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(KSL News) KSL's Bruce Lindsay traveled to Washington, D.C., to interview Tim Russert in February of this year. Today, he shared his insight into who Russert was off-camera.
Many have said that not only was Russert prepared on the set, but he was gregarious off the set. Bruce said he agreed whole-heartedly with that.
"Even when he was the bulldog interviewer, he was unfailingly warm to people; and my brief exchange convinced me he really did like people," Bruce said.
Bruce recalled, "We had arranged a one-on-one with him in Washington just before super Super Tuesday, and my confirmation sheet said it was in the studio right after ‘Meet the Press.' Russert's sheet said it was before ‘Meet the Press.' I'll never figure that out.
"So, I'm in my hotel. At 8:30 in the morning, my cell phone rings. The producer says, ‘Where are you?' We figure we're on different sets of instructions. He says, ‘His only opening is right now.'
"So, I jump in a cab, I'm there in a few minutes, thinking we've blown the chance, [and] I'm coming home to Salt Lake empty-handed.
"It's 20 minutes to air. [Russert] ambles in on the set like he's got all the time in the world, like I'm his long-lost friend. We sit down, and I'm trying to reprioritize my questions, not knowing how many, you know, he's going to let me get through, and one eye is on the clock and one on Russert.
"When I played it as far as I dared, I said, ‘You got time for two more?' He said, ‘Sure, we're doing fine.'
"And I cleared off the set, his guests came on. They rolled the open, and he said, ‘Our issues today …' And I knew I was watching not just a great journalist and political analyst, but he's a warm and wonderful human being. And it's a huge loss, it really is."
KSL sent Bruce to interview Russert at that time because, heading into Super Tuesday, he had risen to that status of being a political guru.
Russert said of his role in the presidential election process, "I have a simple premise in life, and I guess as moderator of 'Meet the Press,' I'm ever more convinced of it, that if you can't answer tough questions, you can't make tough decisions. And God knows the next president of the United States is gonna have to make a lot of tough decisions."
Russert's tough questions represented the questions of ordinary Americans. And he never forgot that. He said, "I have my dad and my three sisters are the cheapest, and most accurate focus group you could ever have."
"And where's campaign 2008 now without Tim Russert?" Bruce asked. "It's like we've lost our anchor and moorings. … He was named by 'Time Magazine' this year as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, that's the kind of cachet he had with the movers and shakers."
Russert was a man dedicated to his faith and his family, and he was as gregarious off-camera as he was prepared on-camera.
Several others around the world have expressed their condolences on Tim Russert's passing today. To read their statements, click the corresponding related links.
