It sure took you guys long enough (except for Bob Somerby) to notice what a pretentious f**k Russert is. He's a joke, a bought and paid for stooge of Jack Welch. An elite summer boy. He knows nothing, 'gets at' nothing, he's a piece of excrement on political journalism. Nice to see some other people stop kissing his ass.

I'm curious as to how mmathog feels about Russert.

touche rishy. I should try to find a sense of humor about such things.

What's the knock on Russert in the quoted piece: he's not likely to go back to Buffalo? Then we get "sold out" assimilated to "... bought in, traded up, or however you would like to describe it, and then moved on." So what does this come to: he has been successful and his success is reflected in his prominence, good life, and such celebrity has he has--I know Paris Hilton; he is no Paris Hilton. And then torturing the phrase " 'remember where you came from' " with the pretentious and ultimately meaningless distinction between that and  "still come from there." What does the latter part of that non-distinction mean: he should summer there; wear a Bills tee-shirt; vie to be a member of the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society Building; what? By what moral imperatives, by what supervening criteria, is Russert to be criticized for making good in his life, for living a life that is at one with is success?

The quote is an instance of of the worst kind of pointy headedism faux intellectuality that says nothing but basks in its supposed cleverness. To my mind,  there is nothing "sharp" about it. There are real criticisms to a plenty to be made of Russert and in that regard I'll quote myself in response to Linda Hirshman's today's post in TNR (about him (typos and all):

"Got to disagree.

Tim Russert can certainly be criticized. His tendency at times to drivel for me was highlighted in his exchange with Obama about extra-terrestrial life, which Obama, who I don't love as a candidate, handled beautifully by saying his concern was life on earth and he'll worry about the other life forms some other time. Russert also has a tendency at times to ask calculated and unfair gotcha' questions, which I am less concerned about, because they test candidiates' mettle in not getting sucked in by them--woe to the candidiate that does. He is also inclined to be irritatingly sentimental.

But he does a pretty good job, for all that, in taking the measure of whomever he interviews. When Howard Dean terribly flubbed his first interview as a candidate on Meet The Press, it was immediately apparent, whereas I saw Dean bowl over some PBS types in interviews they conducted. Dean's misperformance with Russert foreshadowed his inevtiable failed candidacy.

But considering that Russert is in his very soul and essence a mainstream --uh what--television newscaster, interviewer, television pundit, moderator--whatever you wish to call him--he's pretty good. He wants, and NBC wants him to be, watched to be watched by as many Americans as can be moved to do so. So there will be catering to that, no doubt. And in that context, and with a not bad grounding in tax and social policy, he asks pretty good questions, is persitent and clear up to the ingrained point in him of not beating dead horses both in moderating and interviewing. Also, he is, within the bounds of conventional wisdom, fairly shrewd in his analyses when he himself is interviewed.

He ought not be criticized for not being a radical, or more deep, or an intellectual--the sub text of your comments and most of the small pieces you linked to--for those things he is not, and does not profess to me. But for not for nothing was he Pat Moynihan's man Friday. And not for nothing does he command the highest perch in mainstream news--uh--moderating.

The articles you cited--which I have to admit only skimming--seemed off the mark and seemed bent on taking on Russert for what he is not, and for magnifying his faults way out of proportion. (And what Kurtz's article had to do with your argument is unclear to me.)

Finally, your last sentence--which I don't totally understand--seems  apocalyptically bizaare and of a piece with your disproprtionate criticism of Russert. "

Plus, finally, Kurtz is on to something about Russert. He is very plain spoken, genuine, absolutely unpretentious, likeable, rumpled and pudgy, very unhair blown dry, and a straight shooter who celebrates main stream American values without any twisty irony, cynical irony. And not only is there nothing wrong with that, they are all endearing qualities. Not for nothing is rather beloved by so many, iincluding regular working class folks, who you will find in great numbers in Buffalo for example.

p.s. mmathog: as usual, a beacon of sweetness and light, a gentle shaft of balanced wisdom, a loving instance of generous humanity, an inspiriation to us all: way to go!

I might've been harsh in my language toward Russert, but it doesn't sound like you basman know much about how he operates. His 'gotcha' questions are meaningless (and have become self-parody) his only goal is to make himself as rich as humanely possible (w/o regard to getting at the actual issue or character of the candidates) and he basically never behaves like a journalist or a reporter (everything is 'off the record,' he's obsessed with Clinton's penis, he talks about Social Security constantly yet utters the most basic falsehoods about it.) Sorry, he's a Welch's shill.

but it doesn't sound like you basman know much about how he operates

That's not incorrect.

I know of him what I see of him in Canada on televsion. I stand by what I say on the basis of his televsion work and am not too fussed about his gotcha' questions thought I don't love them: nothing wrong with a few of them here and there to see if someone can get got, I suppose.

How he operates--ie other than on television-- and his incessant drive to enrich himself, I do not know about ; and I would be interested--now that he is being mooted a bit--to read where the case for that has been made and substantiated as apart from criitiques of him in his capacity as a televison news... whatever he is.

So where I can I read about that, if you don't mind pointing me to that?

I'm with basman. Russert is one of the few big-time pundits I get to see over here (Blitzer being the other one) thanks to MSNBC's making the show available by webcast. Compared to Wolf, another Buffalo alum, he is consistently a better interviewer. And, presumably, he has at least something to do with the MTP format which allows more than sound-bite looks at important issues. He does good things--a couple of weeks ago he devoted the whole show to Cosby and Toussant discussing their new and terrific book about the state of Black America. He routinely matches heavyweight guests with opposing pov's, and lets them finish their sentences. What else do you want?

Russert, like Imus, Blitzer, Stephenopoulos, and the rest, are primarily entertainers. The extent to which they provide access to people with major roles in policymaking is a Good Thing. I don't care about their paychecks or pretensions. And if everyone has to stay home, a lot of us would be significantly less productive and happy.

Ahh, Bobby, you are a wise man.

Probably not as wise as you, Itzik, but thanks.

Have you noticed that the "Talkback" feature appears to have been completely disabled?  Posts of comments on articles I made late Thursday night (CET) haven't appeared, and it looks to me as if no other readers' comments have been posted either. Passing strange.

I'm certain it's a Canadian move to subvert significant American institutions like TNR by IT stealth, 'eh?.

I've *noticed* and I am under oath not to say more than you are absolutely correct and are you interested in joing this great stealthy Canadian cause ultimately to make the U.S. the 11th province?

Don't tell anyone I am trying to recruit you.

And I loved the "'eh'"!

Thanks for the offer, but I'm up to my neck in subverting Putin's New Order at the moment. Anyway, keep me in mind when the Mounties parade down Pennsylvania Avenue.

I hope we haven't lost Talkback, but at this point things don't look good...

I know and you know that in your true heart of hearts you are a Canadian.

I despair of Talkback and can't for the life of me undersatnd what's going on there.

I guess to a certain extent, as Tricky Dick sort of said, "We are all Canadians now".

There's a new post explaining the Talkback fiasco. Seems everything will be okay, we just need to stay the course. I think just because Paul Bremer and Michael "Brownie" Brown decided to go into the IT business, TNR had no call to hire them for the renovation.