Trump impeachment hearings kick off with a witness who sounded like Walter Cronkite

The New York Times

"He sounded like someone, didn’t he?" James Poniewozik said of Bill Taylor, the acting U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. "His deep, assuring, steady voice reminded some people of Tom Brokaw. No, maybe it was Walter Cronkite? Edward R. Murrow? It’s telling that all those comparisons were to old-school news anchors. Because I think what people were hearing in Mr. Taylor’s gravelly composure was the voice, not so much of another person, but another time — a time of authoritative voices that a wide audience found credible. It was like a science-fiction story in which someone turns on an old radio and hears a staticky broadcast from the past. Even the text of Mr. Taylor’s introduction had a Cronkitian ring." Poniewozik adds: "Wednesday’s testimony was the first installment in a series of unknown length, and it showed the hearings’ potential to tell an involving story and to enable grandstanding. The afternoon segment, in which committee members took turns questioning, was heavy on the posturing. But Mr. Taylor’s lengthy statement was absorbing, not just because of that 20th-century-anchor voice." ALSO: The first day of hearings offered "good, gripping TV, dramatic at times, with occasional comic levity and some distinctive, memorable characters."