Like many of my fellow viewers, yesterday, I found Tim Russert’s tired routine on NBC’s Meet the Press even more threadbare than usual and it seemed, at times, that Tim appeared to be a cruel parody of himself.
The lamb for Tim’s stacked opening attempt at slaughter was Senate newcomer Barak Omaba.
Armed with every available RNC talking point available at airtime, Tim aped a transparently aggressive posture toward the milquetoasty freshman Senator from Illinois.
Most egregious was, in two separate questions and one soundbite, the uncuddily Tim demanding a response from Obama to 1-day and 23-day old statements by 78 year-old calypso singer and actor Harry Belafonte in support of Hugo Chavez and in very direct opposition to President Bush and the Department of Homeland Security:

RUSSERT: I refer you to some comments that Harry Belafonte made yesterday. He said that Homeland Security had become the new Gestapo. What do you think of that?

And, following a videotape showing Belafonte and Chavez:

RUSSERT: Is it appropriate to call the President of the United States the greatest terrorist in the world?

Russert even played the Belafonte tape a second time at the top of the segment following Mr. Obama’s appearance though that tape is not reflected in the program’s online transcript.
“Hey Obama,” Tim seemed to be saying, “Look what this guy said. What’s with you Democrats and black people?”
Had Obama, early on, been even moderately forceful, Russert could have been prevented from wallowing in an even slimier studio pool of abject RNC sycophancy.
Thanks to Arianna Huffington, we now know that Tim’s second half hour of supposedly public affairs information was an even more embarrassing display of corrupt Washington gamesmanship and nest feathering, a “revenue stream” as former Cheney hack Mary Matalin would call it.
Joining Tim for a glib half hour of clubby banter and celebrating their, according to Arianna, 41st MTP appearance since 1996 were the "tired and depressing vaudeville routine" of James Carvelle and his odious wife Mary Matalin along with Carvelle sidekick Paul Begala to allegedly discuss a new Carville/Begala book along with the threesome’s predictable Kool Kid take on current events.
The moment of hidden, Delay-like nepotistic sleaze that Arianna points out on her valuable site The Huffington Post occurred in the last few light-hearted but vague minutes of the program:

RUSSERT: Before you go I understand that politics may be part of your past, that you're going to go on XM Satellite Radio and do sports?

CARVILLE: I can't talk about that too much, but I think there's going to be…some exciting new developments and maybe a new twist on an old career.

RUSSERT: With anyone I know?

CARVILLE: Maybe you would be familiar with someone I'll be teaming up in this.

RUSSERT: Mary Matalin, think it this way: if this book sells, it’ll help the Democrats. But it also may pay your daughter’s tuition.

MS. MATALIN: It provides a revenue stream. I want to give something to the person that’s going to be joining James in this new endeavor, because prolonged exposure to James requires an antidote. it’s called, “Think.” Give that to your son.

Arianna explains the enigmatic “give that to your son” remark:

A faithful Russert Watch insider sent me an advance copy of the press release about the talk show and Carville's mystery partner. Here is the release's headline: JAMES CARVILLE AND LUKE RUSSERT TO HOST NEW SPORTS TALK SHOW EXCLUSIVELY FOR XM SATELLITE RADIO.


Luke Russert shown at FaceBook.com

While this photo makes it clear that the boy and his parents might find an elevated profile troublesome, the NBC celebrity’s 20-year-old son has been handed a paid (would 6 figures be unlikely) co-host position on a national radio program based on creditials established when the Russerts and the Carvilles shared warm box seats and the peak of Washington clubbiness with the owner of the Redskins.
According to James and as quoted in the XM press release nabbed by Arianna:

"This show will be another opportunity for me to engage in the back-and-forth debates on sports that, until now, Luke and I have limited to the stadium".

Yesterday’s Meet the Press, in the farcical Obama segment as well as the Carville/Begala one, more than offered revolting examples of the media and political corruption consuming Washington.
Yesterday’s program, in the vague giggily remarks meant to hype Russert's randy and unqualified son, showcased, better than any leftist oration, Washington’s purposely casual corruption and its blurring of propriety, sense and fairness.
I think it is safe to assume that the pampered Luke Russert will not be performing military service anytime soon.

Images: Gawker.com, NBC
- posted by Sean @ 12:25 PM