Meet the Press in Heaven

Luke Russert led the memorial service for his father earlier today. You can see the rest of the memorial service on the Meet the Press site on MSNBC.

Stephen Colbert on Russert

Moment of Zen

At the end of every Daily Show, Jon Stewart shows a "Moment of Zen", and usually it's a funny bit from the day's news. Last night, Jon aired a very poignant part of his interview with Tim Russert in 2004, when Tim published "Big Russ and Me". The above clip shows the first part of the interview.



The second part of the interview is probably one of the most informative and insightful moments I've seen on The Daily Show. Please note that Tim and John are discussing the war in Iraq during an election year. Hmmm...does that sound familiar?

The new Meet the Press moderator?

On my way to lunch today, I flipped through a couple talk radio stations and stopped at one where the subject was Tim Russert. The commentators were throwing out ideas for the new Meet the Press moderator -- Keith Olbermann, Bob Costas, etc. Justin Webb, the North American BBC News editor, suggests David Gregory.

I'm going to throw out Charlie Rose's name. He's used to the roundtable show format and he's an experienced interview. I try to catch his show as much as possible, but our PBS station airs his show at 11:30 PM. My one reservation about Charlie is that sometimes he interrupts his guests, and not necessarily in a good way. Occasionally, Charlie will also talk over his guests. It's an annoying habit, but I think he could definitely work on it.

However, I don't think that Charlie would ever leave his own show in NY. It's a long-running staple on PBS and I don't think he would be satisfied to only talk about politics. Tim Russert had another show on MSNBC, but I believe that show only aired once a week. Charlie's show runs Monday through Friday. Oh well. It was a good thought. Maybe, NBC would make it worth Charlie's time.

A Pet Peeve

When I found out about Tim Russert's death this afternoon, I exclaimed and said, "Oh my God, Tim Russert is dead." I did not expect the following response from my colleagues, "Who's that?" Are you kidding me? An hour or so later, another co-worker came up to me and told me and I thanked God that someone on my team is informed. I really have a hard time dealing with the fact that so many people do not pay attention to what is going on in our political world, or even the rest of the world. I get that most people are not as obsessed about television than I am, but I think they should at least watch the really good quality shows.

Ignorance is not bliss.

Thoughts on Tim Russert

I didn't get up early enough every Sunday morning to see Meet the Press (it airs at 8:00 AM in St. Louis), but when I did catch it, I always felt a little smarter after watching Tim Russert's interviews and analysis. I admired his tactful, yet tough interview style. He respected his guests and made them give us honest answers. In the heart of this political season, I always turned to NBC for their political news coverage, because I knew that Tim Russert would be fair and insightful.

I don't know how I'll get through the rest of the presidential campaign without Tim. I know that sounds silly, but he made the whole crazy mess make sense. I can't watch CNN anymore. Their constant insistence on being "the best political news team on television" is so grating. I'll have to stick to The Newshour or start watching Face the Nation.

I watched a couple hours of tributes to Tim Russert tonight -- NBC news, Larry King Live, Nightline, and Charlie Rose. He is someone that everyone genuinely loved and they told stories about how he genuinely loved his friends and their families. In our current plastic media world, we have very few genuine people reporting the news, and even fewer who are as respected as Tim Russert. He had a real passion for his work and it was evident in every word he spoke.

I will miss him.

Tim Russert

NBC just broke the news that Tim Russert, of Meet the Press, died this afternoon, at age 58. He will be missed.

I'll write more later.