We are all on a journey home.......

IF IT'S SUNDAY .....IT'S MEET THE PRESS

Tim Russert died late Friday afternoon in Washington DC. He was 58 years old. I was eating at Jason's Deli and was preparing to leave when I saw the headline on CNN.....I am an emotional person by nature and it was tough to stand there and not get teary eyed.....I have cried tonight watching the memorials to him....
I have had a love affair with news and the political process for a LONG time and I have watched Meet the Press for about as long as Tim Russert was the moderator and host. FOX news likes to say that they are "fair and balanced" but in the whole spectrum of news people and news outlets Tim Russert really was fair and balanced.
I remember in the early 90's deciding that I was interested for the first time in politics and living way out in the country and having no cable I turned to Meet the Press on NBC.
This year marked Tim Russerts 17 year as the host of MTP. It's hard to believe that you can get upset about someone dying that you did not even know. But I have been pretty down all afternoon.
But in many ways we did know him....If you watched NBC news on a regular basis then you were most likely a fan of Mr Russert. He was to me that person in your family that you could sit and talk to all day ....about anything. Sports, politics,religion, life ......
They showed a clip of Tim Russert from 2005 talking about being named to head MTP....He said he called up the founder of the show and asked for a few moments to talk and he went to his apartment and asked this guy what advice he could give him when he takes over in a few weeks.....the founder told him to study everything you could about your guest, his likes , his positions, his favorite color even and then you take the exact opposite opinion and make your guest tell you and the nation why they believe in what they believe.
I hate we will not have Tim Russert here for this years election.... It stinks that he will not be here to help lead us through this years historical election.
My personnal Sunday morning ritual will be changing I am sure......Difficult to think that I will be as engaged with a new host of MTP. MSNBC showed interviews tonight from different folks who knew Tim Russert. They were all filmed today talking about him....One Catholic priest who knew Tim Russert and had arranged a recent meeting with the Pope said that Tim was one of those guys who knew that we are all on a journy home....We will miss you Tim. God Bless