Posted 8:46 PM by Scoobie Davis

The Odd Couple: Tim Russert and Me
Tim Russert came to the Barnes & Noble in the Fairfax District tonight for a discussion/signing of his new book and I had to go for two reasons: 1) during the Q & A, I wanted him to discuss the significance of blogs for the upcoming election (as well as any blogs he regularly reads); and 2) I wanted to see if television creates the optical illusion that Russert's head is shaped like a gourd (note to bloggers whose nickname for Russert is "Pumpkinhead": you're not far off the mark).

Russert receives a lot of flack from bloggers (e.g, today's Howler). I tend to focus on the rabid right commentators so Russert escapes my scrutiny--I watch him but I'm usually too busy switching channels to pay too much attention to him other than to notice the fact that his haberdashery is really lame-o.

I wanted to fit in with the crowd (which I expected to be whitebread--which it was but not as bad as Bill O'Reilly's recent crowd). This wasn't hard because I recently had a short haircut for an assignment and I had slacks and a polo shirt handy.

When I got there the crowd was about sixty mostly white people. Russert was longwinded and stodgy. (I am so glad I caught a buzz before I got there). He talked about the book and a little about politics--nothing notable enough for me to mention. There was a brief Q & A session but I didn't get a chance for my question. I stood in line for the signing even though I didn't have a book (I was thinking about getting one but I don't really like the guy). When I got to him I said I didn't have a book but asked him if he read any weblogs. He said he read a few each day but he didn't mention any names. I told him about my blog and he said he would check it out--which is kind of funny because basically this post is calling him an unhip tool with a funny-shaped head. Oh well, what's one more person who hates me?