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[Peter Jennings] and [Hanan Ashrawi] greeted each other like old pals, with broad smiles and warm greetings. Jennings wanted to know, he said, how anyone could hate America so much that they would launch this kind of vicious, calamitous attack. Ashrawi blamed U.S. foreign policy (for having "fought Arab nationalism") and, predictably for her, Israel. Ashrawi complained that "Israel is given preferential treatment, treated as a country above the law," as part of her condemnation. Jennings deferred to Ashrawi, as usual, and let her filibuster. It was a nauseating display, second only perhaps to the Rev. Jerry Falwell's already infamous appearance with the Rev. Pat Robertson (there's a summit meeting for you) on "The 700 Club" earlier in the day. Does this kind of thing do anybody any good? National news organizations ought to function on a higher plane than talk radio, where virtually anyone is welcome to shout and scream. CNN was so busy with its "Talkback" show that it was late in joining the presidential press appearance on the White House lawn, and then, when it did join it, did so with impaired audio. [Bush]'s voice was hard to hear over some rumbling ambient roar -- but only on CNN. A viewer could tune to another network and hear Bush clearly.
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