For example, he clearly had little to do with providing insight into the ongoing problems of Iraq. In fact, in weeks before the prison scandal Russert was grilling Kerry on why he threw his ribbons away while at the same time the huge scandal was about to go public.

The book fails on several levels and comes across as empty in depth. To me, if you want to really understand the media read Bob Woodward or Sy Hersh but avoid the Russert drivel.

Tim Russert is a millionaire Washington insider who has little connection to the real world despite his thin efforts to say otherwise. His reporting is out of sinc with other better journalists and, as a result, his book is not worth reading.

There are far better journalists to read about. Pursue their life stories.


Today's so-called journalism   May 23, 2004
 27 out of 90 found this review helpful

Tim Russert is a television personality who interviews politicians, lobbyists, political consultants, and pundits. Because he neither investigates nor researches, Russert is unable to contrast responses with independent information, so guests are free to make unsupported claims and groundless assertions. Many programs, including those hosted by O'Reilly, Matthews, Scarborough, and Hannity, follow the same format, but Meet the Press has the largest audience, probably because Russert's behavior is less antic than that of his competitors. The question that Russert's show and the others raise is why do their hosts call themselves journalists. Actually, they are nothing more than uninformed television personalities giving their guests the chance to broadcast political propaganda.
The Bush Administration has always found Tim a congenial host and has expertly used Meet the Press these last three years to sell its tax and fiscal policies, its health and education programs as well as the war in Iraq. In any event, Russert is always behind the issues, with his nose in the air, waiting to sense which way the wind is blowing so as not to offend
The fact that Russert chose to write a story about his father is typical of his disingenousness. His father represents the old time values of sacrifice, hard work and respect for traditional virtues. There is nothing in Russert's work to suggest that he shares these values. Overall, the reader is left with the impression that Russert writes about his dad so he doesn't have to tell the truth about himself.


Very disappointing - surprising lack of insight   October 4, 2004
 27 out of 42 found this review helpful

Let me just state that I have no axe to grind -- I like Tim Russert as a journalist, I generally agree with his politics, and I live in upstate New York -- so I was really looking forward to this book. I read it from cover to cover and was very disappointed at the pedestrian writing and lack of insight about world events and personal events. When Russert writes about earth-shaking world events, such as the assassinations of King and Kennedy, his pedestrian observations and inability to provide intelligent commentary leave one almost angry. And when he writes about personal events, he renders even potentially moving moments completely mundane. One isolated example: when his son tells Russert that, despite Russert's love for baseball, his son is more interested in NASCAR and golf, Russert expounds that our children are individuals and we can't expect them to be carbon copies of ourselves. The anecdote was so mundane that, rather than tears running down my cheeks as Russert possibly intended, I could barely bring myself to keep reading. Spare yourself and read something else instead.


Tim Russert: TV Moderator   May 12, 2004
 26 out of 87 found this review helpful

Tim Russert tells the story of an admirable man, Big Russ, his father, who grew up poor, survived a bomber crash in world war two and went on to support his wife and four children by working at two jobs for thirty years. Russerts life, however, bears absolutely no resemblance to that of his father. He is a lawyer and millionaire Washington D.C. beltway insider, married to a glamorous celebrity journalist, Maureen Orth. If Russert had limited himself to a discussion of the impact of character and values on his father's own life, the book could have held up as the story of a good man, Big Russ. Unfortunately, Russert wants the reader to think that as a result of his father's example and teachings, he himself is both a good journalist and a good man.
Russert graduated from law school and before his political connections led him to NBC, he worked as a political aide. Those who watch "Meet the Press" know that although Russert asks
"tough questions" of all his guests, he is quite selective in his application of follow-up questions. For example during the run-up to the war in Iraq, Vice President Richard Cheney told a complacent Russert that oil revenues would finance the war, Iraqis would greet Americans as liberators, and Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. After the unchallenged forums Russert has provided Donald Rumsfeld, Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz over these last couple of years, Russert can hardly be called a good journalist.