The Anchoress
It is very sad to hear of the sudden death of NBC’s Tim Russert – to my mind among the last of the truly great, ethical and honorable “old style” journalists, who managed to be tough but usually fair.
Tim Russert was a father and son who adored and respected his family, worshiped his God, and tried to stay true to the highest ideals of his profession. What greater accolades may be heaped upon any man’s memory, it is difficult to say.
I’ll always remember the extraordinary episode of Meet the Press hosted by Russert the Christmas of 2001, following 9/11. His guests were then-NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, Laura Bush and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and together these four simply sat around a table and talked about life, family, love, duty, country and faith, and the US Navy Brass Sextet played carols. Some criticized Russert for it, looking only at political party and religion, but I recall it as a remarkably cozy, thought-provoking and moving bit of television, and I remember being really grateful for it, and wishing I’d taped it.
We’ll be reading a lot over the next few days about Tim Russert’s impact on the Sunday News Show format, his integrity and hard work, his preparedness, and also about his gregariousness, his humor and humanity. One hopes that his colleagues, out of respect for Russert’s memory and by example of his own ethics, may rededicate themselves to the ideals of journalism that have been subsumed over the past 10 years by the urge to sensationalism, bias and cartoonish bravado, a temptation Russert mostly managed to avoid.
Russert didn’t need to sink to those levels; he was a journalist. He just did his homework and asked the pertinent questions, no matter who that ticked off, right (usually) or left (recently). He managed to ask the question that precipitated the end of Hillary Clinton’s presidential hopes:
RIP Tim Russert. You’ll be missed. My prayers go out to his wife, his son, his father, and all who loved him.
There’s a nice roundup of praise and remembrance, here.
UPDATES: Asymptomatic coronary artery disease. His b/p was controlled, cholesterol “optimal” – he had a stress test in late April and did very well. His doctor talks about it here. Could be describing so many of us…
Meanwhile – Chris Matthews hits rock bottom.
I’m still under the gun re paying work, but others are following the story very closely:
Hot Air
Gateway has an Ode to Russert
Huffington Post
Ann Althouse
Deacon Greg links to a story on Russert’s faith
the folks at Wizbang
Bill Kristol
Jonah Goldberg
Michelle Malkin
Politico
Richard Miniter
The Moderate Voice
ABC News has link to a good video
Jake Tapper
Ace O’ Spades
MediaMythbusters
Brian Maloney has Limbaugh’s reaction
Inside Catholic
Tom Maguire
this is sort of gross and inappropriate; the man has just died, for heaven’s sake!
A line from Howard Fineman
Liberty Film Festival
Kate O’ Beirne
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