Forty-plus years of rightwing propaganda about how inherently anti-family and anti-God and un-American the NYC/DC media is, I guess, have really done the trick.

Here’s Barack’s Father’s Day message at a church in Chicago:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/stateupdates/gG5nFN

So would most sentient human beings.

In a frantic rush to burnish their own social credentials, scores of B and C list players are desperately maneuvering to get coveted national face time. “Tim was a good friend of mine” is the pass word of the day as the networks fill hour after hour with the burnished recollections of has-beens, wanna-bes and actual sorrowing friends.

These tales, the cute stories, the hitherto unknown tidbits issuing forth ad naseum are less about Tim Russert than about the blind scramble by hangers-on to be considered part of the story, to be considered ‘still relevant’ by virtue of their association with a beloved media figure.

The coverage of Russert’s death has ceased being about celebrating the life and mourning the death of Tim Russert. Instead, it has evolved into a platform designed to assure fragile egos that they, the media, are still relevant. Every morning talk show, every channel on every network is indulging in a mass celebration of their own importance. And they’re using Tim Russert’s death to do it.

This orgy of sentiment feels wrong to this writer. Sincere feelings of loss and sadness are to be expected when a respected personage dies before his time. But the orchestrated outpouring currently monopolizing the airwaves is saying more about the media itself than the death of Russert.

Now, for more exciting episodes of “Who killed Tim Russert? Follow the clues. Who had the most to gain or the biggest grudge to settle?

June 14, 2008 Speculation on possible successors centers on three on-air personalities already under contract to NBC: David Gregory, the former White House correspondent recently given his own MSNBC show, “Race for the White House”; Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s long-running “Hardball”; and Joe Scarborough, the former congressman and host of “Morning Joe” on MSNBC, according to talent representatives who declined to speak on the record for fear of jeopardizing relationships with network management. …Popular MSNBC host Keith Olbermann is likewise considered a long shot, largely because of his open espousal of liberal viewpoints.

Jun 03, 2008 …a high level source inside MSNBC, who sheds light on some of the inside rumblings.

MSNBC has drawn criticism from pundits from both parties, other journalists and the White House, for the perceived, and often obvious, leftward shift of their lead political anchors Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann.

“Every Tuesday night Keith is up there as the face of NBC News. That’s a problem,” says our source. “[Tim] Russert is upset about it. Russert has spent 20 years building credibility. All of a sudden he’s taking questions from Keith Olbermann, the Daily Kos blogger?”

May 26, 2008 Through its unusual public criticism of NBC’s handling of Richard Engel’s interview with the president, the Bush administration struck at the soft white underbelly of the news division’s co-existence with the opinionated personalities of MSNBC.

Clinton’s campaign didn’t want to talk publicly about NBC, but it has been unhappy about the Democratic candidate’s treatment by “Hardball” host Chris Matthews.

Keith Olbermann has been critical of Clinton and supportive of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on MSNBC’s “Countdown.”

When Tim Russert declared Obama the Democratic nominee during MSNBC’s coverage of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, the words carried extra weight because the “Meet the Press” host is generally considered the top broadcast journalist in Washington.

If revenge is a factor, watch your back, Bill O’Reilly.