Cronkite: Terrorism a "Revolution of the Poor Against the Rich"

Media Research Center ^ | Tuesday September 10, 2002 | staff

[fight_truth_decay]

Blame America First. The 9-11 attacks were our own fault, former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite contended on Monday's Larry King Live on CNN, because we hog so much of the world's wealth while many are destitute.

Cronkite said he believes "very definitely that foreign policy could have caused what has happened," before he asserted that anti-U.S. terrorism is caused by "this great division between the rich and the poor in the world." The people of the world "who don't have adequate housing, don't have adequate hospitalization, don't have adequate medical care, don't have adequate education," Cronkite warned, "are not going to live forever in the shadow of the riches that we display constantly." Walter Cronkite attributed terrorism to U.S. policy and world poverty: "We are suffering from a revolution of the...have-nots against the...haves and that's us."

Applying liberal logic which seeks to blame the U.S. for all the world's ills, Cronkite declared: "We are suffering from a revolution of the poor and have-nots against the rich and haves and that's us."

In fact, the al Qaeda terrorists were hardly poor and the vast majority of the world's poor do not support terrorism. The common elements amongst those targeting the U.S. is Islamic extremism and nation's without respect for individual liberty.

Cronkite's liberal ranting came about 45 minutes into the live September 9 interview tied to the 9-11 anniversary.

King prompted Cronkite by wondering about "foreign policy's affect on what might have caused 9-11?"

That set off Cronkite: "Yes, I think very definitely that foreign policy could have caused what has happened." King interjected: "Doesn't excuse it." But Cronkite plowed forward without acknowledging King's caveat, so he presumably did not agree with it: "We have been warned by other terrorist attacks elsewhere of the dislike for us and the intensity of organization to express that dislike in various terrorist acts around the country -- the two embassies that were blown up in Africa, the Destroyer Cole, for instance, episode, and that sort of thing. "It should be apparent to us, it should have been apparent to us a long time ago and it certainly should be apparent now -- it should be, for goodness sakes understood now, but it is not, that the problem is this great division between the rich and the poor in the world. We represent the rich. Each of our citizens is not rich, of course, but as a country we are exceedingly rich. As a country, all of these, most of these other nations of Africa, Asia and South America and Central America are very, very poor. The people in those countries who don't have adequate housing, don't have adequate hospitalization, don't have adequate medical care, don't have adequate education, they are not going to live forever in the shadow of the riches that we display constantly in our movies, in our travels around the world, in our airlines, in our shipping. "They're not going to put up with that forever. This is a revolution in effect around the world. A revolution is in place today. We are suffering from a revolution of the poor and have-nots against the rich and haves and that's us."

Yes, it's all our fault and Osama bin Laden is just trying to help the world's downtrodden improve themselves.

[jd777]

Our "dissident elites" are enough to make one puke.

[goose1]

Ya got that right DROP DEAD OLD MAN.Take your sailboat and go off the end of the earth your shiviled up old wrinkled ass bafoon.

[putupon]

I suppose old Crommiekite is leaving all his fortune to to the UN?

[Nam Vet]

Is this old socialist gasbag still around? Reality just eludes these libs with room temperature I.Q.'s.

Nam Vet

[Timocrat]

I don't want to dump on "the WC" but the cause is militant Islamists objecting to western cultural values. As usual he doesn't know what he's talking about and is plodding out the old leftist chants.

Go away Walter your time has past.

[Chairman Fred]

Remember, in German, "Cronkite" (as in "Krankheit") means "illness".

[LibWhacker]

We've gotten absolutely no credit for it, have we? You just can't buy friendship.

Isolationism is frowned on nowadays, and has been for a long time. But I've been an isolationist at heart for as long as I can remember; if we supplemented our current level of defense spending with all the foreign aid we currently give out and declared our neutrality in world affairs, I'm convinced we could be amicable trading partners with all the nations of the world and yet quickly defeat ANY Axis of Evil that dared to take us on.

The problem is how could we deal with the fallout caused by their nuclear wars with one another? I just don't see any way to do it, but to actively deny them the right to have such weapons; i.e., to be the world's policeman in that regard. And there goes our isolationism. Too bad, because I would really, really, really LOVE to live in a neutral, isolationist America.

The Framers warned us about getting involved in foreign wars, but they never dreamed of nukes. :-(

[stop_fascism]

Oh yeah, obviously. We won't let the fact that the terrorists are/were not poor dissuade us. If Osama was just a little richer he'd have become a lawyer instead of blowing up buildings.

[yoe]

Walter C. is helping to make America the scapegoat, is helping to make America the looser, the victim, the bully and the press is responding with agreement. Well America wake up and face the War that has been fostered on us; wake up and get mad as hell. Throw away all the political correctness that expects us to be quiet, to be subservient to terrorists in turbans who want to disrupt all that is free and is not of their religion. I hate the last - religion...the very word has become something of a threat.

For the Socialist Cronkite, a great cheerleader for Bill Clinton and his failed presidency, to blame the U.S. is just ludicrous, I don’t see this millionaire giving up any of his play things to help poverty. What a jerk and he calls himself an American – this is the country that made him a millionaire, gave him the American dream and let him enjoy choice and freedom all his life and now he kicks his country instead of pulling for it and victory over terrorism. Shame on Walter Cronkite, he is no better than John Lind and I will not let him or anyone else make me the victim. It is their Jihad not mine. Lock and Load!!

[strider44]

I agree with this statement. To expound on it, let me also say who cares? Obviously many people agree with Cronkite, and that is pretty sad. Poor people hate us, our foreign policy favors Isreal, our troops are on sacred soil...blah blah blah. My answer: Who cares? If that's why they attacked us then that's why. It still doesn't change anything or more importantly, IT SHOULDN't change things. We need to respond it kind, by sending out America's finest. Let the Liberals debate the reasons all they want, just don't let them dictate our RESPONSE. It's a waste of time pointing out the stupidity of their arguements. As far as I'm concerned, it's like any other murder. Once it's committed, and we figure out who did it - we punish them. I could care less why they did it. It's a waste of energy. Let's concentrate on the punishment.

[AdvisorB]

Don't say that to Walter, he bought Lenin's line about
US and Western imperialist exploitation; hook, line,
and sinker.

[Bigun]

Why doesn't Walter Crakncase take his good bud Dan Blather out for an eternal sail on his big ole sailboat?

[yoe]

Bravo D. B. Carter! Bravo!

[AdvisorB]

Walter has been a fool for a long time. Alf Landon (
GOP Presidential standard bearer in the 1936 elections)
use to say that he could tell when the Republicans
were losing by the smile on Walter's face. Walter was
so biased that he almost made rather look objective
in comparison ( I said almost).

[sport]

Bull feathers!
Were the Jeovaha's[sp?]Wittnesses that had their heads cut off in the P.I. rich?

Were the missionaries rich?

Were the people in the church in Pakistan that they threw hand grenades in rich?

If cronkite believes that, why don't he give then some of his money?

[Jaidyn]

I changed channels when it became apparent he was there to bash Bush and the war. He blamed our foreign policy but neglected to mention it was Clinton who was hung in effigy right after the attacks. These countries are self-induced poor because their governments won't give them the freedom to be productive and move about. They watch us in envy at our supposed splendor, which they get their share, but don't seem to mind that their own leaders and sheiks are richer than most of our richest people. They lavishly squander money and are vulgar with the riches afforded them through oil. Indeed, they need us more than we need them. Those rich oil sheiks could not survive if they were brought down to a median level.

[paulklenk]

Let us refer to Cronkite with the German spelling of his name,
"Krankheit," and send him to the Krankenhaus.

[semaj]

"Viva la revolucion!" < /sarcasm off>

[RJayneJ]

Talk to me about our concentration of wealth, Walter, as you sail around on your yacht.

Bingo! My thought exactly. And he's not exactly running around in sack clothe and ashes...

[DuncanWaring]

Why doesn't Walter Crakncase take his good bud Dan Blather out for an eternal sail on his big ole sailboat?

Maybe they could go for a drive with Ted Kennedy.