Russert Watch: Turning the Tables

Time for another Russert Watch preview. This week’s show features Mario Cuomo and Pepperdine University law professor Douglas Kmiec discussing the role Judge John Roberts’ Catholicism should play in his confirmation, and Huffington Post blogger Dr. David Kirby discussing the soaring rise in autism. But, frankly, this week, instead of coming up with questions for Tim, I’d like to hear him give some long-overdue answers about his still ill-defined involvement in Plamegate.

And I’m not the only one feeling this way. Earlier this week, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sydney Schanberg called on Russert and all the other reporters involved in the story (yes, that includes you Bob Novak) to “tell us everything”: “Tim Russert cuts a large figure in Washington,” wrote Shanberg. “He should be a big man now and give us some details; why not agree to be interviewed by someone as probing as he?"

Leaving aside the question of just how probing Russert actually is, I think Schanberg has hit on a fantastic idea. Indeed, why doesn’t Tim agree to be interviewed on his own show? He can bring on one guest interviewer (What are you doing on Sunday, Sydney?) or a panel of them -- including blogger Tom Maguire, who has been all over this story. And it’s not as if something like this hasn’t happened before. Just this June, Barbara Walters took over Larry King Live and turned the tables on its host, questioning him for the full hour. We’ll settle for half-an-hour (or even just 15 minutes) of hearing Russert come clean -- or squirm -- about what he did or didn’t tell Scooter Libby about Plame.

So what do you say, Tim? Why not put Roberts’ faith on hold for a week and restore the public’s faith in you by putting yourself in the Meet the Press hot seat? As Schanberg said of his fellow reporters: “We have no rational explanation for calling regularly on government and corporate giants to release all possible information to the public if we ourselves decline to release the details about our roles and our processes when they are germane to the story.… The public has a right to know; isn’t that our mantra?”