Actor John Cusack Advises “Meet the Press” Tim Russert to Do an Oprah

In Arianna Huffington’s blog this morning, the former devout conservative turned extreme liberal activist wrote about a conversation she had yesterday with actor John Cusack while they were both watching NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Cusack made such a strong observation in Huffington’s view that the latter decided to inform all of her readers of his unprecedented wisdom and political insight: “‘In order to protect his brand as a hard-charging, truth-probing journalist,’ he said, ‘Team Russert needs to do an Oprah: haul back on his show Cheney and Rumsfeld and all the politicians who've lied to him on the set and damaged his credibility and confront them straight out.’"

For those unfamiliar with the reference, famed television talkshow host Oprah Winfrey invited an author back onto her program last week to eviscerate him for “duping” her and the nation concerning the fictitious parts of his non-fiction bestseller that Oprah had enthusiastically recommended to her book club.

Now, the reality is that Cusack has a wonderful idea here, but, as is typical for members of his ilk, he only wants to open up Republican politicians to such scrutiny. I wonder what Huffington and Cusack might think of this strategy if Russert was required to utilize this new interrogation procedure on all of his guests, including those Huffington and Cusack revere. Just imagine Hillary Clinton, Charles Schumer, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean, Al Sharpton, John Kerry, et al being put through such a grilling.

I guess Huffington and Cusack didn’t completely think this strategy through. Regardless, Cusack’s concluding advice for Russert: “‘Hey, I'm Irish too, and if there's one tribe that historically doesn't like bowing to royalty, it's the Irish. I hope one Sunday morning Russert will wake up and get his Irish on.’" Well, John, now you know how people on the right side of the aisle feel whenever Russert is interviewing one of your heroes.