I'm a simple man, for the most part. I don't ask much of the human race and expect even less. I like coffee(way too much), I like cigarettes, and professional football. No . . . this is not my e-harmony profile page. Among the tiny list of the things I like about the world, Tim Russert was very close to the top. He died on Friday the thirteenth of June, 2008. He was only 58 years old.
I watched Meet The Press every Sunday without fail and I can honestly say that Li'l Russ was a great man. It almost sounds mundane to say that about someone. That phrase gets tossed around more than a bulimics' lunch these days. But, I truly mean it. He was great. He was a great show host, he was a great interviewer and he knew his politics. I respected and admired him as much as man could without being called "homo".
He was a great family man, according to the one hour tribute on what should have been Meet The Press this morning. He was respected and admired by his peers(homos!), according to the guests on the afore mentioned tribute; many of which were frequent guests of MTP. Tom Brokaw kicked the show off by saying kind words about Tim. It's the right thing to do. You never want to start a tribute by saying, "You owe me fifty bucks you piece of shit!" Why is it more fun to watch Dana Carvey do an impression of Tom Brokaw than it is to watch Tom Brokaw? Carvelle and Matlin were also on the the tribute show, proof that opposites attract. In their case that seems to apply to love more than viewers and readers. A democrat married to a republican. Tell me again about the "L" and "R" monograms on your bath towels, I love that story!
All tribute shows have clips of past interviews, and this one was no exception. For those of you who didn't see it, it was like a best of Oprah show without all the fake tears. In particular, one of the clips that struck me was an interview with H. Ross Perot. It's amazing to me how vivid insanity looks on a high definition television. I had completely forgotten about a visit on the show from the then "freshman" Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, where she swore up and down that she would never run for president. "I did not have presidential relations with that woman", she said.
Most recently, what I loved about watching Tim Russert, was how genuinely excited he was about our upcoming election. You could see it on his face every time he welcomed you to MTP. Usually, you only see that look on the faces of the " freshly laid". So I've been told. That is why it's so sad to me that he won't be around to see the outcome. He won't be here to see John McCain get elected president and having a stroke and almost dying upon hearing the news. He'll never be able to say, " Today on the show, an hour long interview with Vice-President Anne Coulter. . . live from hell . . . welcome to Meet The Press."
Tim Russert will not go to hell. In fact, I'm sure it will be quite the opposite. At least it should, anyway. Bill O'Reilly should go to hell. I know a guy who crews on the O'Reilly Factor and he told me Bill doesn't let anybody in his dressing room because there are cracks on the floor and you can actually see hell seeping through. My friend smokes a lot of weed.
I'll miss you Mr. Russert. And I will miss your show every Sunday morning. Not so much once football season kicks in, granted . . . ca'mon! Thanks for all of the great interviews and all the great debate moderation. While I'm on the subject, next election, let's moderate the debates by not having quite so many. Can we do that? I think Tim would have agreed completely.
1 comment:
One of the first things I said when I heard the news last Friday was that he was going to miss this fall's historic election. Not only would HE miss this election, but that we would miss seeing HIS election coverage. I'd always liked him, but after this past primary season, I took an even bigger liking (non-homo) to him. And because I knew he'd be around to share his wealth of political knowledge, MSNBC became my...uh, primary station for primary coverage. Having heard everyone speak so highly of him, it makes you wish he had taken a different vocation and gone into politics himself. Instead of these shmucks we've got running around, we'd have an honest and trustworthy man as an authority figure. Thanks Mr. Russert!
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