I had a feeling such a thread would surface. I confess to have both sets of reactions here. I watched Friday afternoon, some of Saturday morning, and then saw the tribute in the appropriate spot on Sunday a.m. When it spilled over to Monday morning, I began to feel quesy that I was so tired of it -- guilty, because I couldn't bear another minute of the same commentary on Russert's life, generic platitudes about his being a beloved institution. If I step back from it, I find it sad that he was never touted while living.
But there's something unsavory about its continued presence. The nadir was watching Chris Matthews, Mike Barnacle and Pat Buchannon go on an on about the Catholicism factor, how only white male catholics can fully appreciate this particular faith-based life and honor it appropriately (that's of course not what was said, but it was presented as a special club, with a special mission. Matthews'invocation of the Rosary was over the top -- and we all know Matthews was very envious of Russert, and that Russert, a true journalist, found Matthews' egocentric punditry unseemly. I think Russert would not have liked a Catholic Boys Choir cheering section to ascribe a perverse religious elitism.)
Today, a section of Buffalo highway will be named after him. Then we have the funeral and memorial svc. The family has allowed TV cameras to show it. Will it become the first scene of EVITA? He died too young. He was a remarkable journalist. Yet it has ceased to be a story with emotional undercurrents -- just another national media circus, with legs. Whoever said Russert himself would find it excessive is probably right.
"I'm a comedian, but in my spare time, things bother me." Garry Shandling
