I didn't agree with the politics which Tim Russert allowed more and more to seep into his otherwise excellent journalism, but the shock of this very sudden death provoked tears from this hard-hearted Republican.
May God bless his soul and bless his family. Tim's beloved father is still alive, please keep him in your prayers. This is such a very sad and sudden thing.
17 comments:
I was just watching CNN's coverage of Russert's passing.
They had a long comment by Obama, at which time the audio equipment caught the end of his statement and then his quick.."....okay?" to the newsmen. You'll hear it if you watch CNN, unless they cut it off now. It was sad to hear him so 'grief stricken' and then finish up the interview with "......Okay?" As if to say "Okay? Can I go now? that enough?"
They then showed a quick clip of McCain's comments.
They then read a very long statement by Pres and Senator Clinton....
CNN somehow neglected to mention anything from President Bush...
President Bush had this to say, at least 2 hours before the CNN report I'm talking about: 'informed of Russert's death while at dinner in Paris, swiftly issued a statement of condolence that praised the NBC newsman as "an institution in both news and politics for more than two decades. Tim was a tough and hardworking newsman. He was always well-informed and thorough in his interviews. And he was as gregarious off the set as he was prepared on it."'
Maybe CNN just hadn't heard? (ya, right)
cnn? belch...
I too felt sad at his passing.
Elbro..you know Mr. Z always says "CNN again? Self Mutilation! Why do you watch when it bugs you so much?" He's right...but I'm the idiot who likes to hear what EVERYONE is saying. Even if I have to sit through ten minutes of Blitzer's fractured.....sentences......which drives..............me crazy. YOU............too?
Anybody else notice that? He breathes at the oddest times in a sentence.
Russert's passing is a shock....pray for his wife and son who're flying back to America from a trip to Italy he'd been with them a part of the time for (from what they're saying)...the hardest flight of their lives.
someone alluded to this at aow's radio program message board - i thought it was a joke - found out a couple hours later that it's true.
there were times when i appreciated him - proof we cannot be all things to all people
r.i.p. tim and God be with your family.
hussein obama has once again proven his putzery.
o.t. - i left a funny link to obama at farmer's post on him!
nanc, as leftist as Russert was, I, too, admired his ability to SOMETIMES hold a lefty's feet to the fire. I always felt he did it begrudgingly, but that could be my own bias (surprise!)
I admired him for years and was sorry his politics started showing lately, but I have to say I kinda loved the guy. honestly.
Sorry to hear of this tragic loss.
However, in a nutshell, he was just another talking head for the media. Watch what happens next. The media will break out the kleenex; it will last for a week, and then suddenly you won't hear of this again until a year later, or at the end of the year's "stories of the year" show.
Russert in my views was an effective argumentor. Lord help you if you came in his firing range; yeah, he was that good, even though he had liberal leanings.
Steve, they're saying that you had to be REALLY prepared to be on his show, that he did his homework and could practically tell them what they were going to say and would know what to ask next.
QUITE a interviewer.
He hadn't been quite so biased years ago when he first started, but it sure did seep in, didn't it, the last few years.
He seems to have been QUITE a guy; warm, congenial, funny...he didn't even have an agent! He just asked Jack Welch for 3 more presidential elections; twelve years on his contract. He loved politics THAT much. I feel for his family and his colleagues. I feel badly enough and I didn't even know the guy!
Z,
CNN's still on the air?
Love him or hate him, you knew what you were going to get with Tim Russert, and not in the sense that you know what Keith Olbermann is going to be talking about on his show seven weeks from now [i.e. I hates Bush, I do I do...]
As a politics junkie, I'll miss him. He made homework a little easier.
Beamish, I'll miss him a lot, too...good point that he made homework easier/ we learned from watching that show.
I've gotta say his death took the air out of me; a man who seemed to love LIFE SO MUCH. SO sad.
I was so sad to learn of Mr. Russert's death. He seemed like such a kind and genuine person. So sudden....I hope he was prepared for eternity.
I felt uncomfortable for having watched the full hour of Meet the Press today.
There is was, the typical ONE CONSERVATIVE on the 'panel', and she must have been there just to hold Carville's hand.
It reminded me that AMERICA'S Premier News Show is as biased as it is. I KNOW Tim Russert didn't mean to be, I loved the guy...but he WAS.
Even the biggest panel sometimes only had one quasi-Conservative journalist on it..the melba toast Bryan York or someone from the WSJ.
They invoked FDR this morning, they talked about the other two "Great newsmen of America", Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow, Murrow having, along with Dewey (Yes, our school system's famous Dewey) brought the Frankfurt School Marxists here to safety during NAZY Germany (who knew? thanks for the info, TMW)...
This isn't BIAS?
Was it a wonderful show for Tim? You bet. A terrific tribute...did it reek of bias again......You bet.
I felt sorry for it. And for America. But, maybe I took it too hard, maybe I'm too sensitive.
I wonder if anybody else felt that.
I don't mean to diminish the WONDERFUL, AMAZING, LOVING MAN they protrayed here! This comment's SO not about that......it's about something bigger.
He certainly was a great interviewer, even when his own bias framed the questions.
Not too long ago, I reexamined Dick Cheney's MTP appearances, since lefties are always (mis)citing his interviews to prove Cheney lied.
Sometimes Russert would make me stir-crazed that he seemed to be getting his information and having his perception shaped by the liberal media establishment. Sometimes, you have to go "beyond the news" and look at journalists' sources themselves to bypass the liberal filter facts go through before reaching its audience.
The recent Senate Select Committee on Intell final report is a good recent example.
WHAT a great point, Wordsmith, and thanks very much for coming by...it does seem like interviewers get their information from lefty journalists..absolutely true.
I've lived in Europe quite a bit and find it maddening that the only English speaking news they get there are CNN International( even more biased towards the left than ours!) and the Int'l Herald Tribune, which was once owned by the Wash Post AND the NYTimes but is now solely owned by the Times..imagine?
Then the Left wonders why "They" HATE US?! Laughable, sad, and even dangerous to us, in my opinion.
please come again!
My brother and I spoke of, and expressed sadness at the passing of Tim Russert yesterday. He was also a familiar face to the many Australians who enjoy news and current affairs programs.
Big Tim will be missed. The news of his passing made me pull the car over to the edge of the road...very shocked and sad.
A solid liberal yes but mostly fair in the range of questions he asked in every interview.
His smile,love of family and friends gave me the feeling he
was a regular guy.
I send my prayers to his wife and son.
Matisse
Dennis Prager said today that "Russert was such a good journalist I never really knew what his politics were!"
it's only the 2nd time I've heard Prager be that naive and stupid.
Since you seem to be in the same area that I live in, do you listen to KRLA 870? My favorite listens are Michael Medved and Hugh Hewitt, with Prager in 3rd.
The thing about Prager is, as much as he knows and as bright as he is, he always strikes me as a bit behind on certain contemporary topics, in terms of details, which can be found on good blogs (which, I don't get a sense that he follows and trusts; he's more "old school", I think, in how he gets his news. I don't think he's developed a discerning mind toward figuring out what blogs to go to that are credible for news dissemination, and alternate perspectives not driven by the mainstream).
He also constantly has to footnote his generalities with "I'm speaking in generalities, and know not everyone thinks/behaves this way, but..."
But he's still good; and when liberals talk about the venom and hatred on talk radio, they certainly can't support their argument by citing Prager.
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