Tim Russert Is A Big Fat Idiot

The definitive Pumpkinhead takedown. I've imagined myself on Meet the Press saying something like this for 10 years:

I have a fantasy that at one of these moments, a candidate will say, "You know what, Tim, I'm not going to answer that question. This is serious business. And you, sir, are a disgrace. You have in front of you a group of accomplished, talented leaders, one of whom will in all likelihood be the next president of the United States. You can ask them whatever you want. And you choose to engage in this ridiculous gotcha game, thinking up inane questions you hope will trick us into saying something controversial or stupid. Your fondest hope is that the answer to your question will destroy someone's campaign. You're not a journalist, you're the worst kind of hack, someone whose efforts not only don't contribute to a better informed electorate, they make everyone dumber. So no, I'm not going to stand here and try to come up with the most politically safe Bible verse to cite. Is that the best you can do?"

Obama and Kucinich came pretty close to saying this to his face in the debate last night, but it deserves to be more direct and unyielding. And as Paul Waldman notes, it'll never happen, because Timmeh runs the establishment scene in Washington. He pretends to be some "blue-collar guy from Buffalo" but really he's a shameless suck-up to official power, who has no credibility as a journalist.

Throughout last night's debate, absolutely nothing - nothing! - was said about this grave threat to American democracy, the idea that corporations can commit official misconduct in service to the federal government and never be prosecuted for their illegality. Never came up once. We heard about UFOs and Halloween costumes and a 10-minute detour on Social Security, approximately the 18th most-dangerous issue affecting our economy, but the core value of the Constitution and the rule of law - nothing. Russert is of a mind with useful idiots like Jay Rockefeller: that corporations and their huge staffs of lawyers shouldn't be bound to the same responsibilities as everyone else. That governments should be allowed to determine what is and isn't secret (remember, Timmeh assumes everything is off the record unless he asks). That they know best because they are the elites, and everyone else should just eat their spinach and shut up.

This is the mentality behind using random gotcha quotes instead of actual reporting. Behind focusing on meaningless issues instead of ones that get at the fabric of democracy. By applying certain standards to his subjects but none to himself. Tim Russert is a symbol of everything that's wrong with the DC elite media.