The Missing Man Formation

I learned yesterday that MSNBC News was operating in the Missing Man Formation for coverage of the presidential election. The Missing Man Formation is the aerial military maneuver in which you can see that one plane and pilot is no longer with us in the sky. I'm sure you have seen it on TV and/or at local military airshows. (By the way, Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio has an airshow to drive out of your way to see.)

Well, Tuesday night the broadcasters of MSNBC were in missing man formation in memory of their deceased broadcaster and news teammate Tim Russert. Tim Russert who hosted Meet The Press Sunday mornings died this past spring. I think everyone can remember Tim shunning the push button high tech world and grabbing his white board and pen to explain what was happening in Florida in the 2000 presidential election.

Tuesday night Andrea Mitchell had Tim's white board and pen by her side. Someone else was wearing a Tim Russert tie with his suit and another had the mass card from the Tim Russert funeral mass in his suit pocket. And they all expressed the same thought that Tim would have been bouncing off the walls and throwing his white board around in wild jubilation over the first black man to be elected president of the United States and screaming what a story, what a story! Tim lived for politics and the presidential election was his superbowl reporting moment. I'm going to dedicate my Sky Watch Friday photo to you.