What? Did he really say THAT? That's even more surprising than being ignorant of what his own PM said!
"ex-Canadian"
Jennings is a U.S. citizen?
Peter, what do you mean "us"?
JENNINGS: Yes. I think that's one of the reasons that I never became an American. I still feel Canadian.
Being American is not a matter of birth, it's a matter of ideology. I grew up Canadian and I went to see the world as a Canadian and was received as a reporter throughout the world as a Canadian even though I was working for an American news outlet.
So I was invariably faced with 'Do I want to be something else?' I think if your roots are deep enough -- and it's instinctual, and very hard to describe -- then you pretty much stay what you are.
I also think that having stayed Canadian all those years, I'm now accustomed to keeping alive the Canadian perspective on world affairs, if not on life.
Growing up as we do here, we have a sense of the difference between influence and power. Americans grow up with a sense of power. There's no reason they should grow up with anything else, being the most powerful nation on earth.
In the world, increasingly, influence has a validity to it that I think Canadians appreciate.
So do I stay Canadian? Certainly. I stay Canadian by birthright, I'm still a Canadian citizen, I still carry a Canadian passport, my sister lives in Canada, I still have property in Canada.
But I think if you add it to what we journalists are -- which, essentially, are professional outsiders -- I've always stayed slightly an outsider, even though I adore America and am eternally grateful to have been part of the American experience.
Memo to Peter Jennings:
Yes, you are still Canadian.
No, you don't "adore America".
You have the most perverse manner of demonstrating you are "eternally grateful to have been part of the American experience"--
At every opportunity you are thoroughly deprecating, patronizing, scornful and dismissive of all things American.
And to reinforce the earlier comment, "Nobody likes you."
JENNINGS: That sounds more like something I would have said.
Jennings: Arrogant, condescending, non-American, clymer, pig.
A few weeks ago, Chretien announced he was retiring effective sometime in 2004. His career already IS doomed. There's no way Jennings couldn't have known that.
born in Toronto, Ontario
father, Charles, was a leading journalist, announcer, and later executive with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)
Gee Peter how much help did your father give you? Aren't you just like GW Bush? Could not of made it except for the help for your father?
at age nine, hosted a half-hour weekly children's show on CBC
became an interviewer for an Ontario radio station after dropping out of preparatory school, then joined the CBC as host of a public-affairs program.
in 1962 he became co-anchor of Canada's first national commercial-network newscast (CTV)
moved to New York in 1964 and became a correspondent for American Broadcasting Companies (ABC), then became anchor of ABC's nightly newscast (1965-67)
praised for his on-the-spot coverage and his documentary "Southern Accents: Northern Ghettos," however he returned to reporting in 1968, the move was attributed to his youth, inexperience, and Canadian background
in the early 1970's he was appointed head of the ABC News Middle East bureau in Beirut.
in 1971 Jennings received the National Headliner Award for his reporting on the civil war in Bangladesh his profile of Egyptian president a_Anwar al-Sadat earned him a Peabody Award in 1974
served briefly as Washington correspondent for ABC's "A.M. America" (1974-75), then went to London as the network's chief foreign correspondent
in London he co-anchored the nightly newscast "World News Tonight," and he was appointed sole anchor when the show moved to New York City in 1983
became known for his straightforward newscasting
his November 1990 interview with Saddam Hussein just before the Persian Gulf War was one of few granted to western reporters
Keep it up, Peter, you're a great guy.