Joe Biden Praises Tim Russert At Wake Forest Commencement

New York Times:

In an otherwise cheerleading sort of commencement speech, Vice President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. offered up poignant remembrances of Tim Russert, the former NBC journalist who died nearly a year ago. The vice president noted that Mr. Russert, the network's Washington bureau chief and transformative anchor of "Meet the Press," had been originally scheduled to give the address this Monday morning at Wake Forest University, calling his visit bittersweet.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[WTF1956]

You could not get near the place and a lot of the staff had to take the day off.

[ChampLessFuzzy]

I'm glad to hear that Mr. Biden was able to give of his time at Wake Forest. I love Joe's speeches and reading this one yesterday, I would say Wake Forest made out very well. Good humor, good message, good honor of TIm Russert. Good on ya, Joe. Congratulations to the new graduates of Wake Forest.

[SparkyDash]

Especially as he had to turn around and set out for another foreign relations trip for the administra­tion...the Balkans. Biden's vast foreign policy background is being utilized quite a bit by President Obama. Good to see. Safe travels, Joe. (cool avatar ;-)

[SparkyDash]

Great job, Joe. I remember seeing Biden on Russert's program many many times and understand they had a good relationship. What an honor to Tim's memory; Joe's poignant words and the fact that, if Russert couldn't be there to share his thoughts with the grads, their friends and families, his friend and our nation's sitting vice president could.

[JustMe133]

Meet The Press will never be the same. I miss Tim Russert.

[Dredd]

Without Tim the MSM would not have been able to help the pooch:

http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/05/one-perspective-on-spawning-freedom.html

[tippydog11]

More in important and far far greater then calling Tim Russert a journalist..is that Russert was a man of morals, dignity who sought the truth as a human being. Well done my faithful servant...

[ohiomark]

Did Biden tell the graduates where his "secret bunker" is too?

Keep talking Joe, you are a goldmine of material.

[86masters]

As is Cheney...

[MapleLeaf699]

He wasn't a damn journalist stop calling him that. Journalism involves walking a beat and going out into the world. Above all it involves asking tough questions, the kind that make people your interviewing uncomfortable, squirm, maybe even despise you and getting at the truth. People like David Simon know what it's like to be a journalist.

Russert spent most of his "glory" years in a TV studio talking to people comfortably in chairs and asking non-substantive questions that NEVER lead to any huge revelations that I'm aware of. To be blunt, one of Cheney's aides put it best in a released memo (paraphrasing a bit, google for the exact line): The optimal show to get the VPs message out is Meet the Press, because Russert allows you to control the message/interview.

[TheImpaler]

Absolutely.

[filmex]

You're absolutely right. I'm sure Russert was a very nice man, but a journalist he was not.
He would let Cheney and Rumsfeld come on the show time and again to tap dance on Tim's forehead, only Russert was either oblivious to the fact or willing to allow his show to be manhandled in order to curry favor with the administration in power.

Meanwhile, let someone like Ron Paul come on, and suddenly Russert was like a prosecutor at Nuremberg. Russert became the equivalent of "60 Minutes", which morphed into a program which would ignore the major corporate offenders in America, but would destroy some small local business for some alleged discretion.

Russert will long be remembered for having grabbed his ankles from the period preceding the invasion of Iraq until he found some courage, but that was only after the polls showed the entire country saw the Bush Crime Family for what they really were.

Larry KIng was a tougher interviewer for the most part. That's Russert's true legacy, as painful as it is to acknowledge. All the post-deification in the world can't change that.

[ladyrefined2000]

yeah, russet was just another washinton sipher....­..........­.

give me a break...........

sorry he died...but, he was not that special...­........he was just another apologist for all the washington bull-sh@t

[Taz2]

I miss Tim!!! He was the best, no one else even comes close!!!

[mediamarv]

Russert was not a journalist. He was a cable channel TV host/talking head. He wrote nothing, merely read the prompter. He made guests feel comfortable and they enjoyed talking to him. They knew there would be no surprises. To his credit he was a professional host, took his job seriously and did a good job of filling the time between commercials, which, after all, was the reason he was there.

But not a journalist.

[jordan3189]

I'm sure you think olbermann is the greatest journalist.

[d00derman]

That comment was similar to taking a dump on someone grave and being just nice enough to put a flower in it.

[TheImpaler]

You're right!

[OregonGary]

Excellent speech Mr. Biden.

[dwright]

Biden did a very good job on this - I sure miss me some Tim - I don't even turn the TV on on Sunday morning anymore.