The Newseum will display Russert's office "reassembled to look as it did June 13, 2008, the day Russert died of a heart attack at age 58," beginning in November. The only other journalist to merit an office recreation at the Newseum is Edward R. Murrow.

It's been more than a year since Russert's death, so by now it's OK to say about his memory what we were saying about him when he was still alive: He was a handmaiden masquerading as a watchdog, and the reason people went on his show wasn't because he was an "institution" or "tough but fair"—it was because he was safe and predictable but had the unearned reputation of being aggressive and relentless. But whatever: Let's stipulate that he was a towering genius. We're still recreating his office in a museum?

Here's what Lewis Lapham had to say on Russert's funeral, attended by all the grandees he claimed to torment:

Long ago in the days before journalists became celebrities, their enterprise was reviled and poorly paid, and it was understood by working newspapermen that the presence of more than two people at their funeral could be taken as a sign that they had disgraced the profession.

Anyway, what's in the office? A WHOLE BUNCH OF JUNK ABOUT THE FUCKING BUFFALO BILLS.

• Meghan McCain got into a spat with security at the White House Correspondents' Dinner because they wouldn't let her friend in without a ticket. And oh, she didn't really care for Wanda Sykes or the temperature in the room or the golden stable where they forced her to keep her pony during the event. (Daily News)
  
  
• Luke Russert was hired by NBC to blog and Twitter and be a "youth correspondent" and whatever and now he's just acting like a bratty 23 year-old who has no business having the job he has. Go figure! (Page Six)
  
  
• After 15 years, Jimmy Fallon finally has a college diploma. (Perez)
  
  
• Lily Allen's potty mouth has led to her being banned by the BBC. (UK Mirror)
  
  
• A woman has filed a restraining order to prevent Ryan O'Neal from begging her for phone sex while his wife, Farrah Fawcett, is dying. (Sun)
  
  
• Joan Rivers is unwavering in her belief that Annie Duke is a Nazi. (E Online)
  
  
• Alexandra von Furstenberg has been dating a much younger guy named...wait for it...Dax! (Page Six)

The Rookery is a bar/restaurant that is, like 8th grade birthday parties and the marriage certificate line at Sacramento city hall, invite-only. How exclusive. But in the spirit of the White House opening its back door and letting Barack Obama and his lovely family shuffle in, The Rookery is allowing any Joe, Dick, or John-Jane Georgetown party it up at their joint. For 95 Confederate dollars you get a free open bar until 4am (4am!! DC passed a special dispensation allowing bars to stay open, like when they had the Olympics in Salt Lake and people were allowed to drink and touch each other's privates and stuff). Oh, and yeah. Luke, son of late Meet the Press host Tim, will be doing a hosting duty of his own. Hopefully there's a hot tub. A band called Old Man Brown is playing which is... um... unfortunate.

Ah well. So you can get classily shitcanned (jacket required!) all night and then stumble over to watch history happen. Then stumble home and watch the party on HBO, which will feature the old moderate-hippie stylings of Babs and The Boss.

You won't remember any of it, but you'll have participated. Which is all that matters.

In 2005, when Gawker did that, I don't necessarily think it was fair, because I wasn't involved in any sort of public media. I was just "son of, going to college." And they've done other things where they've taken pictures of Caroline Kennedy's daughter having a glass of wine in high school and putting that out there, and we remember the stuff with Judge Alito's son and sort of tearing down the kids of celebrities, and I don't like that. Now, you know, post-radio, post-TV, I'm totally willing to accept them writing anything and them saying anything, because I'm a public figure, I've put myself in that position and I chose to live that life. If I didn't want it, I could be in a log cabin right now, blogging. But I chose to put myself out there, so by all means. If they feel inclined to take shots, I can accept them. I'm a big boy. If you spend your time reading sites like Gawker, and Jossip, and letting them get to you, you're not going to go very far in this business.

Well, good we're glad. Very mature. And, no, he may not be in a log cabin like the rest of us festering shut-in internet 'writers,' but he is blogging!

A sample:

"In the last three months, three things have brought the two candidates together: one, my late father's funeral mass; two, Rick Warren's Saddleback Forum about faith and God; three, 9/11....For me, that was the lede. Two senators from different parties with completely different backgrounds said that there was a missed opportunity for America after 9/11. From a tragic event, we as a nation could have risen to a new high, could have had a civic reawakening, but we did not. So whether or not you support John McCain or Barack Obama, all Americans should be comforted that the next president will echo the words of John F. Kennedy, spoken many decades ago, 'We can do better.'"

To me, that sounded like he was leading with his father's funeral mass, but then, I'm not the seasoned journalist here. You'd have thought he would've had to do at least one summer as an NBC intern before boarding the nepotism express, just for the sake of appearance. I don't really blame the kid, after all. Who among us would refuse? But NBC just looks ridiculous. No offense, but what did this kid ever do besides be born to a certain father and then have that certain father die? And just because your father did something well (or at least did that thing) doesn't mean you are going to be able to do it. Even more pathetic is how the other anchors, especially Matt Lauer, fawn over the kid. He's a communications grad Matt, not the Panchen Lama. Journalism is not genetic.

[Luke Russert's blog]

• Luke Russert golf-carted around the Democratic convention like some kind of boy king while his bitter coworkers had to hoof it. Obviously this rumor is made up, because everyone knows NBC correspondents air their bitter grievances only on camera. [P6]
• Jennifer Aniston will apparently guest star on an episode of 30 Rock. Then she'll start pressuring the show for commitment, dropping hints about babies and planting marriage rumors in the press until 30 Rock runs screaming out of its apartment, breaks up with her via text message and spills the whole sordid tale to the paparazzi. [Star]
• We finally got an answer to the question, "David Duchovny Why Won't You Love Me:" Because he's a sex addict. [Us]
• Michael Jackson told Good Morning America he plans to have a totally normal 50th birthday party, watching cartoons with children. He's getting so media savvy in his later years! [ABC]
• Oprah saw Obama on stage and just instantly cried so hard. "It changed my life." [ET]
• Dick Cheney lost 40 pounds. He said the workouts were torture. No, literally, he tortured people. It keeps him very limber. [P6]
• The crucial Sean Penn endorsement has gone to Barack Obama. Also, Penn totally called that Biden thing. [P6]
• Lindsay Lohan's grandfather died, and her press-hungry Dad promptly issued a statement bitching out his ex-wife for not having called him yet and wondering if she would bring Lindsay to the funeral. This was by way of saying he's not a fame-addicted media whore. The full letter is truly insane. [OK!]

So now we know that young Luke also enjoys renting jacuzzis by the hour with innocent, adorable toddlers.

Earlier: The Children of the Media Elite: Luke Russert

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