Remembering Tim Russert.

June 13th, 2007, by Eric 'Renderking' Fisk

It's hard for me to imagine that I would ever write these words, it never dawned on me that Tim Russert wasn't in the best of health and he would leave us suddenly. We all just take advantage of the fact that those who are fixtures in the media (or even in our daily lives) would always be there.

Tim Russert was one of those people who always seemed to just "be there" as if always was, and always will me, he made his job his own. It was either every Sunday on "Meet The Press," his occasional call-in's on "Imus In The Morning," or on Election Nights on NBC, he was a staple. I can't remember the day he arrived on the scene, but I'll always remember him for his polite wit and charm and the way he made politics approachable and interesting. I'll remember the day he left us for a long time.

There are two aspects to him that I'll always treasure.

Election Night

Back in November of 2000, I stayed up all night watching the results coming in the General Election. Al Gore and George W. Bush were in a virtual tie. The end of the statistical dead-heat hinged on Florida. Late in the night the election was called for Al Gore as the winner...

... and then for George W. Bush.

... then again for Al Gore. And eventually, as we now all know, there was going to be a recount in the state of Florida and we wouldn't know the results of this election for a long time to come. Even now, years later it's not clear to anyone what really happened and people still debate about that election controversy. But Election Night, despite all the frustration and uncertainty - Tim Russert remained calm and collected. If anything, it seemed as if Mr. Russert was actually enjoying this uncertainty... this was a historic event and a news story with legs and he reminded of that, we were living history.

Tim Russert reminded all of us of this important fact - our current events will be someone else's history and that this was exciting stuff.

Mr. Russert's "Meet The Press" has been the "go-to" show during all the controversies during The Clinton Administration, and then Bush's. Even though Mr. Russert had a been rumored to be a huge Clinton supporter, he was still objective. He was always tough and fair and asked everyone difficult questions, from Prosecutor Ken Starr to Sycophants George Stephanopoulos and James Carvel. When there was non-Clintonian news items such as Newt Gingrich's "Contract With America" Era and the shutting down of the Federal Government because of the balanced budget crisis, September 11th Commission Report and the War On Terror, it was never clear where Mr. Russert's true allegiance were. He always asked EVERYONE tough questions and held people's feet to the fire. Often times, when someone would make a statement that contradicted what they said earlier, Mr. Russert called them on it, even playing clips to prove that when someone said "I never said that" they actually did.

The best debates that were held during this Primary Season where moderated by Mr. Russert. He always took great pride in talking about politics and current events, and he made it fun for all of us to watch.

Honoring The Greatest Generation...

Tim Russert did a gracious thing. When Tom Brokaw wrote the book "The Greatest Generation," Mr. Russert let his friend have his time in the spot-light and waited his turn to write his own tribute to The World War II generation. That book was "Big Russ And Me," in part a story about his father who was in World War II and the lessons Mr. Russert father handed down to him.

Tim Russert's tribute wasn't about The Greatest Generation and their time during the war, it was about what they did for their wives and children once the returned. As Mr. Russert explained, they came back and created the greatest period of economic growth this country had ever seen, if not the world. And they did it with a humility and humbleness that's missing in our culture today.

Mr. Russert didn't write a book that was a glowing tome to these living legends. Just like his interviewing style, he was was fair, honest and tough. He created at portrait of his dad as someone whom he admired, but didn't sugar coat what he actually was - a working class father with a sense of morality and duty with a sense of modesty: doing what he did because it was the thing to do.

If anything, Tim Russert's book made The Greatest Generation even more heroic, painting his father and his peers as every-day people who went over-seas to over-come the worst tyranny and oppression this world had ever known, and came back to get to work to build a better country here in The United States with the attitude that it was just the thing to do... We have a better idea who our heroes were because of his writing.

Tim Russert left the world of politics and journalism better then he found it and his approach was a great antidote to the cynicism and scandal left over from The Watergate Years of Richard Nixon and the fawning the media does over itself since Woodward and Bernstein. As NBC's Washington Bureau Chief, he brought a love, compassion and excitement to the news about Politics that was surly missing and it was obvious to everyone who watched him work that he loved his work as much as he loved Baseball.

It was also clear to everyone that he loved life and lived it to the fullest with his wife Maureen and their son, Luke.

Thank you, Mr. Tim Russert. You were an inspiration to us on The Fedora Chronicles and you will be missed.

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