As you probably already know, Peter Jennings died today, of lung cancer, at age 67. I'm not entirely surprised; when I attended the Media Research Center's "2004 Media Dishonors Awards" in April, Cal Thomas, the show's MC, and the other presenters verbally whacked away at Dan Rather's professional effigy like it was a piñata, and (to a much lesser extent) commented on Tom Brokaw's bias. However, they pointedly stayed away from mentioning Jennings' excesses. Midway through the presentation, Thomas announced that out of consideration for Jennings' dire condition, he and his fellow presenters would avoid any negative comments about Jennings that night, and asked for a moment of silent prayer from the audience.

Jennings was a handsome and polished news reader who once told David Letterman the he was "raised with anti-Americanism in my blood, or in my mother's milk at least", and who came equipped with a pointed bias against Israel. Israellycool and Orrin Judd look at some of the darker moments of his career.

Rather's forced-retirement from the CBS Evening News earlier this year was a time for wild glee from many--including myself, of course. This feels infinitely more somber. While my worldview is 180 degrees opposite from so much of what Jennings' was, I'm very, very sorry to hear that he's passed away at such a comparatively young age.