I’m sort of a political/news junkie. When I’m working on the paper I’m most likely listening to our local public radio station – the one with the talk shows, not the classical music. Some days I’ll have a small TV tuned in to CNN or MSNBC – never FOX. When I’m delivering papers on the road – it’s NPR and BBC news at night, but my favorite day for political news is Sunday.
The routine is turn on the computer, get the Sunday paper and read it, check e-mail and then settle in for the Sunday morning political talk shows starting with Meet the Press on NBC, then This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and finally Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Then I’ll scan regional newspapers on the web for Sunday art news.
With Tim Russert’s sudden death this week all that has changed. Russert was one of the best in the business and as a result of his death – the news cycle stopped. The NBC news division was in mourning and the other news networks were paying tribute to a fallen colleague.
Russert was always prepared to ask the right questions and when one of his guest tried to claim that they never supported an issue or never said something – Russert was ready with several video clips of this same guest saying exactly what they just claimed they never did or said – busted. So, the seasoned politico came prepared to be asked the hard questioned and to have the correct answers. There was not much room for spin on Meet the Press.
I’m sure NBC will come up with a capable stand-in, but they will never replace Russert. He was one of the giants of the news biz – and he’s now gone at such a young age – 58, just one year older than myself.
My Sunday mornings will never be the same.