Marguerite Reardon of CNet writes:

At a panel discussion sponsored by The New Yorker magazine on Saturday in New York, NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw and ABC anchor Peter Jennings lashed out at Internet bloggers in defense of CBS anchor Dan Rather, according to reports from the Associated Press and Reuters. Brokaw compared the bloggers' attacks on Rather's "60 Minutes II" report about President Bush's National Guard service to a "political jihad."

"What I think is highly inappropriate is what's going on across the Internet, a kind of political jihad," Brokaw said during a panel on which he appeared with Rather and Jennings. "It is certainly an attempt to demonize CBS News, and it goes well beyond any factual information a lot of them has, the kind of demagoguery that is unleashed out there."

Brokaw and Jennings both acknowledged that a mistake had been made in a "60 Minutes II" report questioning Bush's National Guard service, but the network news anchors also offered their support to their fellow news colleague. Neither held back their contempt for Internet bloggers, who have kept the scandal alive with thousands of posts criticizing Rather and CBS.

"I don't think you ever judge a man by only one event in his career," Jennings said. "I think the attack on CBS is an attack on mainstream media, an attack on the so-called 'liberal media.' To me, when you make a mistake, you apologize. You go back and review your standards."

Michael John McCrae responds:

Now, I might agree with that, but Dan (Forge Ahead) Rather has made a career of attacking all things Bush since the time Bush 41 (one event mind you) made the point that old Dan Rather was less than a stellar icon of journalistic objectivism. I might also point out that all three of these men are hypocritically attacking Bush 43 on one single event in his career; that being his honorable service in the Texas National Guard; emphasis on the word “honorable”.

All three of these old guys have been in their anchor positions for more than 20 years each. When they were all there was, I personally watched Peter Jennings. I never could watch Dan Rather or Tom Brokaw. I just thought Peter Jennings was less putrefied with liberal dogma and bitterness. Now, you cannot tell any of the three old guys apart, and their collective liberalism reeks of putrid partisanship. (How’s that for poetic intervention?)

It is right that Mr. Brokaw and Mr. Jennings protect old Dan the Man, but Mr. Brokaw is leaving the business on December 1st (maybe) and that is probably a good thing concerning his personal legacy. Old Dan will probably hang in until he’s dead or fired. About Mr. Jennings; who really cares?

This is a generation of hype-ologists that need to step aside. They have had their say and they’ve had their years of fame as trusted voices for news-hungry America. But they have worn out their welcome by ignoring the worthiness of the “Blogesphere”. The same internet that their personal hero Al Gore invented; has shown these men for the leftist media hacks they’ve become.

Update: Jay Rosen has some thoughts on Rather and the pajamahadeen. And this tidbit from the MRC won't make Tom Brokaw any happier about them.