Tim Russert

By MRN

June 13, 2008

2 comments

Tim Russert

 

This is sort of a change from the usual kind of stuff I write. Most of what I write is, to say the least, colorful, but to be more accurate, borderline obscene. But if you’ll allow me (though I have no way of knowing how many people even go to this site), I’d like to just take a moment to explain why Tim Russert was a huge figure in American journalism and politics.

I always felt a little bit of a connection to him, since he was a graduate of John Carroll university the school my Father was a professor at for many years. My connection to him was a bit of an unusual one. Russert was an upstate New York guy. He was Irish Catholic from Buffalo, and never for a moment did he forget it. A lot of people who move to the upper echelon of American power work very hard to put their working class roots behind them, but Russert embraced them and let those roots and values lead him. That’s one of the reasons why he was so unique and so successful. My father, who I no longer have any relationship with, often spoke of Russert. My father and I talked frequently about politics and journalism. Though we were on opposite sides of almost every issue. I a somewhat libertarian, free market, conservative, and my father being a almost stereotypical academic group-think liberal. However we agreed on one thing, we both had tremendous respect for Tim Russert.

I’ve had a deep and intense love of politics since I was 7 years old and watched President Reagan on tv. With the love of politics next came the understanding and study of the media which so greatly affects it. I watched shows like The McLaughlin Group, shows that often debated politics like Phil Donahue’s show and the nightly news telecasts. I became very aware of the bias of journalists. The way they ask a question that in reality is a statement. The way they selectively pick and choose “facts” in order to make any point that supports their political and moral beliefs. In 1991 Tim Russert took over the Sunday morning program Meet The Press. Under his leadership it quickly became THE show to watch for political interviews. Nobody was more prepared and put politicians on more of a hot seat than Russert did. And he did it fairly. He did it without the usual and obvious bias.

That doesn’t mean he didn’t have a political point of view. He made his way through politics working for Democrats. Starting with then NY governor Mario Cuomo, and then serving as chief of staff for Sen. Patrick Moynihan. But whatever his political beliefs actually were, it was hard to see them affect his job. He was the best example of what journalism should be, and possibly the last of his kind.

Russert was a frequent guest on the Don Imus radio show and it was on those many appearances that myself and many others saw the very funny and thoughtful side of him. Imus would conclude his interview by asking who Tim had on as a guest for the Sunday show, more often than not Russert would name whomever was the biggest “get” at the time, the biggest newsmaker. For political junkies it was almost always much see tv. I would actually set my alarm to wake up in time to watch Meet the Press, before of course going back to sleep. That’s how important his show was, it was actually worth waking up early on a weekend for.

It was sometimes worth it just for the key moment, which happened more often then not, where Russert would ask a politician a question, wait for the answer, and then put up on the screen a quote from the same politician saying something 100% different just weeks before. Other interviewers have also done that, but Russert wasn’t done. When the politician would (if he or she was skilled) give an answer explaining the discrepancy, Russert would take the next step and put up on the screen yet another quote completely undermining the politicians b.s. answer. Most interviewers are playing checkers with guests, Russert was playing chess.

Beyond his amazing career in political journalism, he became a best selling author for a book about his dad, "Big Russ and Me." It was a book about what he learned from his Father. His father was a World War 2 vet, and a man who worked 2 jobs to make a better life for his son. It was a great book and really showed the magnitude of a father teaching his son the most important values in life.

The values of hard work, consideration for other people, remembering where you came from, religious faith, and doing things the right way, not just the easy way.

These were some of the values and traditions that often came from Irish Catholic communities. The kind of community my own father came from. However for as much as my father and I both agreed on the outstanding professionalism of Tim Russert, my own father was nothing like “Big Russ.” I always wished that somewhere in the huge pile of books my father would read, he would have made room for Tim Russert’s book. During Tim’s book tour, when he spoke in depth about the relationship with his father, and the relationship with his own son, I would imagine what I would say if I was ever to have a conversation with Tim Russert. I think I would have said something like, “I wasn’t fortunate enough to have the sort of relationship you had with you father. But the values that you wrote so well about, are the values that I hope to pass along someday if I ever have a son, and your book is one that I would someday give to him.”

Tim Russert died of a massive heart attack today. He was only 58.

 -MRN  www.myspace.com/mrn

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