The New York Times, in an editorial yesterday, praised Carole Coleman, RTE's Washington correspondent, for her "robust" questioning of President Bush on the eve of his visit to Ireland.
The planners of Mr Bush's trip "may have envisioned a pleasant inning of softball questions when they pencilled in a brief interview with RTÉ", the editorial said under the heading "When Irish Eyes Stop Smiling".
What they got was the "intrepid" Carole Coleman "firing follow-up questions about death and destruction in Iraq, even as Mr Bush protested being cut off from fully answering".
"You ask the questions and I'll answer them," Mr Bush finally told Ms Coleman, a veteran correspondent who served up her next question as he complained.
The White House protested to the Irish embassy "but her employers gave Ms Coleman a well-done, and so do we", the New York Times said. It was "a sight for sore eyes - an American president who seldom holds a White House news conference unexpectedly subjected to some muscular European perspective". The newspaper, which has not been granted an interview by Mr Bush since he took office, concluded that "the griping and debate about the interview was a sad reminder to Americans that the White House seldom welcomes robust questioning, especially when it is most needed".