While Mr. Russert was well-known as a good and constant friend to many, he also was sometimes moved never to forgive or forget.“He could see from a hundred yards away a small critical comment made about him in some newspaper or some magazine, and he had that strong Irish gene. Never forgive, never forget,” Mr. Brokaw said.
“He wasn’t thin-skinned,” Mr. Barnicle said.
“Then how would you describe it?” Mr. Brokaw asked.
“He was observant. He was very aware of everything,” Mr. Barnicle said. “Tim had a pen and a piece of paper and he took names, and numbers, and eventually … that number would come up in the Rolodex or in the gun sight and then ‘boom.’ ”
Arianna's accolytes are pointing the finger at Tim Russert, well known to be ridiculously thin-skinned, for blackballing her internally at NBC and not permitting her on any of the NBC network or cable outlets.
I remember Tim Russert always did his homework and asked the tough questions. Tim Russert was an American character right from Mark Twain.
Posted by: Shimmy | Jun 21, 2008 at 12:34 PM
When a cheerful enthusiastic person appears in your home on a weekly basis for years, it's as if you know him personally.
You don't, really, but when he or she dies, you do have a personal reaction and it is not out of place to spend some time dealing with that rather than simply forgetting the guy as if he was a cipher.
My complaint about the Russert memorials as with all memorials is that they don't memorialize the full person only the edited, cleaned up version.
It leaves you with the feeling that you are being conned -- and you can't learn as much about life by leaving out part of the life being reviewed.
Posted by: Recruiting Animal | Jun 21, 2008 at 02:36 PM