Having encountered Meet the Press host Tim Russert numerous times in my neighborhood when I lived in Washington, DC, I second all of the tributes to his kindness and humility. He frequented an Italian restaurant for lunch across from my apartment, and his gregarious nature shined through in all of the interactions with the non-televised Washingtonians that I observed. Leaving aside my superficial observations, I am disturbed by a couple of aspects of the on-air eulogies to him. First, particularly on NBC, they are non-stop. A head of state did not die. Tim Russert, an employee of NBC News, did. It used to be a cardinal sin of journalism to become the story--no more. The most glaring aspect of media bias involves the media's obsession with itself. Second, amidst the endless tributes, there hasn't been much time devoted to Russert's other career. Prior to a career in journalism, Russert served as a lackey to liberal politicians Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mario Cuomo. This, in the partisan world of big media, somehow qualified him to work as an objective moderator. Would anyone working for Moynihan and Cuomo's right-wing counterparts ever be entrusted to "moderate" a Sunday morning public affairs show on NBC? It is a testament to Russert's commitment to his new profession that he seemed to make a real effort to overcome his biases and provide an even-handed effort.

And what did you expect from the network with regard to over covering the passing of one of their own? The networks in general tend to over cover everything and this was near and dear to them so you knew it was going to be huge.

And I think it’s a given that a network with a particularly leftist agenda would not allow a conservative operative the same opportunity to host a ‘news’ show. Considering that Keith Olbermann is on the short list to take over hosting Russert’s show tells you all you need to know.

These are not surprises. It would have been more surprising if it had happened any other way.

That last sentence is the most important bit of information about Russert because it would be accurate to say that he worked to be an objective television journalist first and partisan second. It appeared that his deep religious beliefs and blue collar roots balanced his ideals as a Democrat. And yes, Russert was a committed to Moynihan and Cuomo but I think the word 'lackey' is a bit too strong. Especially as both of those gentlemen were Democrats but not necessarily the scary liberal kind.

Gov. Cuomo could on occasion be vindictive to people who had crossed him, but I would regard him and Sen. Moynihan as being among the pool of adversaries you could respect and perhaps learn from, rather than merely work on tolerating. I think such people are thinner on the ground than used to be the case. I would not regard working for either as disqualifying.

Diane Sawyer was once Richard Nixon's deputy press secretary and George Will was an aide to Sen. Gordon Allott. Ron Nessen was, subsequent to his employment as Gerald Ford's press secretary, president of the Mutual Broadcasting System. (To be sure, he had had a long history in broadcasting before working for Pres. Ford, which Miss Sawyer and Dr. Will had not).

What would be an interesting project would be to compare the broadcast time devoted to Mr. Russert's death to that of Frank Reynolds in 1983; I would wager you would find the funerary excess was greater 25 years ago.

As for Mr. Russert, RIP.

I hate the way people tend to get "claimed" by this group or that. My pastor preached on Russert's catholic-ness, and his over all good example, at mass on Sunday. And while I don't dispute any of the facts put forth (which don't really need to be outlined here), I don't really see why I should care. I suppose this is why the Catholic Sainthood process is so labourious, as a certain vetting process should occur before someone is held up as an example for us ALL.

I'm not sure it's as much being 'claimed' than it is general admiration. Russert looks to be one of the last (at least for the lame stream) of the TV guys who have and maintain any standards or professional integrity. So I think people are more lamenting a bygone day than getting a warm and fuzzy by claiming Russert.

I'm not thrilled with either candidate but the thought of Hillary on the Supreme Court is enough
to make me pinch my nose and pull the lever for
McCave. He's no conservative (like W), but when compared to B.O., he looks conservative because B.O. is a Socialist.
If B.O. becomes our president, I believe people like megabillionaire socialist(Irony) George Soros will be calling the shots. If McCave gets in there we'll all be paying taxes to
the U.N. to cover our part of the bill for the Global Warming scam. Either way, hold on to your wallets because "change" is all that will be left.
Have a nice day.

Sorry,
Wrong thread.
anyway...
Tim Russert was the least openly biased personality
on the most openly biased network.
He seemed like a genuinely decent guy who deeply loved his family and his country. May he rest in peace.
I hope NBC doesn't spit on his legacy by replacing
him with the likes of Keith Olbermann.

I'm quite favorably impressed, as one of his fellow Irish Catholics, to see that Mr. Russert was such a decent gentleman. He's someone to be proud of.