Ever since the trade press broke the news yesterday that I had turned down NBC’s offer to replace Brian Williams as anchor of the Nightly News, I have received such a deluge of inquiries from my readers that I feel compelled to respond, despite my concern as a widely-followed blogger not to become “part of the story.”

While the network’s offer was not as “generous” as the media has made out (you’ll recall that Williams had just been bumped up to $10M a year), money was not the deciding issue.

Nor was my longstanding close personal relationship with Brian, whom I have been mentoring since he was a busboy at Perkins Pancake House in Middleton, New Jersey.

Furthermore, it had nothing to do with my foggy memory regarding whether or not I actually ran into a burning tenement to rescue a baby, back in 1960, an incident that uninformed ill-wishers have since uncharitably characterized as “stolen valor.” I was totally up front with the details of that episode at the time, and I don’t care to revisit it 55 years later just because NBC is overanxious about its so-called “reputation.”

Finally, I have just heard from my agent that he is huddling with executives at Comedy Central about my taking over The Daily Show from Jon Stewart, a far more congenial “fit”, I feel, for someone with my liberal leanings and penchant for irony.

Stay tuned for further developments