Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 6, 1994 TAG: 9404060089
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: HAL BOEDEKER KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: MIAMI LENGTH: Medium
At 73, he still plays it better than anyone.
Let Walter Cronkite be the elder statesman. Brinkley's avuncular style is more cantankerous, more colorful, more fun.
What does he think of Charles Kuralt's imminent retirement at CBS? "He seemed very young to retire. [Kuralt is 59.] I don't know why he would retire. You can write a book without retiring. I'm writing a book, an autobiography," Brinkley says. "You can write a book anytime. It's no big deal."
In his speech, at a bank luncheon, he cites illegitimacy as the primary cause of crime. Does he mean to sound like former Vice President Dan Quayle? "He was right and Murphy Brown was stupid," Brinkley snaps.
Brinkley might be moving a little slower these days, but his mind leaps from subject to subject, his responses sharp and sassy in the oft-imitated cadences. He mixes it up with the crowd, saying, "I cannot be insulted - I work with Sam Donaldson."
Brinkley thinks the current evening network newscasts are "very good," ignores most newsmagazines except "60 Minutes" and sidesteps questions about comparisons between him and Chet Huntley, his NBC co-anchor for nearly 14 years, and CBS' current team of Dan Rather and Connie Chung. "It's a free country," he says with a smile.
After 51 years in Washington - "the roughest, dirtiest city in the country" - he knows the capital players well. He praises Clinton for trying to do something about welfare and for avoiding Bosnia (``it's not our fight''). But he says the president will be lucky to get 20 percent of what he's asking for on health care. Brinkley suggests moderate Massachusetts Gov. William Weld would be the Republicans' best candidate for '96. As for that jab at Kemp? "It's probably unfair. I wouldn't say it on the air."
NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw says his friend and mentor is "one of the real legendary figures in our business who actually lives up to the legend."
Brinkley brought that legendary touch to ABC in 1981 after 38 years at NBC. He's pessimistic about government, and especially the deficit, but not about television. "It is a more-or-less accurate reflection of the world we live in," he says. "And you know perfectly well the world we live in has changed a lot, mostly for the worse. That's not the fault of television. It just happened to be a bystander."
He quashes any notion of TV news having a soul. "I don't expect it to have any soul," he says. "It's like the telephone. People call you on the phone and tell you your mother has died. It's pretty horrible, but it's not the phone's fault."
Brokaw said he wishes his friend would write more. "He should write three times a week about what's going on in Washington," the NBC anchor said. "He has a lot to say."
Brinkley has delivered some of his best work in recent years. He wrote and anchored ABC's 1991 documentary "Pearl Harbor: Two Hours That Changed the World," and his book "Washington Goes to War" was a bestseller in 1988. His memoirs will feature "all the crazy stuff I've seen in all these years. I'm the only man who was hung in effigy in three time zones for stuff I put on the air ... ," he says. "I rather enjoyed it."
These days, Brinkley says he's still excited about doing his Sunday morning show. How much longer will he keep going?
"I don't want to set a time. My contract has two years to run. I'll decide when the time comes."
by CNB