Luke Russert was on the Today Show this morning. Luke is the the only son of Tim Russert, NBC political analyst who died suddenly this past Friday.
Here’s part of the interview from the MSNBC website:
Sphere: Related ContentLuke Russert painted an intimate portrait of his dad, Tim Russert, on TODAY Monday morning — a portrait of a man who loved sitting around drinking beer with young people, a man who loved the honesty of children, a father who never let a day pass without telling his son how much he loved him.
“It was truly remarkable,†Luke told TODAY’s Matt Lauer in a wide-ranging interview that ran at length without interruption. “My dad would rather drink beer with my college friends than have a steak dinner. My friends loved him just as much as I did. Boy, did he love to eat at those tailgates.â€
Luke spoke for 15 minutes about his dad with remarkable poise. He never lost his composure, not even when he was talking about being on the set of “Meet the Press†on Sunday and touching his dad’s empty chair — a moment captured in a moving photograph by The Associated Press.
“I’m going to keep that chair forever,†Luke told Lauer. “That’s my chair now.â€
The memories are still raw: Russert died Friday at the age of 58 of a massive heart attack while recording voiceovers for his top-rated Sunday political interview show, “Meet the Press†on NBC. But Luke shed no tears. There were too many happy memories, too much that was good about Tim Russert to talk about.
June 16th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
The coverage of Tim Russert’s death was often overblown, self-congratulatory and self-indulgent.
Tim Russert was, shall we say, not a very popular while he was alive, he was routinely castigated as a Bush lapdog.
“I now know more about the pompous king maker Tim Russert than I do many members of my family.â€
After Russert’s shocking death Friday at age 58, television kept serving up witnesses to his expertise, intelligence, diligence, kindness, faith, love of family, Buffalo and the Buffalo Bills.
Is the grieving process going on TV? On 06.16.2008 “Today,†Matt Lauer interviewed Russert’s son, Luke. The show basically gave over the first half-hour to the Russert story. I am shocked at the publicity tour of Tim Russert’s grieving son.
Presidential candidates aren’t questioned at such length on morning programs. The self-indulgence was breathtaking.
Shalom,
— Leland Milton Goldblatt, Ph.D. ®
Distinguished Professor
July 7th, 2008 at 10:35 am