Meet Mr. Russert

Not long ago, Democrat operative Terry McAuliffe made a comment while on Meet The Press, that his deceased dad would be talking to Tim Russert's late father up in heaven. Patiently and with that trademark wry humor, Russert reminded McAuliffe that "Big Russ" was still with us and hadn't gone on to his reward.

Who could have none, that just weeks after that show was taped, the ever present, eternally enthusiastic younger Russert would be making the trip up to heaven before his own father. By now, word has gotten around to most of us, that the long running Meet The Press host and Washington DC bureau chief for NBC, died today at age 58.

Russert was versed in all the latest technology, able to go online with his views. Yet he really was a throwback to a simpler time, when people looked toward the evening news and their familiar anchors for much of their information and understanding on current events. Hand-in-hand with the evening news broadcasts were the Sunday morning news shows, an island of civilized discussion in a world where more and more talk was about posturing and hiding from the truth.

Russert was a bulldog in his preparation for his guests and in his determination to question them on the hard issues of the day. His trademark, putting up on screen previous quotations that his guest might have forgotten, were used not so much to trap the guest but to give historical continuity to the issue and the guest's own personal quest to frame the difficult issue that might be in question that day.

There once was a world in which TV news personalities and TV networks were expected to stay as neutral as possible in their presentations and in their hunt for truth. That world is eroding quickly. Any regular cable TV news watcher can quickly figure out where Bill O'Reilly, Keith Olbermann, and Lou Dobbs are coming from. In a way, the new wave puts the focus on the interviewer not the interviewee.

Tim Russert was a bridge back to a simpler but perhaps more intelligent world. He squashed any of his own personal political leanings to get at the truth and let the light shine on his important guest. This straightforward and honest approach helped to build trust in the venerable reporter.

Russert's most memorable moment was when he used a white board to count down the remaining electoral votes in the hotly disputed 2000 presidential election. In a news environment where John King on CNN can literally stretch and squeeze a state map to get instant voting results, many were longing for another repeat of the quaint methods Russert used just eight years ago. How sad that Russert's expertise and insight have been taken from us in this important election season.