Help me in a Russert debate...?

[garybeck]

My parents were visiting this weekend and I got into a discussion with them about Tim Russert. They were all caught up in the pageantry of it all and they seemed to think he was one of the greatest journalists of all time.

I made a few comments about the run-up to war and how he and virtually all the others in the MSM just let it happen, never questioned the lies, etc.

The discussion didn't go very far because I didn't have enough examples. But I feel the need to follow up.

I've done some research and all I can find so far is that he repeated the lie that Saddam threw out the weapons inspectors. And there is evidence he knew it wasn't true. that is a good one, but I could use more.

I'm not looking to skewer the guy, but I just want to make the point that he was not this wonderful journalist that my parents think he is, and there is some blood on his hands because he didn't do his job in the runup to war.

Anyone have any specifics to help me make my point? Just a couple bulleted items or quotes would be very helpful.

thanks

[Lex]

1. Google "Daily Howler Russert"

and you'll get plenty of examples of how he fumbled time and again on the important questions.

[Radical Activist]

2. How many anti-war guests did he have on his show?

Any voices from outside the Washington establishment?

[ryanmuegge]

3. mediamatters.org also. He presented the illusion of asking tough questions but never dug deeper

into the real issues.

[smoogatz]

4. Watch Moyers piece "Buying the War"

He does a brief interview with Russert; the whole piece is pretty damning, not just of Russert but big media in general.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/btw/watch.html

[garybeck]

8. thanks, I was also going to watch Weapons of Mass Deception again

and I'm sure Russert is in it

[BOSSHOG]

5. Did your parents feel the need

to back up their points of view or was this a typical argument against "them" when everyone has to prove their point while enablers just stand around with their thumbs up their collective asses making someone else feel uncomfortable?

[garybeck]

7. you got it right

however, i am making the choice to re-engage the discussion and I want more facts. I could easily just forget about it. So it's my choice to get more facts and share them.

they are dems, but they are still blinded and lulled by the MSM. they don't realize how bad things are, and I think this is an opportunity to show them.

thanks

[Tangerine LaBamba]

6. You know,

if you need help - if you don't know what you're talking about - then you're just parroting what others have said, and, really, that's not good at all.

If you're going to take a stance on something, you really should know the particulars of that stance. Otherwise, you're but a Fox News talking head.

[garybeck]

9. thanks for your help

not.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

14. I helped you

Only you don't understand that.

Be more than a repeater of what you've heard. Get your own knowledge, understand what you're talking about, be able to defend your position with accuracy and articulation.

If we, as a citizenry, choose to be ignorant, then we'll be represented by the same kind of people. We deserve better than that. And being lazy and taking others' words, thoughts, beliefs as your own without having the background or thinking them through makes you nothing more than an echo chamber.

[sourmilk]

10. I never had much use for Russert.

I HATED him after he asked the inane UFO question to Kucinich during the debates, however.

Rot in Hell, Timmeh.

[gratuitous]

11. Easy like cake

In his forced testimony in the Scooter Libby treason case (knocked down to perjury because the concept of a traitorous Republican causes too many insider heads to explode like so many pop-its), Tim Russert said under oath that his default setting whenever a political figure calls him up is "off the record."

Now, I don't know how much your parents know about journalists, but any journalist worth a flea's fart is always ready with notebook and pen to take down what someone is saying. How much information did Russert take to his grave because dishonest and corrupt officials knew they could pick up the phone, say anything they wanted to Russert, and know it would never be aired? He may have been a terrific father-confessor, listening to long recitations of crime and corruption, but a journalist he most definitely was not.

[Buzz Clik]

12. "he repeated the lie that Saddam threw out the weapons inspectors" Holy crapoli!

Here are some pieces of the Iraq/UNESCOM timeline:

29 Oct 1997 Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz sends a letter to the president of the Security Council, informing the council of policy decisions taken by the government of Iraq. The letter includes a decision not to deal with United States citizens working for UNSCOM, a demand that all personnel of United States nationality working with UNSCOM leave Iraq by a given deadline, and a request that UNSCOM withdraw its "cover" for the US U-2 "spy plane.".

13 Nov 1997 Iraq demands that US citizens working for UNSCOM leave Iraq immediately. UNSCOM chief Richard Butler orders the majority of the UNSCOM personnel to withdraw from Iraq temporarily. A skeleton staff remains in Baghdad to maintain UNSCOM's premises and equipment.

5 Aug 1998 The Revolutionary Command Council and the Ba’ath Party Command decide to stop cooperating with UNSCOM and the IAEA until the Security Council agrees to lift the oil embargo as a first step towards ending sanctions. They further demand that the Security Council reorganize UNSCOM and move it to either Geneva or Vienna. In the interim, Iraq would permit monitoring under Resolution 715 (1991).

Nov 1, 1998 Iraq halts cooperation with UNSCOM.

Nov 15, 1998 US aborts missile strike after Iraq agrees to cooperate with UNSCOM.

Dec 17-20, 1998 Extensive US and British bombardment of Iraq in ‘Operation Desert Fox’, after UNSCOM head reports Iraq’s failure to fully cooperate; after end of the operation, Iraq again refuses UNSCOM permission to reenter Iraq, and US & UK continue bombardment, aimed at Iraq’s air defense capacity.

Dec 17, 1999 Resolution 1284 creates UN monitoring, verification and inspection commission (Unmovic) to replace Unscom. Iraq rejects resolution

http://www.mideastweb.org/iraqtimelineunscom.htm

Whoever told you that Iraq never threw out the inspectors was sorely mistaken. They were thrown out multiple times.

[garybeck]

13. I'm talking about 2003, not 1997

[Buzz Clik]

16. From about 1999 until 2003, the UN had no inspectors on the ground.

When Saddam finally agreed to let the inspectors back in (after it became clear that Crazy George was about the bomb the crap out of him), it was Bush who told them to leave. That is true, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole tale.

[SoCalDem]

15. No debate necessary.. the guy's dead.. he's not coming back

he wasn't running for anything.. If they did not know much about him before he died, they are unlikely to care to learn about him now..

Lots of people develop a "soft spot" for people when they die young...regardless of what kind of person they were in their jobs..

Many people are natural born "grievers" too... they will mourn with people they don't even know..they just get caught up in the tears and sorrows of strangers..

Moviemakers know this.. they spend gazillions of dollars making tear-jerker movies because they know people "enjoy" them..