WASHINGTON — On the vexed matter of Brian Williams my friend and colleague Wes Pruden raises a fundamental question. “Brian Williams, the tall tale teller for “NBC News,” has had a rough few days, but he’s likely to survive,” writes Wes. “He’ll probably be back,” Wes speculates, even overcoming the derisible endorsement of Dan Rather. Dan, your endorsement could be the kiss of death to poor Brian. Is there no reality-check on these egomaniacs?

My view is at variance with Wes’s. He will never return to “NBC Nightly News.” Within a week of publicly apologizing for claiming to be on a helicopter that endured enemy fire in Iraq in 2003, Williams saw his ranking among America’s most trusted public persons drop from 23 to 835, according to a leading research firm that gathers such preposterous findings for advertisers and marketing executives, the New York Times tells us. In six months his ranking will be in oblivion. The Times also tells us that Williams is “distraught,” and “according to people close to him, [he is] telling friends that if he could go door to door and apologize to each of his viewers he would do so.” I suggest that he start doing so, and after he has apologized to his last viewer he might return to NBC and ask for his job back.