I always liked Russert, with his severely intense stare and arsenal of quotes that he enjoyed throwing back in the face of his victims on 'Meet the Press'. As John McCain once quipped after a typical Russert cross-examination, "I haven't had that much fun since my last interrogation." His law school training really came across in his interviewing style; whereas most news interviewers will ask a question and regardless of the answer they will move on to the next question, Russert would not accept a BS answer or dodge. He would actually listen to the response, and if his question wasn't answered to his satisfaction he'd ask it again. And again. And again. Either his guest would be forced to address the issue or they would be pounded into the ground.
I wasn't going to post anything on Russert's passing, but I felt inspired to after watching 'Meet the Press' this morning, which was a heartfelt tribute to Russert moderated by Tom Brokaw. Sure, generally nice things will be said upon the passing of a celebrity, but the respect Russert had in the industry was very apparent from watching the tribute this morning. I didn't realize how prepared Russert was for each episode of 'Meet the Press'. He would spend the entire week prior researching and preparing, and all of his colleagues today commented on how irritated he would be when his guests would not be likewise prepared. They showed some great clips of Russert grilling everyone from W. to Perot to Obama. He was tough on people from across the political spectrum.
But it was also clear how much people in the industry and in politics liked Russert as a person. He could rip you apart on his show if you weren't ready to answer the tough questions, but everyone commented on how genuine and friendly he was off camera. He truly loved politics. It was quite a touching moment this morning when Brokaw choked up while talking about his friend. Even Bruce Springsteen, while on tour in Europe, dedicated "Thunder Road" last night to him from the stage. Russert was a dedicated Boss fan. RIP Tim Russert.
3 comments:
I'm a little surprised to hear that you weren't planning on posting anything concerning Russert's passing. I was actually expecting you to have something up on Friday.
For me, Russert's death was a huge blow. He was always "my man" in politics. I liked, respected, and trusted him far above anyone else. As far back as I can remember, my memories of election night always seem to center around him sitting at the desk with his dry erase board calculating all of the different ways that the oustanding electoral votes could affect the outcome of the race.
I also never missed an episode of "Meet The Press". Every Sunday, the show would be downloaded to my iPod, and I would watch it at least once over the course of the following week. He was a brilliant man with a wonderful personality that could more than hold his own with the best (and worst) of them.
He was also one of the only politically-minded people that I have ever seen who seemed completely unbiased. He never showed any leanings one way or the other.
And, he was a remarkable family man. He loved his father and his son more than anything on this Earth, and he was never embarrassed about showing it.
So, I was shocked and deeply saddened when I heard the news.
The thing that struck me most when I was watching the video clips and photos on the show this morning was that he always seemed to have a big smile on his face. He truly seemed like a very happy man, and that made it almost impossible not to like him.
When Brokaw began to cry, I almost lost it. That was extremely touching.
RIP Tim Russert.
By the way, I also really liked James Carville and Mary Matalin holding hands. You know those two had to be pretty choked up, if they were showing any kind of emotion towards each other in public.
Thanks for the thoughts, Walter. That was a better post than my own! I had no idea you are such a Russert fan. I noticed the Carville/Matalin hand holding as well. As I was looking for photos to add for my post, I came across a photo of Carville and Matalin from the 'Meet the Press' episode where both of them had their heads in their hands and they were weeping. I didn't see that on the episode when I watched it, so I think that was probably a shot of them during the taping when they were off camera. Anyway, nice comment, Walter.
And I couldn't post about Russert on Friday because Fridays are reserved for Dez's Top 100 Rock/Pop Albums of All Time!
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