If you think South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford’s love letters to his Argentine mistress were over the top, you ain’t heard nothin’ yet.
NBC News anchor Brian Williams apparently had a longtime unrequited man crush on former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite.
Williams begins this tale of the forbidden love between anchors for two competing networks by taking us back to his childhood home in upstate New York, where Mom Williams refused to serve up a hearty meal of Tater Tots and Tang until Cronkite had uttered the words, “And that’s the way it is….”
“And I announced my intention to my family, apparently, at the age of 8, that he was the man I wanted to be. And this was the profession I wanted,” Williams recalled wistfully. “And I have lived such a charmed life that I got the chance to explain that to Walter and tell him that and make it clear. And just was able to breathe the air he exhaled and know him a little bit, as friends.”
Excuse us for interrupting this touching moment, but we can’t help but picture the strange scene that would have played out between young Brian and the venerable Cronkite:
Walter: Hello, kid.
Brian: You had me when you said hello, Mr. Cronkite.
Walter: Can somebody get this kid out of the studio?
Brian: But I love you, Mr. Cronkite.
Walter: Anybody know who this kid is?
Brian: I’m you. And you’re everything I ever want to be.
Walter: Seriously. Get this little freak out of the studio.
Brian: I want to breath the air you exhale.
Walter: So that’s the way it is.
Brian: No, Mr. Cronkite. That’s the way it was. Today, July 22, 1967.
H/T: NewsBusters.org
