My Dad and Tim Russert: A Father's Day meditation

I've read many comments on the web blogs by people saying that there's been too much eulogizing of Tim Russert and too much coverage of his death in the media. My Dad died of pancreatic cancer on Christmas Eve, 2006. Believe it or not, no one in my family finds that depressing. Of course, there wasn't any media coverage. Dad lived a life full of goodness; but, he was a college professor, not a celebrity. He was a WWII vet, modest about himself like Big Russ, hard-working, crazy about my Mom, providing all of us with the basic necessities but nothing luxurious. Dad didn't publish a lot of research or make a big name for himself in academia; but, he helped a lot of graduate students complete their doctorates by helping them with research design, statistics, and writing skills. Many of these students were from places like China and Iran. Dad paid cash for the cars he bought. He never had a balance on a credit card past the due date; he seldom used them at all except when traveling. He brought us up in Athens, Georgia in the 50's and 60's to be Democrats and not to be prejudiced about blacks. I used to get into yelling matches with him about the Vietnam War. The only time he ever voted GOP was Nixon's second term (against McGovern) and he vowed never to make that mistake again. I never knew Dad to tell a lie. He felt that society should accept gay people (and none of his 3 kids are gay). He was an agnostic most of his life. In his final 10 years or so, he started going to church with my Mom, a lifelong Methodist. I’m not sure if he actually believed what Christians are supposed to believe; but, I know it made Mom happy.

One major difference between Dad and a guy like Tim Russert is that Russert was rich and famous. Russert worked as a Beltway reporter, so he had to be an insider there to get access to the newsmakers. Russert was an old-fashioned, All-American fellow. Some of us probably think that's corny, uncool. Some feel that he didn’t do enough to call Bush and Cheney on their phony run-up to the invasion of Iraq. He had lots of conservatives on Meet The Press; and, he was eulogized today by Hannity on "Faux News." But he liked Chuck Berry. He not only advocated good values such as caring about ones family and working hard to achieve excellence, he lived by them. It's a free country and it’s OK for people to express their distaste for him or to point out his failures as a journalist. His life was no more valuable than that of an Iraqi or anyone else’s. But in the humble opinion of this writer, Tim Russert’s life is worth examining. Some of us find the heavy coverage helpful and interesting. I know a lot more about Russert, good and bad but mostly good, than I did three days ago. We can't examine the lives of every person who lives and dies; but, I'm in favor of examining the lives of well-known people who die so that we may learn something from them, good or bad. If you could examine the life of my Dad, you would learn a lot.

The good name of John Kerry

Yesterday, I posted this diary in Daily Kos. It's an essay on the sacrifices and contributions of Sen. John Kerry, an authentic hero of the Vietnam War. The diary was recommended by 31 readers and had an impact of 0.34, good for 62 on the daily list of High Impact Diaries. I'm pleased to have put a fact-backed statement out there to help counter the damage done to Sen. Kerry's reputation by the ignominious swift-boat attack group with funding from a GOP operative.