Tim Russert warmly remembered on 'Meet the Press'

Tim Russert warmly remembered on 'Meet the Press'

By FRAZIER MOORE, AP Television Writer
47 minutes ago



Tim Russert's chair was empty on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, two days after his unexpected death.

But Russert was very much present on the full-hour tribute to this giant of political journalism who hosted NBC's public-affairs program for more than 16 years.

"His voice has been stilled," began Tom Brokaw, who led the conversation, "and our issue this sad Sunday morning is remembering and honoring our colleague and our friend ...."

Brokaw and a half-dozen others were seated in front of the "Meet the Press" set and its angular table, left vacant, where Russert had presided as recently as last week.

Brokaw noted that Russert had a large wooden sign in his office that read: "Thou Shalt Not Whine," which Brokaw then supplemented with "Thou shalt not weep or cry this morning. This is a celebration."

But a bit later he choked up, recalling Russert's words of awe at how far a working-class kid from Buffalo like himself could rise: "What a country!" he would marvel.

Among those gathered were presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and political pundit Mary Matalin, with Maria Shriver — the former NBC News correspondent and currently California's first lady — on a remote hookup.

All agreed that Russert was tough but fair in his interviewing, and that he, as a former political operative himself, loved politics and politicians.

What he didn't like, said consultant-pundit James Carville, was an elected official or anybody else who wasn't prepared to face him.

"The biggest insult to him was someone who came on and ... didn't take the show seriously," Carville said.

It was a mistake they quickly regretted, because Russert took his stewardship of "Meet the Press" as a sacred trust.

"He would spend all week preparing," said executive producer Betsy Fischer.

PBS' Gwen Ifill, a former NBC correspondent, called the program "The Church of Tim."

"I would actually get a pass from my own pastor to not be in church on Sunday if I was gonna be on `Meet the Press,'" she said with a smile.

MSNBC commentator Mike Barnicle added that Russert's son, Luke, had told him the day before that the program was "Tim's second son."

However fitting Sunday's tribute, it was a cruel irony that Russert had become the big story, particularly in the midst of a like-no-other presidential race that he was covering with his customary gusto. Guests he had planned to grill Sunday were senior officials from both campaigns.

All that changed with Russert's death from a heart attack Friday. He was stricken while preparing for the broadcast at his network's Washington bureau.

NBC aired a prime-time tribute Friday night, then devoted Saturday's "Today" show to his life and career. His passing dominated rival cable-news networks and news-talk shows.

St. Albans School in Washington said a wake was scheduled there Tuesday evening.

Wednesday at 4 p.m. EDT, a private memorial service from Washington's Kennedy Center will be televised by MSNBC and made available for airing by other outlets, the network said.

Russert was the face of political news for NBC as well as cable sibling MSNBC, serving as chief political analyst, a frequent correspondent and an election-night fixture, besides his off-camera duties as NBC News' Washington bureau chief.

He had become almost synonymous with the top-rated "Meet the Press," the TV institution he reinvented while becoming an institution himself. He had been its host since 1991 when the show, the longest-running on television, already was in its 45th year.

Several tape montages on Sunday's tribute displayed Russert in action, pressing subjects from Ross Perot to Louis Farrakhan. Politicos including John Kerry and Hillary Rodham Clinton were seen telling Russert they had no interest in running for the White House.

The abrupt void Russert leaves is unprecedented in network TV news. Even the tragic death of ABC News anchor Peter Jennings in 2005 followed his much-publicized battle with lung cancer and his four-month absence from the airwaves.

There was no immediate word on who would host "Meet the Press" next week, or in the weeks after that.

Drawing the program to a close, Brokaw observed "this would not have been just another Sunday for Tim: This is Father's Day." Any regular viewer of "Meet the Press" knew Russert was a devoted son (of "Big Russ," about whom he wrote in a best-selling memoir) and father (to Luke).

But the final moments — eerily yet aptly — were of Russert signing off from his host's chair, proud and cheery, with Father's Day greetings to all. For an instant, viewers might have wondered: Who will Russert be grilling next week?

___

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Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Tribute in Russert's studio

Tribute in Russert's studio

Mike Allen, Amie Parnes
Sun Jun 15, 11:25 AM ET



On a memorial edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” moderator Tim Russert was remembered in his studio as a friend of politicians who prepared rigorously for the powerful show and was “offended” when they didn’t do the same.

The show, with just one commercial interruption, consisted of brief highlights of Russert’s tenure, interspersed with loving memories from friends and frequent guests.

With the moderator’s chair empty in tribute, the guests gathered around the famous Nebraska Avenue table with Tom Brokaw, the former “Nightly News” anchorman, who began the show by urging them not to cry.

But the show was a largely joyful recollection of wild, loving times with Russert, who passed in his prime on Friday, at the age of 58.

“When you were out of office, he still called you,” Mary Matalin, the Republican strategist, recalled.

“He was ambitious for the interns, he’s ambitious for his friends. If you had a book, he’d put you on one of his shows. He tried to help everybody. He wanted everybody to do their best. … He enjoyed everyone’s success.”

Funeral arrangements are not complete, but a public memorial service is planned for Wednesday afternoon in Washington at a location that hasn’t been finalized. Tentative plans call for a service at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, friends said. A wake is planned for Tuesday at St. Albans School, and a private funeral Mass is to be held Wednesday morning.

MSNBC’s Mike Barnicle said Russert’s son, Luke, had recently told him “that this program was Tim’s second son.”

Betsy Fischer, Russert’s executive producer, said he would spend all week reading up for the show and “never once sat in that show unprepared — he would prepare for a three-hour show.”

“The way he would structure the questions was very lawyerly,” she said. Fischer added that as soon as the show was over, “he would grab me and say, ‘What do we have for next week?’”

Fischer said that because of Russert’s enthusiasm, he “did not want that primary season to end” and “loved every minute of it.”

“We would say, ‘OK, this is the last Tuesday night — there can’t possibly be …, ’” she recalled. And she said Russert interjected; “No! Bring on more, more, more, more!”

Others said Russert would sit in front of the camera and actually rehearse questions.

James Carville, who said the two of them talked just about every day except Friday, said consultants and their bosses did not need to fear “Meet.”

“You could predict the questions the highest on ‘Meet the Press’ because they were fair questions,” Carville said. “But he really was offended by people who didn’t prepare. He was glad that the candidate did much better.”

Brokaw, noting Russert’s “civilized but persistent” fashion of questioning, said: “It would have been helpful to the candidates if they would have said from time to time: You know what, Tim? You got me there.”

Mary Matalin said Russert “genuinely liked politicians — he respected politicians.”

“He knew that they got blamed for everything, got credit for everything,” Matalin said. “He never treated them with the cynicism that attends some of these interviews. So they had a place to be loved. He understood who they were. So if you messed up on this show, it was nobody’s fault but your own.”

PBS’s Gwen Ifill complimented Russert for actually listening to his guests: “If someone said, ‘I killed my wife,’ Tim heard that. A lot of journalists kept going.”



Doris Kearns Goodwin, the historian, said Russert helped network news make the transition from the Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite style of the voice of God, talking from the screen, to “the world of relationship talking.”

“That’s what so much television is now — talking,” she said. “Think about how [there’s] no razzle-dazzle in this show. What it had were people sitting around a table and talking — talking like you might have talked 200 years ago, but with civility in a time of [a] polarized country.”

Maria Shriver, coming in from Sun Valley, Idaho, said that Russert “always carried a rosary around, and he would always say to you, you know, ‘I’m going to pray for you. I’m going to pray for your family. I’m going to pray for your uncle.’ And you knew he meant that — that he actually would really do it.”

The show included humorous insights, including Maria Shriver’s recollection that when she scored an interview with Fidel Castro in Cuba, Russert said he needed to go to produce her and cheer her up.

“He actually wanted to just meet Castro,” she quipped.

At one point, Brokaw joked that the oft-rumpled Russert’s tailor was L.L. Bean, the outdoors outfitter.

Brokaw said as the show wound down: “In memory of Tim, happy Father’s Day, which is best expressed by honoring your father. And if you are a father, by being a good dad, this Sunday and all of the days to come. God bless our friend Tim, son and father.”

The show closed with a Russert montage accompanied by video of Bruce Springsteen — “The Boss” — this weekend dedicating “Thunder Road” to Russert, who was described by Brokaw as “his number-one fan.”

That was followed by a tape of Russert closing a previous show with his trademark:

“That’s all for today. We’ll be back next week. If it’s Sunday, it’s ‘Meet the Press.’ Happy Father’s Day, especially to Big Russ up in Buffalo. And Luke — I’m real proud to be your dad.”

Meanwhile, the other Sunday shows also spent time remembering Russert.

“I spent 11 years at NBC and for most of that time, Tim was my boss," said Chip Reid, filling in for Bob Schieffer on Face the Nation. "He was one of the best bosses anyone could ever hope for. His passion for news and especially politics was infectious, and I caught the bug."

Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, told viewers that, “Before the terrible events Friday, I never would have said it in public, but Tim Russert was the king of Washington reporters. He reinvented Sunday morning talks shows, and he had an authority and insight in covering politics that the rest of us could only aspire to,”

Wallace added: “As a competitor, Tim’s sign-off used to drive me nuts. But like all of you, how I would love to hear Tim say it again today.”



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