Village Voice: Remembering Tim Russert

[babylonsister]

by Ward Harkavy |
Remembering Tim Russert
Posted by Harkavy at 6:19 PM, June 13, 2008


. . . as one who at a crucial time in '02 lobbed softballs to Dick Cheney.

It's tragic that Tim Russert unexpectedly died, leaving behind family and friends who loved him.

That said, let's try to keep this in perspective — and not the perspective offered up this afternoon by the Washington Post, which called him "the Democratic operative turned NBC commentator who revolutionized Sunday morning television and infused journalism with his passion for politics."

He did not revolutionize anything. He was a news reader, a media celebrity, not a soldier dying in a futile war.

As our body count in Iraq keeps right on climbing, I'll recall Russert's classic '02 interview of Dick Cheney on Meet the Press as a true exemplar of recent American journalism.

I don't mean that in a nice way.

The exact date was September 8, 2002, as Cheney and his frontman, George W. Bush, were lobbying Americans and members of Congress on the urgent necessity of invading Iraq. This was before the key Senate vote.

We now know they were lying, but many of us were thinking that back in '02. Drowning out the dissenters were most of the U.S. media outlets — not all, but most.

And media celebs such as Russert were playing their roles as wing men for schnooks such as Cheney.

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http://blogs.villagevoice.com/bushbeat/archives/2008/06/remembering_tim.php