Russert Watch -- Pinch Hitting

Was I dozing when they passed out the reputation as a tough questioner to Mr. Russert? This morning, he had Fred Thompson, John Roberts' minder, to discuss the nomination process, while Schieffer and Hume had to make do with the Attorney General on the same topic. They asked Gonzalez, point blank, whether Roberts' papers from his White House days would be made available to Senate Judiciary, and got answers that tried hard to sound as if the matter would be seriously considered. Welcome to the Wiggle Room. Russert, on the other hand, came at the same issue this way:

MR. RUSSERT: So you would view it as inappropriate to ask for his work product while he worked in the White House counsel's office.

Thompson, no dummy, allowed as how he would.

Later in the interview, Tim gives his guest another assist:

MR. RUSSERT: The interesting thing in all this is that when you have John Roberts arguing on behalf of his client, he's saying it should be overturned; then in seeking to be on the Court of Appeals, he said, "Well, it's settled law, it's precedent." But once you're on the Supreme Court, anything can be unsettled. Brown vs. Board of Education was settled law, separate but equal.

MR. THOMPSON: Plessy vs. Ferguson.

MR. RUSSERT: And he could, as Supreme Court judge, decide that it was not properly decided and should be returned to the states, but we'll never know that until he becomes a justice.

It's entirely possible, indeed likely, that Thompson actually did mean Plessy. But wouldn't a "tough" questioner at least make sure he wasn't dropping a hint about the future of Brown? Not in this country.

Then there's Roberts' wife:

MR. RUSSERT: There have been a series of newspaper articles about John Roberts' wife and her role in a group called Feminists for Life. Is that fair to talk about her positions?

Phrased that way, the consideration of the wife seems unfair on its face. Until you heard Schieffer's version of the same question, which included the information that White House officials, in briefing conservatives to get them behind the nomination, were leaning heavily on the anti-abortion activism of the missus. Puts the question in--what's that thing again?--context.

Russert was tougher on his next guest, Democratic Senator Richard Durbin, brandishing the research that, running for Congress, the currently pro-choice Durbin had been anti-abortion. Even if the booking staff had the week off, the research staff didn't. He also hammered Durbin on whether the Senator's comparison of Gitmo tactics to the Holocaust had been his "biggest mistake". Three questions to force a man who'd already apologized to admit that, yes, he had said something worth apologizing for.

Finally, the roundtable, and finally, the words I've been waiting for--Russert admits he's part of the Plame story:

What we know so far is that in terms of journalists, Walter Pincus and Glenn Kessler of The Washington Post, Russert of NBC, Matt Cooper of TIME magazine have all testified, either in deposition or before the grand jury. We assume Robert Novak has testified because Judy Miller of The Times who didn't testify is in jail. And there's been numerous newspaper reports that there's a difference between the testimony of some of the reporters and Scooter Libby of Vice President Cheney's office and Karl Rove of President Bush's office. Bill Safire, what do we make of all this?

What Safire makes of all this is that Judy Miller, who helped promulgate the same questionable intel that Safire was peddling in his Atta-in-Prague columns, shouldn't be in jail. What I made of it was that Russert referred to himself in the third person, as if he were suddenly channeling Bob Dole. Harry Shearer likes that. And then there's this absolutely odd exchange:

MR. RUSSERT: There has to be an original source, somebody.

MR. GREGORY: Yes.

MS. TOTENBERG: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: Even if it came from a reporter...

MR. GREGORY: Right.

MR. RUSSERT: ...the reporter got it from someplace.

MS. TOTENBERG: Right. And...

MR. RUSSERT: But I was asked what I said. I did not know.

Maybe Schieffer or Hume could get more out of him.