Tim Russert was on his game last night! From the ludicrous hypotheticals to the inane badgering to his poor handling of the Farrakhan question, he really brought the ruckus. Illinois super-blogger Archpundit has the goods on The Farrakhan boogeyman and if you haven't already read Yglesias' takedown of Timmy, do so now. Tim Russert, it is said, is tough—supertough—and wily, too, like a knuckleball pitcher. As Jim Geraghty put it, "Every once in a while a Washington media institution really does matter, and Meet the Press is one of them." Why? "Because Tim Russert, without commercial interruption, will throw hardballs and curveballs for a solid half hour, and standard delaying tactics won't work." So Meet the Press thrives, delighting precisely the sort of person who doesn't realize that a hardball is a kind of ball whereas a curveball is a kind of pitch.
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Adam Doster, a contributing editor at In These Times, is a Chicago-based freelance writer and former reporter-blogger for Progress Illinois.