Normally, you wouldn't associate NBC Entertainment president Jeff Zucker with lying awake at night thinking about rigid journalistic standards. Nor would you think he's terribly concerned with what appears on his air except the next episode of the "The Apprentice."

Imagine our relief, then, to learn that the diminutive - and not terribly well-read - executive, who's fond of calling male colleagues "dude" to foster camaraderie, was truly concerned about the recent CBS Bush-National Guard flap. It was simply "shocking," Broadcasting & Cable reports today, for him to see Dan Rather lose his grip like that. In the spirit of twisting the knife around in the wound, Zucker told a TV critics panel in LA last Friday that such nonsense would never have happened under Tom Brokaw or young William Hurt look-alike Brian "more soap, please" Williams. He must have forgotten the 1991 "Dateline" scandal where his network rigged GM cars to go boom like live .305 howitzer rounds in the name of "good TV." Then again, he wasn't even out of college at the time. So it's cool. Dude.


For sincerity (out of 5): 0.
For sheer chutzpah: 3.