On Tim Russert

Tim Russert was a year younger then I am when he collapsed and died the other day at age 58. I've been a regular watcher of "Meet The Press" since he has been the host. When I taught a couple of courses in American politics at Temple University in the mid 1990s, I asked my students to watch Meet The Press and we had follow up discussions of the content of the show in class. He was that good at what he did - fair but probing interviews that were politically neutral.

I admired Russert for his journalistic dedication to political neutrality. I could never be as kind as he was to some of the crackpots of the far right that he dealt with on the show. But that was how he saw his job. He will be missed.

Jim

PHOTO: An outdoor concert In Oviedo, Spain.