Since McCain announced Sarah Pailin as his VP, I have held such an incensed feeling of outrage towards the McCain campaign and the GOP and their blatant disregard for the citizens, for us, WE THE PEOPLE. So I turned my sights toward the mainstream media, yeah the mighty "Traditional" Media.
But I was quickly reminded that the greatest standard bearer for good journalism, in my generation, is no longer with us....the late Great Tim Russert.
Tom Rosenstiel, director of the Project for Excellence in Journalism, says, "Russert was a political analyst more than a reporter. His commentary wasn't based off opinions. He was assessing impact, direction and implications based off deep knowledge and deep research. ... That is the kind of reporting that we don't have enough of on network television
I'll never forget MSNBC Breaking News "NBC’s Tim Russert dies of heart attack at 58 Washington bureau chief, ‘Meet the Press’ moderator collapsed on job." I watched the grief and pain of the NBC Crew. Andrea Mitchell bursting into tears, "He called me Mitch"
Washington Journalists have held forums on Reassigning Tim Russert. So today I ask: Which one of you will step up in honor of your fallen comrade and report the TRUTH about McCain\Palin?
Remember how intimidated candidates were to appear on Meet The Press.
Those who would be president must first run the gantlet that is Tim Russert's Meet the Press...Russert frustrates the candidates by knowing their positions on issues better than they do—where they've stumbled, where they've flip-flopped, and where they're most likely to embarrass themselves under the kliegs. Plotting his interviews out like chess matches, he deploys aggressive openings, subtle feints, artfully constructed traps, and lightning offenses to crack the politicians' phony veneer and reveal the genuine veneer beneath.link
This article was written as a case study on how to beat Tim Russert. We called it the "Russert Test". Remember Ross Perot? I am willing to bet that if Tim Russert was still alive, the McCain campaign would never have had the gall to pull the Palin stunt. There would have been so much pressure for a Palin interview, the pressure in and of itself would have broken them. Where is the outrage? Her speech was like watching Foreign Policy for Dummies, or Karl Roe Rethug Politics 101. And you want us to believe that she is capable of holding a position second to the most powerful position in the World? Sarah Paln will not be interviewed. UN-BE-LIEVE-ABLE!!! You mean to tell me no one is capable of calling these hacks out after 8 years of lies, lies and more lies?
So in response, I challenge the MSM to deflect any fear of criticism of sexism and try, just try to do what Tim Russert would do if confronted with this blatant disregard for the citizens of this great nation. His opinion changed political landscapes. Tim Russert was the only journalist during the Democratic Primary with the courage to declare Obama the winner and the headlines ran with it.
In conclusion, the genius of Russert's body of work was that we didn't know his Party affiliation. He simply wanted us ALL to know the truth. It didn't matter if Democrat, Republican, Independent, Libertarian or Green.
There are a lot of issues in politics you can spin on. You can spin on tax cuts; and spin on Social Security; and he said-she said; this view, that view; right-left-center. You can't spin on this. People see it. They feel it. They smell it. And you can't say something that conflicts with the harsh reality of what happened there."</ </p>
Tim Russert