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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (26986)	1/29/2004 6:24:21 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793957

I love this "smiling Irishman." Russert now the record holder as 'Meet the Press' host By Gail Shister Philidelphia Inquirer Columnist After covering the New Hampshire primary until 11 p.m. Tuesday, NBC's Tim Russert flew back to Washington, got to bed at 3, woke at 6, did a live report for Today at 7. Then he went to work. Nothing pumps up Meet the Press' yeoman moderator like a presidential election, and it shows. Journalistically, it's his drug of choice. "I love it," says Russert, who just became the longest-serving host in Press' 57-year history. "It only happens every four years. You get yourself ready for it emotionally, psychologically and physically." Russert, 53, took over Press from Garrick Utley in 1991. On Jan. 11, his tenure hit 12 years and five weeks, eclipsing by one week the mark set by Ned Brooks from 1953 to '65. Russert and the Press crew celebrated with a cake. NBC News boss Neal Shapiro sent a bottle of champagne, but it stayed unpopped. Says Russert: "It was Sunday morning." (One word: mimosas.) Under Russert, Press has ranked first in viewers for 160 consecutive weeks, bashing Bob Schieffer's Face the Nation on CBS and ABC's This Week, now anchored by George Stephanopoulos. On Jan. 18, the most recent Nielsens available, Press drew 4.8 million viewers, compared with Face's 3.6 million, This Week's 2.8 million, and Fox News Sunday's 1.6 million. Russert intends to stay with Press at least until the end of his extraordinary 12-year contract, which runs through 2012. At that point, he will have anchored the Sunday morning public-affairs show for 21 years. "Nothing would change my mind," he says. "I've got the best job in television; the best job in the world. They pay me to do what I love." As for his "polite pitbull" style, Russert prides himself on asking "tough but fair" questions. And keeping it real. "Viewers know immediately if you're passionate about what you're doing and if you're serious about your work." Back to the elections: Don't look for Russert to lobby for one of the "campaign buses" that ABC (and Stephanopoulos) have been using as a mobile studio. Russert's mission "is to bring the guest to the table," not the table to the guest. "I don't want to dilute that. We have no bells and whistles." Unlike many of his colleagues, Russert says the grueling Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary - only one week apart - are his favorite segments of the cycle. Until, of course, Election Day. "It's the last chance we, and the American public, get to see true hand-to-hand politics. It's like ancient Greece. I can drive from town to town and watch candidates go to local halls and answer questions from citizens for an hour." From now on, Russert says, that access will be drastically reduced. "The candidates enter a bubble. They land on airport tarmacs, in tight scenarios controlled by the campaign. It's such a richer story when they interact with real people, not an audience constructed by the campaign. "It's a great process to watch, and it works." Ditto for Tim Russert.

To: Lane3 who wrote (26986)	1/29/2004 6:36:08 PM
From: gamesmistress	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 793957

the British press across the political spectrum says Hutton failed to address, much less resolve, the larger issue of how the Iraqi threat was so badly overstated by the British government. Of course not. Talk about a straw man. The Hutton inquiry had as its purpose "INVESTIGATION INTO THE CIRCUMSTANCES SURROUNDING THE DEATH OF DR DAVID KELLY." (sorry for the caps, I got this off the Hutton Inquiry website (duh!): the-hutton-inquiry.org.uk The fact that Gilligan lied about the government "sexing up" the dossier, that his superiors refused to make sure his allegations were factual or checked into his sources for weeks, that the BBC was practicing ROTTEN JOURNALISM - hell, they don't care. They'd rather whine about "the treatment wasn't balanced", "there are very serious issues that Lord Hutton decided not to explore." Feh.