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Each week we invite someone from outside PE to weigh in with their thoughts about CBS News and the media at large. Greg Mitchell is the editor of Editor & Publisher and author of seven books on politics and history, including "The Campaign of the Century" and "Tricky Dick and the Pink Lady." Today, Mitchell takes a look at the medias' comparison of Rep. John Murtha's call for a withdrawal from Iraq to CBS "Evening News" Anchor Walter Cronkite's February 1968 Vietnam epiphany.



When the hawkish Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) suddenly came out for a speedy U.S. withdrawal from Iraq last month it caused many media commentators to just-as-hastily call it a possible “Cronkite Moment.” I was one of them; in fact, I was probably the first, in a column at the Editor & Publisher Web site. What we all meant was: This shot across the bow of the Bush war policy from a well-respected mainstream figure might one day be seen as a “turning point” in setting the U.S. on a different path in an unpopular war, similar to what happened, allegedly, following CBS anchor Walter Cronkite’s legendary and equally unexpected soul-baring on February 27, 1968.



In one typical instant reaction, on Nov. 19, Wolf Blitzer on CNN’s “Situation Room” told his colleague Bill Schneider:

“Bill, you'll remember what President Johnson said when he heard what Walter Cronkite had said at that point, after coming back from Vietnam. He said if he's lost Walter Cronkite, he's probably lost the country. And I suppose that some Republicans are saying now if they've lost John Murtha, a very moderate-conservative Democrat, a strong supporter of the military, they probably realize they've got some serious problems."

Indeed, many Republicans fired back at Murtha, a Vietnam veteran, causing current CBS anchor Bob Schieffer to observe, "Republicans accused him of wanting to cut and run, and all but challenged the patriotism of war critics."



Of course, this is not the first so-called “Cronkite Moment” since the original. Some even invoked Uncle Walter last summer after Cindy Sheehan, mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, galvanized antiwar protest. In any case, it’s hard to guess what long-term effect the Murtha “Cronkite Moment” will have, but it did, for the first time, put pullout on the national agenda, provoked angry media and congressional debate, and forced the president to outline his own plan for withdrawal (i.e. “A Plan for Victory”).

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Yesterday Congressman John Murtha, an influential House Democrat on military spending matters, made a speech in which he called for the beginning of an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.



Murtha's words were big news, at least from the media's perspective. All three nightly newscasts led with them, as did the New York Times, Washington Post, and other newspapers. Some Republicans and conservative-leaning bloggers, however, felt otherwise. They pointed out that Murtha has been criticizing the administration's war effort for a long time, and many questioned why members of the media felt this latest speech was noteworthy. Here's Glenn Reynolds: "WHY IS MURTHA'S STATEMENT ON THE WAR NEWS today when he said basically the same thing a year and a half ago?"



Reynolds was referring to Murtha's statements on May 6, 2004, in which he said, "[w]e cannot prevail in this war as it is going today." He also said: "We either have to mobilize or we have to get out," and said the war was "unwinnable" unless changes were made. Murtha added, however, that he was in favor of increasing the number of U.S. troops rather than pulling out, a far different position than he took yesterday. CNN summarized his "overall point" at the time as "more troops and equipment should be sent to Iraq."



It was not the first time Murtha had spoken out about the war. From The New York Times, Sept. 16, 2003:

The Democrat, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a decorated Vietnam veteran, said that he had been misled into voting for the war by incorrect information from top administration officials and that the president had also been misled.

Later that year, he accused the Bush administration of purposly waiting until after the presidential election for a new military call up.



I asked CBS "Evening News" anchor Bob Schieffer why Murtha's latest salvo was newsworthy, in light of his past statements.

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