Steve Cohen: “I think the whole country shared in mourning the loss of Tim Russert as if he was part of our family. We had seen him on…”

“I think the whole country shared in mourning the loss of Tim Russert as if he was part of our family. We had seen him on television for so many years, and he would come into our homes on Sunday mornings. And he was so much like so many people in America in that he was passionate about politics, passionate about government, passionate about sports, and passionate about being an American. He loved his Buffalo Bills, Buffalo Sabers, he loved baseball and he loved horse racing. He loved politics, and he had two great mentors in Senator Patrick Moynihan and in Governor Mario Cuomo, two of the great people in political life to ever have the opportunity to work for. And he was a success story, climbing from the ranks of a government official in the media and perfecting that trade and going to the heights of his profession. He was diligent in doing his research and in quizzing everybody, I think, in an even-handed manner that you really didn't know exactly where Tim Russert was coming from. I had the pleasure of meeting him at a Vanity Fair dinner, which I was invited to last year, and we were at a small table. At the time, I didn't know his wife worked for Vanity Fair. I thought Tim Russert was just there because he was Tim Russert, and that was a good enough reason for him to be there. And he was nice as he could be, just a regular guy, and we had a delightful conversation. He loved his father. And the book about his dad, Russ, has been well spoken about.…”