Get out the popcorn because the Palin/Johnston show is back! Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin’s grandson, is telling the family secrets and the former governor is not liking it one bit.

According to Johnston he was a convenient prop at the Republican Convention (shocking!),  only there to firm up Palin’s conservative bona fides. Can’t be a national Republican with an unmarried pregnant daughter. Palin, also reported by Johnston, referred to her Down Syndrome child Trig as “retarded” on multiple occasions.

Oh, the juice! Details! Dirt! Drama! Palin released a press release  accusing Johnston of being a  liar with pants a fire.

“We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied. Trig is our ‘blessed little angel’ who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad.”

Palin isn’t reading this, but baby what’s up with the over the top press release? And why, oh why, are you getting into a war of words with a 19 year old boy? Yes he’s cute and all (am I the only one intrigued by his upcoming Playgirl gig?), but an adult who argues with a youngster looks small and peevish. Not a good look if you are a “star” of your party.

From all of the stories yesterday about Walter Cronkite, the one that struck a chord was Andy Rooney’s contention the legendary newsman wished he had kept his emotions in check when he announced President John Kennedy was dead. There were no  Glenn Beck histrionics, all Cronkite did was remove his glasses and pause for a few beats, but Rooney’s statement added up because Cronkite learned when he was a cub reporter the tale wasn’t about him.

Most people knew him as the anchorman for CBS News and those of a certain age call him “Uncle Walt.” The guy who came into our homes every night with all that was  needed to know about the world. It says something about Cronkite’s credibility that President Lyndon Johnson knew the Vietnam War was doomed when the newscaster voiced doubts about victory. This trust-ability can be attributed to many things, but it was burnished in his coverage of World War II.

As a reporter for the United Press Cronkite covered the entire European theater, from  Sicily to the  Allied invasion of Normandy. He was  part of the  “Writing 69th,” a set of  reporters who flew with Allied bombers on missions over Germany. In a number of broadcasts for NPR, Cronkite recounts the history of his war reporting. In one report we find out there were actually two Cronkites. The one who eventually became the standard bearer of the news, and the other “Cronkite” in a radio drama called “Soldiers of the Press.” United Press got the idea that dramatizing the work of its reporters made a good radio show.

Cronkite’s World War II articles work because he kept his eye focused on the men doing the work. Sure there is the occasional meta-analysis of battles, but the pilots and their support staff never leave the stage. The reporter is, at best, a a bit player.

It’s rather strange to give  him props for learning, as he was covering bloodshed,  the story mattered more than he or his opinion. Yet keeping an ideological axe out of news reporting  gives you credibility. There is no such thing as “objective reporting” (even Cronkite knew that), but trust is earned when you care more about what is in front of you than your opinion of what you see. Cronkite gained that in the battlefields of Europe and never forgot it.

By the way if you’re thinking of going, it’s this Sunday (6/21) at Roseland on West 52nd.  There are two shows: one at 9:30 pm and one at Midnight. Midnight one’s more wild (dancers have had a few swigs of taquila by then).

Hubba-hubba!

Here are some of moments that never made it into the piece but are totally worth watching. If you’re anything like me, you’ll fall in love with Creel.  That’s because Gavin is by all standards the Creel deal.