Matthew Rothschild: A Discordant Note on Tim Russert

[marmar]

from The Progressive:



A Discordant Note on Tim Russert
by Matthew Rothschild



Tim Russert, by all accounts I’ve heard, including from people on the progressive side who knew him well, was a decent guy.

The news of his death came as a shock to me, as it did to everyone: He was a fixture for those of us who are obsessed with politics. And to be stricken of a heart attack at 58 is a fate that no one should have to suffer.

I feel bad for his family, and for his colleagues.

For many years, I looked forward to watching him on Meet the Press.

But I stopped after September 11.

As the praise for Russert has overflowed, I just want to register, even at the risk of showing bad manners, a discordant note.

I stopped watching him regularly after September 11 because he became a cheerleader for war.

He festooned himself with red, white, and blue, and in one of the first programs after the attack, he appallingly said that the Bush Administration would have to prepare the American public for a “disproportionate” response.

Such a response is, by definition, immoral under just war theory.

And he was essentially inviting Bush and Cheney to kill many times more than the 3,000 people who died on September 11. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.progressive.org/mag_wx0601408

[Phred42]

1. Agree - and Thanks.

IN the run-up to the war Russert provided a major platform for the Reich to lie to the American People. For a time you could have called it the Dick Cheney Show.

Russert lost his compass and simply stopped doing his job.

[krkaufman]

7. If you agree w/ the author, send email in support

... 'cause he'll likely receive a LOT of criticism.

[Phred42]

8. Ok - but where?

[krkaufman]

9. Dunno. Check the Progressive's website. nt

[speedoo]

2. I agree with Mr. Rothschild.

Russert and Brokaw became the two loudest Iraq War cheerleaders from the so-called "respected" side of the MSM.

And to my knowledge, neither of them ever expressed to slightest regret.

[babylonsister]

3. Rec'd. nt

[Mabus]

4. The last paragraph says it all

I bring all this up, even at this delicate moment, to point out simply that even great mainstream journalists sometimes bow to patriotism and to power, and when they do, our democracy, and the cause of peace and justice, suffers.


The one thing that I disagree with is that Russert became unwatchable before 9/11. He had already crossed over to the dark side when MTP went from a show about journalists asking questions to the "Meet and Greet with Timmie Hour".

[Cha]

18. I know..the war was and

is my main issue and anyone who cheerleaded did not have my respect.

We want to make sure this NEVER happens again.

[Mabus]

21. Mine is the environment

And it is an area where the media has been woefully negligent. The whole faux argument that there are "two sides" to the issue of global climate change has done a great disservice to the cause.

And isn't it funny that there were "two sides" to global climate change that needed to be aired to be 'fair and balanced' in their coverage of it but they only covered the 'we need to go to war because our freedoms (sic) are in danger' angle during their build-up to war?

And, when the do cover the "other side" on just about any issue, the people who have been proven to be correct are also the ones that are portrayed as crazy radicals with an agenda, misguided or ill-informed.

It is insanity.

[Cha]

23. It's our corporate media and

we're so fortunate to have the internet(thanks, Al Gore)!

[Mabus]

25. I have been thanking Gore for years.

it's hard to remember when we didn't have it.

[1776Forever]

5. That is true - but it is also true that he allowed KO to give his speeches after the war

And he was the one that told on Scooter Libby - so let's take it all in the body of his work and not just some. A lot of people were fooled by the Bush/Cheney lies, he was not alone!

[Garbo 2004]

19. 1. Russert wasn't KO's boss. That would be Phil Griffin (in charge of MSNBC) and Steve Capus (Pres.

of NBC News).

2. Russert didn't exactly "tell on" Libby. He confirmed what the Feds already knew: that he wasn't the one who told Libby about Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA employment. Libby had told the Feds that he first learned of Plame's CIA employment from Russsert around July 10, 2003. But the investigation documented that by early June 2003, Libby already knew Valerie Plame worked for the CIA...several people had told him, including Cheney himself. Later in June Libby was feeding the Plame story to Judy Miller and again on July 8.

Russert initially fought providing info to the grand jury in 2004, but he'd already previously willingly told the FBI in late 2003 that he didn't tell Libby about Plame and couldn't have because he didn't know she was CIA. Russert did wind up providing info to the grand jury in summer 2004, but why did he initially fight it since he'd already willingly gone on record with the FBI in 2003? Well...

Russert Resisted Testifying on Leak
By Carol D. Leonnig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 10, 2006; A05

Lawyers for NBC News reporter Tim Russert suspected in the spring of 2004 that his testimony could snare Vice President Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, in a lie and Russert resisted testifying at the time about private conversations with Libby, according to court papers released yesterday.

Russert was aware that a special prosecutor probing the leak of a CIA operative's name knew of his summer 2003 telephone conversation with Libby, and that Libby had released him from any promise of confidentiality. But Russert, the Washington bureau chief for NBC News and host of "Meet the Press," and his attorneys argued in previously sealed court filings in June 2004 that he should not have to tell a grand jury about that conversation, because it would harm Russert's relationship with other sources. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/09/AR2006010901745.html

Remember as Cathy Martin later testified, MTP was Cheney's Office's favored venue for "controlling the message:"

"I suggested we put the vice president on 'Meet the Press,' which was a tactic we often used," Martin testified. "It's our best format." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/25/AR2007012501951.html

And even after summer 2004 when Russert provided info to the grand jury and NBC News released a public statement encapsulating the content of Russert's deposition, Russert still kept mum about his involvement for a year on MTP when the Plame case was discussed.

Actually, a more interesting media guy in the Plame affair perhaps was Matt Cooper. When Rove leaked to him, Cooper didn't write about Plame, he wrote about the Administration engaged in a campaign to discredit Joe Wilson. That, after all, was really the story.

[1776Forever]

22. Comment from KO on Russert on DailyKos - KO was none to happy with liberal blogs comments on TR.....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6368135

by Keith Olbermann on Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 12:22:44 AM PDT

Kindness to the grieving - even if it's forced, even if it just augurs a later pouncing - is appreciated.

For what it's worth, he didn't position himself publicly on this for obvious reasons, and we had had a very pleasant, very constructive "what can we do to keep our two styles from hurting each other's broadcast, or the whole organization," conversation. But Tim Russert was as supportive of what I did as anybody else at NBC, and his role on the MSNBC election coverage was voluntary and enthusiastic.

"If you're going through hell - keep going!" -- Winston Churchill

[Garbo 2004]

24. Good that Russert was supportive. Don't doubt that he was a great friend, mentor and colleague to

many and is justly grieved for by them. And it is a loss for the NBC organization as well.

I was shocked by Russert's death and sorry for his family and friends. I haven't criticized NBC/MSNC for its coverage (some mainstream media it appears may be already beginning to do that), celebrated his death or trashed Russert as a human being. His friends, family and colleagues are grieving. As is common when many others die but whose loved ones don't have a 24 hour cable network on which to vent their grief and exchange reminiscences.

But perpetuation of the emerging hagiography of Russert, the public figure, is not required of the rest of us who did not know Russert personally, saw only his public work as a broadcaster and were not wholly uncritical of that work. Neither is silence. Although some of the lib blogs I read were conspicuously silent at Russert's passing. Booman on his blog today confirmed the reason why he has been silent, which may perhaps please Olbermann if he reads Booman. But to expect a countless number of keyboarders on the internet to evince only unalloyed praise or remain silent in deference to NBC/MSNBC and a public figure's friends and family is unrealistic. And of course Olbermann knows that.

As for the current support for KO at the network, times and the political climate have changed. Evidently Olbermann didn't have mgt's support in his earlier stay at MSNBC when he did not want his news show to be "all Monica, all the time" and he left the network. Neither was there network mgt support for Phil Donahue who had the highest rated show on MSNBC but had difficulty booking anti-war guests and featuring discussions critical of the Bush Administration on his program. NBC/MSNBC mgt made it clear that it was going to support the Administration and stacked the deck on who could go on and even decreed how many war supporters would have to be also on the program at the same time. Jeff Cohen has written of his time at MSNBC and his involvement with the Donahue show.

[ensho]

6. kick

nt

[pansypoo53219]

10. i look on a quick death as a blessing.

death drawn out, especiially if cancer is horrible. confined to nursing homes is horrible.

[Peace Patriot]

11. The death of powerful fascist warmongers and liars is the time to stop the lies,

if not to "dance on their graves," which might also be appropriate, depending on circumstances and levels of evil.

Corporate "news" monopoly toady to the Bush Junta is a pretty high level of evil in this society. But Tim Russert will just be replaced by another corporate/war profiteer lapdog, so there is no reason for celebration. Truthtelling is vital, however, in order to fight the larger battle for honest journalism--an essential component of our democracy--and against corporate control not only of our public airwaves and of virtually all news and opinion in the country, but also of the voting machines (now with 'TRADE SECRET,' PROPRIETARY vote-counting code--something Tim Russert never reported to the American people), and also of our laws (corporate lobbyists now writing them), and of our courts (Bushite toadies appointed as judges--who may defend habeas corpus five years too late, but whose rulings on corporate power are really the important ones--for instance, the Florida judge who ruled that voting machine corporations have a "right" to profit from our election system, with their "TRADE SECRET" code, that trumps the right of the voters to know how their votes are counted), and of our trade policy (pro-corporate), our banking policy (pro-corporate), our labor policy (pro-corporate), our environmental policy (pro-corporate), and our foreign and military policy (U.S. military hijacked by the corporate rulers for a corporate resource war).

On none of these vital issues did Tim Russert do journalism. His role, instead, was that of a highly-paid hireling of the corporate rulers, whose job was to help create the false "news" narratives for stolen elections, for unjust war, for other heinous actions such as torturing prisoners, for the shredding of our Constitution and for massive thievery of our government coffers.

The worship that Russert and other fascist toadies have heaped on Ronald Reagan--a man who was directly complicit in the slaughter of TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND Mayan villagers in Guatemala, among other heinous acts--is an example of why the death of powerful fascist warmongers and liars is the time to stop the lies. The lies go on and influence the FUTURE. Because Reagan got away with that, the Bush Junta is getting away with slaughtering OVER A MILLION innocent Iraqis, to steal their oil.

What would Tim Russert be saying right now, if Dick Cheney was the one who had suffered a heart attack, not Russert? Think about that. Would he be putting Dick Cheney's life into proper perspective so that hideous criminals like Cheney could never gain power in this country again?

Or would he be admiring his guts, his "true grit," his deafness to the cries of millions dead and thousands tortured, his "stay the course-ness," his callousness, his kind of cute oneriness in the face of universal hatred, and his unprecedented and really kinda awesome power, heh-heh.

Can't you just hear it? That's the kind of "journalist" Tim Russert was--a lapdog peeing with excitement at the foot of power. Not a "journalist" at all--but rather a replaceable servant to this fascist junta in their attempted murder of our democracy.

Dick Cheney considered "Meet the Press" to be his easiest, most manipulable format for lying to the American people--according to transcripts of the Libby trial. That is Russert's legacy. And how anyone can find anything admirable in this Cheney lapdog--especially anyone at DU--is utterly baffling to me, but perhaps it is a measure of how much the corporate "news" monopolies have turned us all into worshipers of malignant fascist power.

[sce56]

12. I have not heard any other person say it even a quarter as well as Peace Patriot just did! n/t

[grasswire]

13. well said

Was Russert even truly a "journalist"?

I honestly think his work was lazy, considering his power and his platform, and considering how a similarly positioned media celebrity would ply his craft if he were British.

What news did Russert actually discover and report? What benefit to the people was derived from his work?

And who/what did he truly serve? Truth? Open government? Democracy? Corporatism? Power?

The media is full of those calling him an American patriot first and foremost. The only response I can think of is from Shakespeare:

"With devotion's visage, we do sugar o'er the devil himself."

[33_Leaves]

14. Press The Meat

Russert was probably as nice a guy as people say but an accomplished journalist? He failed in the greatest test of his journalistic career. He folded when the pressure was on and joined the Bush propaganda squad. He allowed that bastard Cheney to lie right to his face, and even though he is now being hailed as the most well studied, best prepared journalist of his generation, he failed to ask Cheney the follow-up questions that would have pinned him down and exposed him, thereby further enabling Cheney and the rest of the criminals in the Bush administration.

Maybe Russert didn't want to get an envelope full of anthrax in the mail. Maybe he didn't want to be blamed for the Plame leak and wind up the only one serving hard time. Maybe he didn't want to end up on some obscure cable channel like one of our few true journalists, Dan Rather. Maybe he decided, just as 99.9% of the so-called "journalists" on our propaganda networks have, that he valued his job and lifestyle over his journalistic integrity.

Whatever the reasons for Russert's ultimate failure as a journalist, he failed to use his unique position to do whatever he could to expose and oppose the immoral, illegal, destructive actions of the Bush administration. But he didn't, and now he's dead, so now he'll never have that opportunity again.

I hope Nancy Pelosi is taking notes. She seems so thrilled with her place in history as the first ever female Speaker of the House but she should be far more concerned with what the history books will say about her failure to use that position to impeach Bush and Cheney and begin to set this tattered nation right.

Back to Tim Russert. Shortly after 9/11 I began calling Russert's show "Press The Meat".

[grasswire]

15. Life, fortune, sacred honor. Or liberty.

That was the choice facing American patriots who could no longer live under King George. And it's the choice that still faces Americans living under despotism today. Each person must choose, ultimately. Not choosing is a choice to live under despotism.

When that moment came to Tim Russert, he chose despotism. Not only for him and his family, but for all of us. All of America.

I don't call that patriotism.

[Raster]

16. When cheney*/bush* needed to sell lies to America, they came to Russert first.

The man was a collaborator and an accomplice to one of the most despicable administrations in American history. He enabled madmen and shamelessly pimped an illegal and immoral war. Let the historical chips fall where they may. NBC's revisionist history canonization of Russert is just another PR stunt and an attempt to wash the blood off of their hands. Ain't gonna happen.

[subsuelo]

20. Peace Patriot, you mention Reagan complicity in killing Guatemalan villagers

One big problem is, most good Americans going about living their daily lives don't know about these things. Why don't they know? Because so-called "journalists" in the media don't ever talk about it. And if they do you won't hear from them again very soon, will you?

The problem comes down to having a for-profit system where corporate media is in it to make money, NOT to report on news and tell the truth to the American people. I mean, you can't even get Noam Chomsky on PBS - what are the chances he or other truth-tellers like him could be interviewed on MSNBC? Not very good. Because MSNBC CNN Fox and the rest are in it to make money, telling the truth is of minor importance. Some things just never get told at all.

[Skittles]

17. Tim Russert was a f***ing tool

people who cannot see that are easily fooled

[mwb970]

26. He was totally, completely mesmerized by power.

An enabling suckup. A defender of the status quo. I never watched him myself. His death was a tragedy, but no loss for journalism.