Why I'll Miss Tim Russert

With his unique blend of toughness and warmth, Tim Russert single-handedly transformed "Meet The Press" from a stuffy weekend television news program into a fascinating probe of Washington's elite. He was irreplaceable.

Russert, 58, died suddenly of a heart attack on Friday, June 13, 2008 while preparing for his weekly broadcast at NBC Studios in Washington. According to a June 14, 2008 New York Times front page article, Mr. Russert suffered from an enlarged heart and coronary artery disease.

Russert was the longest-serving moderator of "Meet The Press," holding that position for nearly 17 years. He was also a Washington Bureau chief and a senior Vice President of NBC News. According to a June 13, 2008 New York Post article, before joining NBC News in 1984, Mr. Russert had served as counselor to New York Governor Mario Cuomo and as special counsel to New York Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Russert is survived by his wife, Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, and a son, Luke. At the time of his death, Mr. Russert had just completed a trip to Italy in celebration of Luke's graduation from Boston College.

"Meet The Press" first hit the airwaves in 1947. Broadcast nationwide on Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, it is the longest running program in television history. An historical photo gallery can be accessed here.

"Meet The Press" had several moderators before Mr. Russert, including co-founder Lawrence Spivak, Ned Brooks, and Bill Munroe. Although these names are remembered by people in the news business, they have long faded from public memory. Russert will have a greater shelf life.

Tim Russert was unique among masters of the television interview. He was more facile than Edward R. Murrow, more down-to-earth than Barbara Walters, and classier than Bill O'Reilly. The son of a garbage collector and World War II veteran, Russert grew up in a working-class section of Buffalo, New York. In his best-selling 2004 book "Big Russ and Me," Mr. Russert fondly reminisced about his relationship with his father. The father, also named Tim Russert, survives him. At the time of this writing, the paperback edition of "Big Russ and Me" is number one on Amazon.com.

Pre-Russert "Meet The Press" programs usually had a group of several panelists questioning a guest. Mr. Russert did the work of an entire interview team and more. The Times article notes his "fierce preparation." In 1992, the length of "Meet The Press" expanded from 30 minutes to one hour.

When discussing a particular broadcast with friends or family, I would often refer to the show as "Russert" instead of "Meet The Press." Tim Russert was "Meet The Press."

Russert grilled the most powerful politicos, left and right, with equal intensity. I couldn't wait to see what he was cooking up every Sunday morning. The aroma was absolutely delightful. After working over a guest, Russert, a huge football fan, would often ask that person to predict the outcome of a Bowl game or the point spread for an evening match-up with his beloved Buffalo Bills.

Mr. Russert was famous for displaying controversial quotes and video tapes of politicians and then asking them to defend their remarks. During his June 13, 2008 broadcast, nationally syndicated conservative radio talk show host Sean Hannity somberly joked that he was afraid to go on "Meet The Press" because he feared that Russert would "dig up something I said in 1973 and nail me with it."

Mr. Russert, who was also a lawyer, employed a prosecutorial style during his interviews. One of my favorite "Meet The Press" episodes occurred on October 17, 2004, when Russert made an absolute fool out of South Carolina Republican House member Jim DeMint, who was running for a U.S. Senate seat against Democrat Inez Tenenbaum. After displaying a statement in which DeMint advocated banning all abortions without exception, Russert relentlessly challenged him.

"If that was the law, who would you prosecute, the woman, the doctor, the father, who?" Russert demanded.

"I think that lawmakers at the state level..." DeMint began.

"You want to be a United States Senator. What is your view? Who would you prosecute?"

Russert pressed the inquiry several more times, until an exhausted DeMint finally concluded, "We'll just have to decide that."

Nor did Russert leave Ms. Tenenbaum unscathed. He repeatedly asked her to reconcile her "life begins at conception" position with her pro-choice views.

A transcript of the program is available here.

Russert's death was particularly shocking because he was so youthful in appearance and personality. Compare two photographs of Russert on Page 2 of the New York Times article cited above. One was taken in 1982; the other is of recent vintage. Except for a modest weight difference, Russert looks almost identical in both pictures.

During a memorial "Meet The Press" broadcast on Sunday, June 15, 2008, Democratic political consultant James Carville said that Russert "had so much of a little boy in him." Then a still image of Carville and Russert appeared. It showed Russert putting "donkey ears" on Carville's bald head.

That mischievousness was on display during a December 3, 2000 installment of "Meet The Press" in which Russert interviewed then-Vice Presidential candidate Dick Cheney about the notorious Florida recount. Towards the end of the interview, Mr. Russert asked Mr. Cheney this question: "You've introduced two words to the American political lexicon, "big time." Any comment?"

Cheney had none.

The reference was to a conversation inadvertently picked up on microphone between then-Texas Governor George W. Bush and Mr. Cheney on the campaign trail. During that exchange, Bush referred to New York Times reporter Adam Clymer as a "major league a--hole," to which Cheney replied, "Yeah, big time."

During the June 15 "Meet The Press" memorial broadcast, Mr. Carville noted that although Mr. Russert was tough on interviewees, "he was always very fair." Carville's wife, Republican operative Mary Matalin, who almost never agrees with her husband, said that Mr. Carville was "so right."

In that same broadcast, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin also emphasized Russert's rigorous but good-natured even-handedness. Ms. Kearns Goodwin described Mr. Russert's "Meet The Press" broadcasts as "relationship-talking with civility in a time of polarization." She also predicted that Mr. Russert's broadcasts will serve as an historical record from which future generations will be able to assess today's prominent politicians by seeing how they reacted under pressure.

A darkly humorous 2006 clip of John McCain on "Meet The Press" was then played. In the clip, Mr. McCain, speaking at the end of the interview, remarks, "I haven't had so much fun since my last interrogation."

Mr. McCain served as a navy pilot during the Vietnam War. He spent over five years as a prisoner at the notorious "Hanoi Hilton."

Thanks for the fun, insightful memories, Tim. Sunday mornings will never be the same.