I have to admit one of the first things that crossed my mind after hearing the shockingly sad news about Tim Russert, was wondering if it would cause any of the "timmeh" bashers on DKos to actually pause, and reflect. Whether there would be a single positive diary about a brother.
I wondered if some folks would finally "get" the truth about Russert. That he rose up out of working class America, romantically in love with the idea of making this country a better place, and who actually DID something about it by joining liberal Democratic politics. That he hustled for years to defend Democrats and get them elected, working tirelessly in his own way, to make this country live up to it's founding ideals.
I wondered if some of the young ones would ever know. Tim Russert was one of us.
I'm not going to attempt a bio of Russert here. (Or defend the over-the top-coverage of his passing by his peers who desparately wish some his street cred could rub off on them, without giving up their prep-school backgrounds.)
I'm not interested in arguing with people who believe he was a "corporate Republican shill," or telling people to shut up.
Anybody who cares, can discover the truth about this guy's life with little effort. But those of you perhaps too young (or too late to the game) to remember liberal Democratic icons like Pat Moynihan, and Mario Cuomo (all three rising off the streets of New York with their own wits and drive and committment to social justice) might be surprised to know that the hiring of a young Tim Russert, an "avowed liberal operative," to moderate the serious national institution called Meet the Press, simply confirmed the "press has a liberal bias" mantra, to most wingnuts.
It even raised my eyebrows at the time. Because while I had no doubt that it would be possible for any intellectually honest person (as Russert obviously was) to ethically moderate such a forum, it would clearly cause a perception problem for the "non-partisan" show. At the time, it seemed either an obvious gamble by NBC, or an outright highjacking by liberals of the nation's most famous Sunday morning show. I knew it may cause even more wingnuts to disavow "the news," as "left wing propaganda."
But he quickly shut up most of those critics, as I suspected he might, by seemingly OVER-compensating for his own liberal Democratic viewpoints, and bending over backwards to make sure conservative Republicans were treated "fairly," and given as much (or yeah, sometimes more) airtime, as Democrats.
He figured intelligent Democrats could make their superior arguments on the show without his help. And he was right. Superior Democrats could. And unprepared, or uninspired Democrats (and Republicans) had problems. (Unfortunately for us, there were a lot of uninspired Democrats out there.)
In short order he became what any self-respecting grown-up American professional journalist would like to become. An honest referee between points of view, who tried as best he could, to remove his own politics from the discussion, and reveal the Truth. (See virtually all other contemporary TV "hosts" as opposites to this model.) If Jim Lehrer had the energy of 14 year old boy, we might have another Tim Russert.
I'm afraid it is precisely this impartial "professional journalist" ethic which so turned off many Kossacks, and caused so much venomous hyperbole to be directed at him here over the years.
Russert wasn't trying to "help" Republicans as moderator of Meet the Press. He was trying to be Fair.
He did it in a manner, and with a language, designed to connect with Middle America. With his dad. A public he knew whose minimal attention span to their own democracy might barely last that one hour on Sunday morning. He was entrusted to try to get EVERYBODY in American politics to participate. That is no small order.
To those who may be somewhat socially challeged, here's a clue: you can't tell Dick Cheney he's a asshole to his face (even if you know it) and expect to have him (or his partisans) come back on your TV show.
There is a "genre" of people who frequent this site, who are cut from similar cloth as Tim Russert. Baby boomers who actually liked Civics class in their public schools, maybe had a teacher who inspired them, thought American history was exciting, fell in love with the social idealism of the Kennedys and Dr. King and other liberal politicians, and maybe even volunteered for a candidate in high school, or marched in protest. They were raised with mostly ethical parents, and were profoundly effected early on in their lives by witnessing the oppression of fellow Americans simply because they were poor, a different color, or physically frail. They might have been one of the kids who stood up to bullies in school, and made them leave the geeky kid alone. And as they got older, they continued to live lives that incorporated that sense of justice and fair play and civility. They got jobs that allowed them to live those ethics, or at least tried to incorporate those ethics into their daily lives, in the often hostile social environment that is Middle America. They tried to teach their kids (if they had any) the same things. They became "liberal Democrats."
Tim Russert was all that. He was one of us. Except he didn't type anonymously in his pajamas, he spent his life doing it. And became one of the rare ones who managed to cop some fame and fortune and power in the process. It had to be apparent to any objective observer, that he did his job in this context, the best he could. And that he lived his life in a way that few "liberal" political junkies ever get to. Regardless of what you may think of his style, or substance, as a national journalist, with a huge corporate entity looking over his shoulder, and a vast weekly social responsibility that he took with deadly seriousness, you have to give credit, where credit is due.
He proved a television personality can still still be a professional journalist.
And he proved that being a liberal Democrat doesn't mean you don't love your country, don't care about your mom and dad, can't be deeply committed to the social values of a religion, can't "succeed" within a corporate structure, have no testosterone, and can't treat others you disagree with politically, fairly, with good humor, grace, and respect.
While some of those memes about liberals are inevitably "confirmed" here on a Democratic site as large and open and as anonymous as Dkos, all of those were disproved by Mr. Russert.
I'm a bit sorry now, that I didn't defend him once in a while among the more scurrilous personal attacks that frequented this place. My tendency is to let that shit scroll down the page. And who knew he wouldn't be around to defend himself so soon.
Even though he was in politics long enough to know that character assassination comes with putting yourself out there, I'm sure it still hurt a bit, to be so often unappreciated among his liberal "brothers and sisters."
Turns out to be merely another historical chapter in us Democrat's apparently unceasing ability to eat our own. (Something especially true on Dkos.)
So, apologies to Tim, and his people, for those of us on the same side, who didn't always have his back, or appreciate his years of service to the Democratic Party, and our country.
Some of us got it, dude. Thanks.