Will Tim Russert Also Challenge Chris Matthews to a Duel?



Tim Russert is the soi-dissant "Big Daddy" at NBC News in Washington. Number Two, more or less, is Chris Matthews, the "hair"-apparent. The Corsair always assumed that if the present trajectory of Commentators Rising continues, that maybe -- someday? -- Matthews will get to plant his ass in the Meet the Press chair, the most prestigous piece of Talking Head Real Estate. Now word from the beautiful Ana Marie Cox (via fishbowldc) that there may be some behind the scenes contretemps going on:

"Jurors on the Libby trial are learning many things about the inner workings of unofficial Washington. Just today they were told that 'There are a lot of bureaus in Washington" (from Judy Miller's testimony on intial confusion about where Valerie Plame worked) and that the Chevy Chase Club doesn't allow cell phones or Blackberries on its grounds (from Matt Cooper's increasingly detailed narrative).

"But today the Washington insiders at the trial learned something too: that Tim Russert hates Chris Matthews. It was the talk of the elevator as soon as the court recessed for lunch. This nugget of information will not play an especially large role in the trial, but I suspect it will make cocktail conversation afterwards a little more interesting, and of course, it shines a bit more unflattering light onto the deal-making and string-pulling that go into producing what some still quaintly call 'news.'

"Russert's presumed distaste for Matthews (so difficult not to speculate on its cause! Is it stylistic? Does someone hog the newsroom donuts?) came up in reference to the prosecution presenting notes taken by Libby during a conversation with former vice president aide Mary Matalin. She 'has a colorful way of speaking' (something the press corps does know), and in the course of advising Libby on how to deal with the 'Wilson issue,' and in particular Matthew's attacks on the vice president, she advised Libby to call Russert to complain and she told Libby that Russert would have an especially sympathetic ear: 'Call Tim. He hates Chris - he needs to know it all.'"

Oddly, this doesn't seem too far out of the ordinary. They have almost identical American political pedigrees. Both are die-hard Roman Catholic. Buffalo native Russert on-air is studiously neutral; he is, politically, a former student of the legendary Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and former Governor Mario Cuomo, two of the great New York ethnic-American classical common sense liberals. Philly native Matthews ascended the Great Chain of Washington being as a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter and as a top aide to legendary Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, king of the Irish-American pols. We kicking it Old School on the political tip, yo (The Corsair absently pops a bottle of Chateauneuf du Paper 1999.

It's uncanny. These two have almost identical political upbringings and they both ended up in the number one and two slots at NBC News. Familiarity and, we would add, Similarity breeds contempt. The only difference between the two -- and it is a biggie -- is that Tim is the traditional journo (and NBC News Senior Vice President); Chris is the loudmouth, the bomb-thrower. And, of course, both have egos the size of Mount Rushmore.

Just The Corsair's two cents.