Authentic, off the cuff, sincere, funny. It's too bad what you have to become in order to reach this level. Man, I like this guy.....but his top ten corporate donors are the same as hildogs and grampy mcsames....what's an American to do....really....wtf is a true American supposed to do? This is a constitutional lawyer who voted for the fisa bill...."Patriot" Act.....welcome to Amerika. Tim Russert might have been the last true journalist....I wonder what he was working on when he had his "heart attack"?

>> ^SpeveO:
Somehow I don't think Joe Biden, the man who bragged to Tim Russert about how the Patriot Act mirrored a lot of his proposed legislation in the Omnibus Counter-terrorism Act of 1995, is going to be part of the team that restores the American constitution.


Thanks for pointing that one out, I wasn't aware of it. Count that as a definite strike against him, but his scorecard from the ACLU is 91% in the 110th Congress (only because he missed a single crucial vote, after being named VP), and an 86% rating lifetime.

Obama's position on the Patriot act has been scrutinized, and while his ACLU scorecard shows 82% for FISA and Patriot votes, he's certainly talked a lot about wanting to replace them with better legislation that better protects people's rights (specifics are behind that link).

Contrast that to McCain's rating of 22% lifetime, with a 17% in the 110th Congress, and absolutely no mitigating commentary about it. He's even ducked voting against measures that would've precluded the CIA from using torture, even with his supposed opposition to torture (a minority view in the Republican party, mind you).

Goodness knows what Palin's scorecard would look like.

I'm standing by Obama and Biden being the team to restore the Constitution.

Somehow I don't think Joe Biden, the man who bragged to Tim Russert about how the Patriot Act mirrored a lot of his proposed legislation in the Omnibus Counter-terrorism Act of 1995, is going to be part of the team that restores the American constitution.

Apparently they're saying they think they don't have to let the media ask her questions.

I'm really missing Tim Russert right now. He should've gotten a chance to interview her this weekend.

Tim Russert, I miss you. But stuff like this makes me feel better. Thank goodness for hard questions. Chris Matthews ... go get em.

>> ^Lunaped:
All I can say is that at least he was honest about his ignorance.


He wasn't honest about it; he lied about it until Russert confronted him with the quote.

Nice sift.

Hunter S. simply saw too much for his own good. We weren't as smart as he and his impatience got the best of him.

Does anyone suspect foul play in the death of Tim Russert? He was such a trusted & stand-up newsman -- it wouldn't surprise me that he'd be on the brink of breaking a new story when he'd suddenly "drop dead" of heart failure, while Cheney still plagues the planet.

>> ^bamdrew:
Oh Meet the Press... thanks, Mr. Russert. You'll be missed.


Wrong sift?
http://www.videosift.com/video/Tom-Brokaw-Reporsts-on-the-death-of-Tim-Russert

Oh Meet the Press... thanks, Mr. Russert. You'll be missed.

Tim Russert. I met him when I was a graduate student and was doing free-lance work for NBC-News in Lebanon. He was the rising star in the network then. I did not know him at all but he represents something not necessarily good or impressive about U.S. media. He was talented and was a good interrogator and was very well-prepared: but these are basic qualities that all journalists should possess; and journalists in Europe, for example, possess those qualities.

But he also represented this tendency that you have be chummy with politicians, and that it is all a big joke--the political differences and the disagreements. Russert has a horrible record on the Bush administration: he was least critical and least skeptical. How can you take his coverage seriously, when he would interview the president one day, and then take his son to take his picture in the Oval Office the next day? He really did that: or when he marvels about how "a kid from Buffalo" is sitting in the Oval Office. What is the big deal, I don't get it. He represents that annoying tendency in the U.S. to indulge in self-praise and self-congratulations. He is one of those who have to say "only in America" several times a day. He also represented patriotic journalism --according to which you should not question an administration in a time of war.

He also has this nostalgic view of parents and grandparents: the glorification of the past, with little regard for the plight of women, minorities, homosexuals in this past. The "greatest generation" that Brokaw wrote so much about was a generation that practiced segregation, that confined women to their homes, that watched lynching of blacks, that blatantly beat homosexuals, that spoke about "the others" only in vulgar and pejorative terms. Yesterday, Chris Mathews outed him on MSNBC: he said that Russert was a supporter of the American invasion of Iraq. No kidding. It was quite obvious. Russert started his career by working for one of the worst (and most politically racialist) Senators: Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

It is also that common revolving door policy: to have journalists moving from the corridors of power to the newsrooms. Russert worked for Mynihan and for Mario Cuomo before coming to NBC-News. On Israel, Russert was horrible: he would always challenge politicians if they have the slightest skepticism toward Israel and its crimes. The standards of political courage are so different in the U.S. from what they are in Europe, for example. Here, if they ask one mild question (the standard for questioning being Larry King), it is considered courageous. Look back at Russert's interviews with Rumsfeld and Bush after Sep. 11: they did not show hints of skepticism. He was a war promoter.

Tim Russert. I met him when I was a graduate student and was doing free-lance work for NBC-News in Lebanon. He was the rising star in the network then. I did not know him at all but he represents something not necessarily good or impressive about U.S. media. He was talented and was a good interrogator and was very well-prepared: but these are basic qualities that all journalists should possess; and journalists in Europe, for example, possess those qualities.

But he also represented this tendency that you have be chummy with politicians, and that it is all a big joke--the political differences and the disagreements. Russert has a horrible record on the Bush administration: he was least critical and least skeptical. How can you take his coverage seriously, when he would interview the president one day, and then take his son to take his picture in the Oval Office the next day? He really did that: or when he marvels about how "a kid from Buffalo" is sitting in the Oval Office. What is the big deal, I don't get it. He represents that annoying tendency in the U.S. to indulge in self-praise and self-congratulations. He is one of those who have to say "only in America" several times a day. He also represented patriotic journalism --according to which you should not question an administration in a time of war.

He also has this nostalgic view of parents and grandparents: the glorification of the past, with little regard for the plight of women, minorities, homosexuals in this past. The "greatest generation" that Brokaw wrote so much about was a generation that practiced segregation, that confined women to their homes, that watched lynching of blacks, that blatantly beat homosexuals, that spoke about "the others" only in vulgar and pejorative terms. Yesterday, Chris Mathews outed him on MSNBC: he said that Russert was a supporter of the American invasion of Iraq. No kidding. It was quite obvious. Russert started his career by working for one of the worst (and most politically racialist) Senators: Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

It is also that common revolving door policy: to have journalists moving from the corridors of power to the newsrooms. Russert worked for Mynihan and for Mario Cuomo before coming to NBC-News. On Israel, Russert was horrible: he would always challenge politicians if they have the slightest skepticism toward Israel and its crimes. The standards of political courage are so different in the U.S. from what they are in Europe, for example. Here, if they ask one mild question (the standard for questioning being Larry King), it is considered courageous. Look back at Russert's interviews with Rumsfeld and Bush after Sep. 11: they did not show hints of skepticism. He was a war promoter.

He was the most prepared, unbiased, and probing modern day Journalist. The first amendment needs a new friend in Washington now that Mr. Russert is gone.

That is very shocking and sad. Too sudden and too young to go. R.I.P. Tim Russert.

I'm still trying to process this. To a large extent, I'm finding I'm in denial.

Russert should've been annoying politicians, infuriating me with his obsession on the immaterial, and being one of the major names in modern political media for at least another decade.

I remember him when he had Chuck Todd's job during the '92, and '96 elections, on camera with a whiteboard and a marker, crunching electoral math with what was certainly a childlike excitement.

This guy loved what he did. He lived and breathed politics, and while I've not always agreed with what he's had to say, I've always listened to it.

He will be missed.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'russert, obit, browkaw, meet the press' to 'russert, obit, brokaw, meet the press' - edited by calvados