you'll hear more of that from joe scarborough. "morning joe" starts right now. >>> hammering away at the clock right now. and richardson breaks free on the sideline. end zone! how about that, finally a touchdown between these two. the eighth quarter of warfare, alabama gets a second chance and makes the most of it, they win the bcs championship, behind coach nick saban. >> when you see two s.e.c. teams playing tonig

when you watch the evening broadcast walter cronkite, less information.u go to twitter, even less. so there is a dark psyche which is people are only getting information sources that are compressed. it may not elevate the debate but it may compress it, and i sure hope we don't go that direction in the last couple of questions. i realize i should've asked this earlier but i think it's a useful one because i don't know the answer to it. what power does the national economic council really have? >> so, first off, this is a very important question. will see that runs through any policy process that gives to the president has to go through a policy council. domestic policy council. so we're talking criminal justice policy, for example, they would run the policy process on behalf of the president. gun policy, for example. if we're talking about national security policy, what are we going to do on libya? the national security council runs that policy. if you're talking about the economy, so for example, we are concerned about unemployment or we are concerned abo