Luke Russert has no business being an analyst on television.

[TransitJohn]

It's like Doogie Howser goes to Washington. :crazy:

[Richardo]

1. Except, as I recall, Doogie Howser was a prodigy.

I think even the elder Russell was a hack.

[DURHAM D]

6. I totally agree that his daddy was a hack.

However, Luke's grandfather had a respectful profession - he was a sanitation worker. That is the line of work that junior should be pursuing as it is a totally respectable job.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

53. My favorite Timmy moment was the lapel pin during the Gore-Bush debate.

Story: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3451271

[PCIntern]

2. Lucky Sperm-club Member!

[City Lights]

3. Nor does Jenna Bush, but nepotism reigns supreme at NBC. nt

[951-Riverside]

48. Jenna Bush was horrible but I like Billy Bush n/t

[kenny blankenship]

4. Don't you know who the Russerts ARE?

Since when did this country become an impudent, nobility-hating rabble, I should like to know? It's downright French!

[CLANG]

42. Decedents of a long line of potato heads?

:shrug:

[gratuitous]

50. The Russerts are NOT potato heads - that's Russetts

And the Russerts are pumpkin heads.

[CLANG]

56. I guess I'm the potato head then!!

[Teaser]

5. they put analcysts on television now?

.

[Skidmore]

7. Yeah, that was a stunningly transparent and naive stab at

creating outrage, wasn't it?

[Lex]

8. And he can take Dick Cheney's evil spawn daughter with him when he goes.

How'd she qualify to be a spokesperson for the repukes other than being a member of the Cheney coven?

[waiting]

9. I don't think Tim was a hack at all. He was actually a journalist

who asked the hard and pertinent questions. He wasn't a political commentator, taking positions on policies.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

10. Are you talking about Tim Russert? n/t

[waiting]

11. Yes.

One of the posts said the he was a hack, and so is his son. I disagree.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

16. They both are n/t

[Richardo]

12. Wrong - he'd ask one provocative question, let Cheney lie, then move on without a challenge.

MTP should be a panel show like it used to be. How can one person be 'The Press'?

[bigtree]

13. that's it exactly

infuriating . . . seemed nice enough tho

[waiting]

14. The host of MTP

isn't the only member of the press on the show. And he did challenge those he interviewed and often.

[Richardo]

15. Not when I was watching.

And never Cheney, Rumsfeld, or any Bush Administration official. If he DID challenge anyone, he'd let it go after one question and one obfuscating talking-point reply. I never saw him press until he got a substantive answer.

[waiting]

19. I did.

And the entire second half hour segment included members of the press. He knew if and when he would get a real answer from an interview, and when he wouldn't.

[Richardo]

22. Members of the press grilling an interviewee, or members of the press talking to each other?

Because the second is totally without value.

[Lance_Boyle]

66. WRONG!!!

The McLaughlin Group was of tremendous value. Often, even, of a variety other than comedic.

[laststeamtrain]

17. Wow. Saint Tim wasn't a hack on the good ship lollipop maybe.

Otherwise, yeah he was. Cheney's catapult.

[Lex]

18. OMG, really? He was Dick Cheney's preferred interviewer because of the softballs

and no follow-up questions to Cheney's endless spew of lies, such as "last throes of the insurgency" and there are "definitely weapons of mass destruction."

[gratuitous]

20. Must have happened on the satellite feed

Because darned little of that seeped onto the airwaves. Anyone whose default setting was "off the record" when he picked up a phone call is hardly what I would call a journalist.

[Raineyb]

29. If by journalist you mean corporate sycophant who consistently carried water for

the powers that be and the corporations who own them then yes. By the established definition of "journalist" not so much.

[waiting]

31. I disagree

You are entitiled to your opinion, as I am to mine. And I don't see how he didn't fit the established definition of journalism.

[Raineyb]

43. Journalists are supposed to be the fourth estate. They are supposed to keep an

eye on the powers that be so that the people can make informed decisions about who and what to support. Russert allowed people to lie on his show, he never called them out on it and it helped play a part in the woeful ignorance that plagued the American populace around the Iraq war. Russert was no more a journalist then the imbecilic talking bobble-head dolls Faux News parades in front of the camera on their propaganda channel.

Now what part of that do you consider to be part of the established definition of journalism. Amy Goodman is a REAL journalist and she asks the tough questions to anyone she interviews regardless of their political affiliation. Tim Russert wasn't fit to lick Amy Goodman's shoes.

He was a disgrace, a sycophant and worse a tool. THAT is the legacy he left behind and there's not a damn thing good about it.

[waiting]

45. And he was the Fourth Estate.

Reprting the facts and making his guests feel compfortable, gave him access. Acting like a rude, Limbaug or O'Reilly doesn't get you the interview or get any questions answered. And to say that he didn't press his guests for answers is bullshit, he did. But arguing isn't going to make them tell the facts if they didn't want to. Did you ever see his interview with Poppy Bush? I wouldn't call that ass kissing. While no one is perfect, he did a fine job.

[Raineyb]

60. No. He was a tool for those in power. When he's more concerned about

who he's having cocktails with than actually doing the job of making sure the people he interviews don't lie to him and by extension the audience he's ceased being a member of the fourth estate and became a tool for the powerful. Such people are also known as HACKS.

The man was hiding a Bush/Cheney pin under his lapel during a debate. He was an ass kissing toady.

[arcadian]

47. You are entitled to your opinion, but clearly the facts are beyond your reach.

[hfojvt]

59. I disagree

I think 'corporate sychophant' was established as a definition of 'journalist' sometime in the 1990s. Or sooner. Perhaps it was after Uncle Walter retired and Diamond Dan Rather was paid $6 million dollars to take his place. Or perhaps it was when GM bought NBC. It's hard to tell the exact date.

[proud2BlibKansan]

46. OMG I take it you missed his coverage leading up to the invasion of Iraq

There was an especially telling interview/conversation with Dick Cheney. Bill Moyers later questioned Russert, showing him clear evidence that Cheney had played him in that interview. Russert sat there with the most incredible dumb look on his face.

I stopped trusting him then.

[waiting]

54. He missed it. No one is perfect.

He certainly didn't intentionally fall into the neo-con strategy. An no, the facts aren't beyond my reach. I just look at all of them, not the ones that support my position. To say that he was a hack is bull.

[proud2BlibKansan]

61. There are so many other times he carried water for Bush/Cheney

I couldn't possibly list them all.

Yes he was definitely a hack. There are nearly 5000 troops DEAD because Russert and others failed to do their jobs. Calling him a hack is actually pretty kind.

[Raster]

68. Oh puh-leeze. Tim "integrity is for paupers" Russert?

Russert didn't have a journalistic bone in his body. You have a nice stay.

[Don Caballero]

21. Tim Russert was one of the greatest journalists of the past century

His kid has great potential.

[Richardo]

24. The word 'great' has been devalued then.

I never saw it.

[waiting]

25. I agree.

I think some people are confusing journalism with political editorialising or commentating.

[wtmusic]

26. I think I hear angels

Yeah, he was a regular Ed Murrow.

[waiting]

27. No one said that he was

But you don't have to be just like Murrow to be a good journalist.

[wtmusic]

33. Well, we've gone from "great" to "good" in short order

I'll suggest that Russert was competent and entertaining, but his "gotcha" style was superficial, and he was obsequious with those who shared his political views.

[waiting]

37. I'm not the one that said he was great.

I disagreed with the post that said he was a hack and I still do.

[Raineyb]

30. Maybe in an alternate universe. In THIS universe they're not even good hacks. n/t

[NashVegas]

49. THIS Is One of the Greatest Journalists of the Past Century

Tim Russert was a media star.


BILL MOYERS: Was it just a coincidence in your mind that Cheney came on your show and others went on the other Sunday shows, the very morning that that story appeared?

TIM RUSSERT: I don't know. The NEW YORK TIMES is a better judge of that than I am.

BILL MOYERS: No one tipped you that it was going to happen?

TIM RUSSERT: No, no. I mean-

BILL MOYERS: The Cheney office didn't leak to you that there's gonna be a big story?

TIM RUSSERT: No. No. I mean, I don't have the-- This is, you know-- on MEET THE PRESS, people come on and there are no ground rules. We can ask any question we want. I did not know about the aluminum tubes story until I read it in the NEW YORK TIMES.

BILL MOYERS: Critics point to September eight, 2002 and to your show in particular, as the classic case of how the press and the government became inseparable. Someone in the Administration plants a dramatic story in the NEW YORK TIMES And then the Vice President comes on your show and points to the NEW YORK TIMES. It's a circular, self-confirming leak.

TIM RUSSERT: I don't know how Judith Miller and Michael Gordon reported that story, who their sources were. It was a front-page story of the NEW YORK TIMES. When Secretary Rice and Vice President Cheney and others came up that Sunday morning on all the Sunday shows, they did exactly that.

My concern was, is that there were concerns expressed by other government officials. And to this day, I wish my phone had rung, or I had access to them.

[wtmusic]

58. +1

Like Katie Couric "wishing" she had asked the tough questions before invading Iraq. Thanks Katester, does a lot of good now.

[spanone]

55. bwahahahaaa

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

64. Just like Vanilla Ice was one of the greatest rappers of the 20th century. Hmmmm I wonder

what his kid is doing.

[quiller4]

65. I agree. I've been really impressed by Luke.

[Kickin_Donkey]

67. you forgot the sarcasm thingee

[napi21]

23. I think your jealousy is showing. Tim was good at his job, and

his son is doing go right now too. If you notice, they give him easy assignments and he's not on very often. Sure he got a big break because of who his father was, and I admit, I wish I had been as lucky, but I wasn't and that's life.

[Raineyb]

35. Are you for real? Neither one of these sycophantic hacks are remotely good

at their jobs unless you think it's the job of journalists to suck up to the people they interview rather than actually ask probing questions to shed light on things the people actually NEED to know in order to make an informed opinion.

If you think Tim was good at his job (as a journalist) then either you have no idea what a journalist actually should be doing, in which case I'd suggest you take a gander at Democracy Now and see what Amy Goodman is doing, SHE is a real journalist, or you have extremely low standards.

[waiting]

41. I'm sorry, you are wrong

Amy Goodman has a clear position. Journalists are very often not relating their own positions or ideology. And that doesn't take anything away from them being a journalist.

[proud2BlibKansan]

51. And Russert very clearly supported the Bush administration

I'll take Amy every single time:)

[muffin1]

62. IMHO, a journalist is there to give us the facts.

He or she isn't there to be nice or to make so-called "important people" comfortable. They are there to let us know what our government is up to.

For example, if a journalist *knows* there were no weapons of mass destruction, or that say, Saddam Hussein was not involved in 9/11, it's his or her job to press the interviewee to tell the truth. Or at least try as hard as possible to make that happen.

Day after day, show after show, I see the same thing. A journalist or reporter asks a question. Even if they KNOW the answer is disingenuous, or an outright LIE, nine times out of ten they just let it go. No follow up. It is maddening. This is also a big part of how we ended up in Iraq. It was almost like it was unpatriotic of them to ask any hard questions.


The only people I trust to get at the truth are Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Ed Schultz, and Lawrence O'Donnell. They do their homework, and they don't let repukes get away with simply spewing right-wing talking points.

[Johonny]

28. Yes young people's opinions have no value

we should only hear from Teabaggers

[Richardo]

32. Wow, that's an extreme knee-jerk reaction to something no one said.

Little jumpy are you?

[wtmusic]

38. That's known as a "phantom kneejerk", and they're extremely rare nt

[Orsino]

34. This is America.

Hereditary wealth qualifies one for everything.

[Jane Austin]

36. This thread reads like Luke Russert doesn't have

a mother.

A very smart, very talented mother who is a journalist.

[Raineyb]

44. And what does that have to do with the untalented spawn of a hack

getting onto TV? The ability to be a good journalist is not passed on by osmosis or genetics. Let's be real here, he wouldn't have even been considered for the job if his last name weren't Russert.

[Kyril Enko]

39. If Jonah Goldberg, Chris Wallace, and David Frum can benefit from nepotism.....

...then so can Luke Russert. Unrec'd.

[CLANG]

40. Hell, he's at least as good as his dad was (sarcasm alert)

[upi402]

52. Line of accession?

I stopped watching the Sunday propaganda about the time he was anointed. Never looked at the show with the progeny at the helm.
Tim Russert was a corporatist spin Dr, and disingenuous too. When I saw the Ronny Raygun-like honorifics it was cemented for me.

[otohara]

57. He's Young - So What

every 3 months or so - it's trash the young kid on MSNBC time

[Kyril Enko]

63. Which would you prefer:

Luke Russert on TV or Michele Bachmann in Congress?