The Washington pundit world divides into roughly two kinds of people: those interested in themselves first, issues second, and other people, if at all, a distant third. The second, much smaller group is made up of people like Tim Russert, who reversed that order.
I don’t typically get nervous before doing a television show, but I was quite anxious about my first appearance on Meet the Press. I had long admired Russert and, like virtually everyone who watched the show, found him incredibly intimidating. I told this to Tim’s executive producer, Betsy Fischer. When I arrived, Tim greeted me warmly and engaged me in a 20-minute conversation, mostly about football and family. I assumed that Betsy had told him about my nerves, and that he had gone out of his way to make me comfortable, so I asked her about it. She had said nothing. It was just Tim being Tim.
