Today's America would disappoint founding fathers

By GottaLaff

This isn't your grandmother's America.

I was lamenting the state of our "news" media, and as an extension, the state of our country. As I witness the disintegration of the quality of journalism, and how non-news stories are endlessly looped and forced down the throats of gullible viewers, I am reminded of how things used to be.

Would Walter Cronkite froth over an Obama campaign nuance? Would David Brinkley rabidly salivate over an uncorroborated, biased mantra? Would Chet Huntley engage in undignified distortions? Journalistic Swiftboating didn't exist. It would have been unthinkable. Maybe I'm romanticizing, and I'm sure there had to have been exceptions, but my perception is that there was a gravitas and a reverence for facts that have since been replaced by a cacophony of memes and a servility to shout fests. The depths into which TV news has devolved is not only repugnant, but unconscionable.

As Americans celebrate the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, an overwhelming majority say the 56 signers of that document would be displeased at how the country has turned out.

According to a new CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, close to 70 percent say that if the signers of the Declaration of Independence could see America today they would be disappointed, while just under 30 percent say the founding founders would be happy with the country 232 years later.

George Bush is to governing what Rick Sanchez is to newscasting. Let's hope that, by the next Fourth of July, we once again have the Walter Cronkite of presidents, and that the polls reflect a prouder America.