I was as much of a devout fan of Tim Russert as anyone, but I have to say this: I’m getting sick of the emotional butterscotch schmaltz that NBC reporters, commentators and show hosts are still pouring all over the man’s memory this morning. I wish more of it had been on the level of, say, what Chris Matthews said on the phone from Paris and…well, just less from everyone else.

The thing that tipped it was Matt Lauer‘s emotion-milking interview this morning with Tim’s son, tthe very bright and admirable Luke Russert, followed by Meredith Vieira and Kathy Lee Gifford talking about how “incredible” the younger Russert is…Jesus! Enough! I’m sorry but something just snapped when Vieira said that.
I realize it’ll keep going until the Wednesday morning funeral and the Kennedy Center tribute later that afternoon, but it’s getting a little bit grotesque. There’s something to be said for quiet sadness and holding it in a bit, or at least for showing a little old-fashioned restraint. (A quality, come to think, that Russert’s dad, “Big Russ,” was known and admired for.) Sorry to say, but Russert’s friends have taken things to a point where they’re almost starting to taint his memory.
As the Orlando Sentinel‘s Hal Boedeker wrote this morning, “The self indulgence” of the Russert tributes “was breathtaking. A friend told me Sunday: ‘I now know more about Tim Russert than I do many members of my family.'”
Postnote: What is with the MSNBC embed codes? You copy a code for a particular video, it goes up just fine and then an hour later another video is playing. What the…?