Saturday, June 14, 2008

Imus and Russert

As I said in an earlier post, I will be listening to the Imus in the Morning show with gusto on Monday, to see what Don Imus says about the death of Tim Russert.

An interesting post on "Imustruth.com", which seems to indicate that Russert did go to bat for Imus during the whole controversy, but was handcuffed by NBC execs on displaying his support for Imus publically. I think that was the case...they were just too good of friends for Russert to turn his back on him. Moreover, Russert was too good of a guy. However, Russert couldn't publically support Imus the way Mike and the Mad Dog or others did after the firing because of his position as the Washington Bureau Chief for NBC News (you recall that Imus in the Morning was simulcast on MSNBC). The evidence of this is indirect...but Imus has had Russert appear as a guest on his show several times since the incident, while Imus has shunned others who abandoned him. Thus, I think Russert did really try to help Don Imus out and prevent his outright dismissal from MSNBC.

Imustruth.com has posted podcasts of several Imus-Russert interviews...listen when you have a chance.

Also, the "Opinionator", Chris Suellentrop of the NYT has posted a nice collection of comments from the Blogosphere regarding Mr. Russert.

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