Fishbowl D.C. is reporting that NBC has officially hired Tim Russert’s son Luke. Luke Russert will be a correspondent at large for NBC News. His first assignment will will be to cover the conventions and he’ll be focusing on youth issues. Since March of 2006, he has co-hosted the critically acclaimed sports radio talk show “60/20 Sports” with political pundit James Carville on XM Satellite Radio.

Arianna Huffington is a well known critic of Tim Russert. She has said on a number of occasions that he wasn’t a good journalist, because he didn’t “challenge conventional wisdom.” Roughly translated that means he wasn’t a left-wing liar.

In an interview on Portfolio.com, Arianna is asked who she thought should replace Russert that does “challenge coventional wisdom.”

Here’s the exchange:

You were one of Tim Russert’s most vocal critics. Whom do you think NBC ought to replace him with on Meet the Press to avoid the same mistakes, as you saw them?

First of all, you know, my critique of Tim Russert was all about him as a journalist, not about him as a human being. So obviously, with his death, the focus has been on him as a father, a son, a Buffalo Bills supporter. But in terms of journalism, I think the need for the network will be to make sure that whoever succeeds him after Tom Brokaw’s interregnum would challenge the conventional wisdom. I think that is they key. Challenging the conventional wisdom. That’s what needs to happen more often.

Is there a particular interviewer you think would challenge the conventional wisdom?

Well, there are many. I think it’s more a journalistic attitude than a particular journalist. Definitely Keith Olbermann challenges the conventional wisdom. It depends if they want to go with somebody known or somebody unknown.

If NBC were to replace Russert with Keith Olbermann it would be the equivalent of the entire NBC staff collectively urinating on Russert’s grave. Arianna is an idiot.

-Chris Jones

(Via j$p)

Partisan hack Chris Matthews couldn’t resist the temptation to make anti-war statements even when remembering his “friend” Tim Russert. Matthews basically said that he always knew the Iraq war was a lie, but Russert was fooled right along with the rest of the country, which is why he was “Mr. America.”

If those are supposed to be kind words of remembrance, I’d hate to hear what Matthews would say about someone he didn’t like.

Chris Matthews is a hack and a pathetic excuse for a journalist. Tim Russert went out of his way to give an unbiased presentation and was a one of the greatest journalists of all time. Chris Matthews didn’t deserve to share the same room with a class act like Russert. Tim Russert was the only thing standing in the way of NBC becoming official property of the far-left.

Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are despicable people and horrible journalists. They are the last people on earth who should anchoring anything.

(via Hot Air)

From the AP:

Tim Russert, host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” and its Washington bureau chief collapsed and died at work Friday after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 58

Longtime NBC anchor Tom Brokaw confirmed his death in a special report on NBC. Brokaw says Russert’s death came during a political campaign that he loved.

Russert had been managing editor and moderator of “Meet the Press” and political analyst for NBC News, which he joined in 1984.

Before that, he had worked in the political world, serving as counselor in the New York Governor’s office and a special counsel in the United States Senate.