"... "Meet the Press" with Tim Russert is not like "Meet the Press" with Lawrence Spivak or Bill Monroe." I'm old enough to give a hearty ditto to that. But TS left out in the rest of the article some of the reasons why a good talk show like Limbaugh or Glenn Beck or Liddy's rapid fire works so well for the listener. The main things is the support staff, like Sneardly for Rush or Stu for Glenn Beck. Call screeners (like Bo Sneardly) make things so much easier for the host, and the prep work that Stu does sets Glenn up with fat bowling pins to knock down as he sees fit. But host talent still shines through, clearly.
When TS listened to or watched the predecessors to today's shows, the division accomplished by the political parties wasn't as extreme and the shows (mostly in radio) didn't have the screening mechanisms and political filters which define the shows of today.
[BTW, I am perhaps one of TS's biggest fans. He is what is fast fading from America's resources, a man of clear thinking and articulate expression.]
Dr. Sowell nails it with that one. I can't stand the pundits who are asked a question and they come back with "that's not really the question." The wife usually has to quiet me down after those. lol
Sowell is a great thinker and writer, my favorite.
Tim Russert has the appearance of an evil pumpkin head I saw in a movie once. His smirk is so obvious when presenting bad news about Bush or iraq when he discloses the results of another one of his so called "Polls".
I really enjoy Glenn Beck. His presentation of commentary related to specific news is making mockery of the idiots who are the news. His smile and colorful comments are priceless.