Holy shit.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT???!!

MSNBC..Tim Russert?

unbelievable..so sudden..
how old was russert?

Holy Shit.

I think a lot of people had issues with is style of journalism, but it's still pretty shocking hear he died.

He seemed perfectly fine, although he obviously wasn't leading a healthy lifestyle.

One day I hear that half of Iowa is under water (not my half, but still I have friends out there), the next day I hear Tim Russert is dead.

Fucking crazy.

Oh, man.

Wild. I'm shocked!

just wow

Condolences to his family.

Not very old.

That sucks. In every respect.

Man, that is absolutely horrible. Rest in Peace Tim.

Unbelievable.
How sad.
May he rest in peace.

You just never know...

58 is too early.

Rest in Peace.

Condolences to his family.

My god. Oh, his poor family.

To the Russert family - especially his father, Big Russ (heavens, two days before Father's Day) - I send my most heartfelt condolences. Tim was a newsman in the truest sense, and regardless of whether or not folks agreed with his style, he was someone that America depended on.

A pillar of American TV news. Very, very sad, indeed.

Very sorry to see Tim pass. He had his bad moments, we all do, but he was capable of contributing, and often did contribute, firm but fair questioning of public figures that other journalists weren't able to deliver.

His trademark of confronting politicians with contradictions within their own statements was much more helpful than contrived, much more frequently illuminating, IMHO, than unenlightening.

Hate to see anyone die at 58. Hope we all remember not to charge too hard and run ourselves ragged. Success isn't worth it.

Wow. Just wow.

Goodbye, Tim. You always irked me, but you should have had much longer to do so. My condolences to his family and friends.

I am very sorry to read it. My thoughts are with his family (for whatever little my thoughts are worth).

Wow.

He wasn't that much older than me.

Not that this is about me, of course, but still -- it makes it seem more shocking.

When I go, though, I do NOT want to be at work. That's really a sad thing.

Jesus. He was less than six years older than I am. Very sad and scary. Deepest sympathy to his family and friends.

Unnerving when someone near my age, who appeared healthy, dies so unexpectedly. Such events reinforce our own eventual mortality and the need to stay connected with those we cherish.

My heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.

wow.....so sad.

always liked that guy. He seemed so much more "real" then others.

damn.

Thanks, TPM, for editing out comments.

Besides not being cool, you oviously don't understand the format of "Meet the Press" and its adversarial style. He explained it as taking the opposite side from his guests and calling on them to defend their position. Conservatives thought he was a flaming liberal and liberals thought him conservative. In other words, he was a journalist; which I believe he would consider the highest praise of all. What an opposite from someone like you. Rest in Peace, Tim Russert.

I'll miss the white board, Tim.
Florida, Florida, Florida.
Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.
R.I.P.

Y one of the few good ones

so young. What a shock!

I'm don't want to turn him into a saint -- he was a blight on the so-called "journalism" profession and a contributor to the breakdown of political and social discourse. "Dreadful" wouldn't be too strong a word.

But as a grown-up, I can think all that and still be both shocked and saddened by his too-soon departure from this life. A terrible burden for his poor father to bear.

Condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. Whoever rises up in that NBC News organization to take his place(s) will get no joy from the circumstances of their rise...

How very sad. Condolences to his family.

This is a huge shocker. I'm in total disbelief.

How sad he died at such a young age.

Enormously sad.

RIP Tim. You'll be missed. Try not to be too hard on Teddy Roosevelt when you're grilling him in the big press room up in the sky. I don't mean that as snark either. Just trying to think happy thoughts about you.

He was truly a media icon on the political stage.
He will be deeply missed.

He had two rather memorable lines during this campaign:

When John McCain claimed he didn't know where Tim had gotten the quote that McCain admitted that he wasn't up-to-snuff on economic issues, Russert said:
"I will show you where I got the quote from. I got it from John McCain, and here it is. 'McCain is refreshingly blunt when he tells me I'm going to be honest, I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated.' Wall Street Journal, November 26th, 2005. You repeated it to the Boston Globe in December of '07. You said it."

The other was after the NC and IN primaries: "We know who the Democratic nominee will be, and no one is going to dispute it."

Rest in peace, Tim.

A huge shock. Very sad. Must be terrible for his family, friends and colleagues.

In general, I thought this was Russert's best year, in terms of political coverage. A real loss for MSNBC.

Tim was a tough journalist and, as such, was prone to rub some of us the wrong way. Say what you will, but politicians absolutely knew that, before the cameras came on on Meet the Press, they better have their stuff together or Russert would eat them alive.

He had a great --- but much too short --- life, maturing from the son of a Buffalo sanitation worker to the TV journalism elite. He obviously loved Buffalo, his father and his family.

A sad aside: Earlier this week, Russert went to Buffalo to move "Big Russ", his father, into an assisted care facility. One has to wonder if the stress of that experience may have been a contributor.

Rest in peace, Tim. We'll miss you.

Shocked and saddened.

Makes you wonder what your last day on earth will be like...

Well that just fucking sucks.

RIP Tim, know that you'll be missed.

I'll miss all the pertinent follow-up questions that never got asked... and that was while he was alive.

My wife worked fundraising for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington before we moved west. For years he's headlined their congressional dinner fundraiser and has played a role in keeping them running and kids out of trouble. Just for that alone, I consider him a great man. My condolences.

I thought about that, too--and my heart just dropped to my feet. This is very, very shocking and very, very sad.

My condolences to his family.

This has been quite a strange, shocking and sad day.

RIP, Mr. Russert.

This is very unexpected, and leaves a hole in his profession that will be difficult to fill. My thoughts and prayers to his family, friends, and colleagues, and prayers for a fortunate rebirth for Tim.

Sundays may still be Meet The Press, but Sundays won't be the same. We'll miss you Tim...RIP

I still cant believe it!

Whatever else we may have thought about Russert, he was, after all, human and as a human made mistakes and had biases which sometimes could not either overcome nor hide well. Nonetheless, he appeared a genuinely decent man and was incontestably a giant in his field and a force on the political scene. I can not think of anyone who could easily replace him.

The sudden death of one so young and seemingly vibrant is always a shock. May I add my name to those who offer the deepest sympathy to his family and loved ones. Perhaps I could write more, but these lines come to me:

Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

Obama Statement in Columbus:

Obama in Columbus:

I’ve known Tim Russert since I first spoke at the convention in 2004. He’s somebody who, over time, I came to consider not only a journalist but a friend. There wasn’t a better interviewer in TV, not a more thoughtful analyst of our politics, and he was also one of the finest men I knew. Somebody who cared about America, cared about the issues, cared about family. I am grief-stricken with the loss and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. And I hope that, even though Tim is irreplaceable, that the standard that he set in his professional life and his family life are standards that we all carry with us in our own lives.

link: http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0608/Obama_on_Russerts_death.html

Taken from Ezra Klein:

"Presumably, he's up somewhere beyond the cloudline, hectoring God about His inconsistencies. "But Lord, in Exodus 6:12, you clearly said...""

Russert's interview of Doris Kerns Goodwin was one of the most enjoyable things I ever watched on television. Rest in Peace.

Rest in peace.

Yep. Kieth is struggling to keep himself together. You'd a good life, when the whole nation stops to say a word and your colleagues-one after the after on MSBC and some on CNN- are visibly shaken and near tears.

See you later, Tim.

One less knife stuck in Obama's back.

Russert had a written interview on MSNBC's web site posted just this afternoon:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25137286/

Might be his last public words.

All I can think about is his dad. A terrible thing to outlive your child.

I was on my way home from work when I heard of this on POTUS on XM. I yelled a big "WHAT?" at my radio, then immediately called my dad. So, so sad. It will not be the same watching this upcoming historic election with out seeing Tim Russert on NBC's coverage.

God bless you Tim, and may we all keep his family in our prayers or thoughts today.

WOW, I have no idea how Keith Olbermann can maintain his composure. Its obvious they were close.

Good grief, Tim was a fixture on Sunday morning. This is extremely sad news for his family and friends. My sincere condolences to all who are suffering grief with this loss.

Sad news indeed for his friends and family.

But a "titan of journalism"? Not so much.

Not to speak ill of the dead, it seems that the man was genuinely beloved by those who knew him and let's not kid ourselves that this is not the most important thing in life, but I saw him as mostly a stain on the profession of journalism. The scene that flashes over and over through my mind, before this news and not changed on account of it, is when Bill Moyers spoke with Russert about the slanted (pro) war coverage dished out by himself among others in the run up to the Iraq war. Asked by Moyers why he didn't ask the hard questions, Russert's response was that no one ever called him on the phone to tip him off that the official information being put out there was inaccurate or propagandized. That's what's known as "stenography" - come to me and tell me what you want me to say/print, don't expect me to ferret it out myself. Edward Murrow or Walter Cronkite he was not.

God, I was just beginning to know him. I am not American and these are the first primaries I was following day by day. I thought he was so great on election night, a giant of political analysis. It's so sad. Wherever he is, we'll remember him.

Some Sunday's he made me laugh, many Sunday's he made me scream, but always, he MADE MY SUNDAY'S

I have to admit I got sick of hearing that he was the son of the garbage man (like Edwards being the son of the mill worker). But I have to say that when you compare that to the stable of upper class, Ivy Leaguers, who seem to populate most of the estabishment corporate news industry these days, I fear that he was literally one of a dying breed, i.e., someone in the MSM who could actually make a connection with the folks beyond the beltway instead of treating us like we are some kind of inferior alien beings.

Bullshit.

okay. don't want to be a wet blanket here during the faux-love fest (and sorry if others have said this, but there's far too many comments to read through all of them), but is anyone else disturbed (though not surprised) by the msm's theory that tim russert's passing is the only important news story of the day?

more important than what happened in iraq...
more important than the election...
more important than disquiet in pakistan...

gimme a break. the msm is so narcissistic as to believe that the loss of a journalist is somehow world news. tim russert was, as far as msm journalists go, not too bad. but can we not get too carried away? he was a corporate reporter, a guy who never took a stand on anything important, who never deviated from the set boundaries of the media.

again, it's a sad event. nearly as sad as the thousands of other unexpected deaths that occurred today. many of those deaths involved parents who didn't earn seven figures annually and who also left behind dependent families.

c'mon. this is ridiculous.

Tim was one of the last old guard journalists who had that indefinable integrity you could trust. The fact that he passed during the most historic and important presidential race in some time makes the news even sadder. We will miss him dearly.

Whenever Deadeye Dick needed to spread his Iraqi WMD fertilizer, he went on “Meet the Press”.

From Wikipedia:

former Cheney communications director Cathie Martin, testified that she “suggested we put the vice president on Meet the Press, which was a tactic we often used. It’s our best format”, allowing the administration to “control the message”.

Tim Russert, GE’s water carrying pony boy, was Tricky Dick II’s favorite huckleberry.

Tim Russert, died from an overdose of Karma.

You people are such SUCKERS!

Obviously our hearts go out to Maureen.

I was shocked when I heard the news, called my boyfriend at work to tell him the news. Even teared up a bit when Andrea Mitchell almost lost it telling about how he used to call her Mitch - the only other person besides her father to do that. Very sorry to hear this and my heart goes out to his family, the people at NBC and all his many many many friends.

BUT - the news people have a responsibility to report news and like imani said, there is a ton of other stuff going on (like the Taliban breaking 1000 of their fighters out of jail in Afganastan yesterday, Iraq rejecting the agreement with us...). Just because it is such a big tragedy in their lives (understandably) and a sad shocker for the rest of us - it doesn't warrent 24 hours of non-stop converage of people telling their fond memories of Big Tim.

I am trying to be charitable in my thoughts but unfortunately the thought that this is another example of hubris of the news people - it is all about them keeps intruding into my head.

I am not saying it shouldn't be covered and isn't a substantial news story especially in the political world but some balance is beginning to be in order

Given what all of his colleagues have had to say about his life and how committed he was to his family and son, who gives a shit if he was chasing a White House exclusive interview with Cheney. Bush and Cheney fooled, manipulated, and used a whole lot more people than Tim Russert over Iraq and WMD and practically everything else. So piss off. And make your own judgement rather than referencing some specious wikipedia entry. Gees.

The testimony of Russerts life comes from the visible outpouring of grief and love and sympathy from those who worked with him and knew him. He was a remarkable man. I'm sorry that I wasn't lucky enough to know him too, but I'll certainly hold on to the testimony of his life throughout the remainder of mine.

Fear no more the heat o' the sun

Fear no more the heat o' the sun,
Nor the furious winter's rages;
Thou thy worldly task hast done,
Home art gone, and ta'en thy wages;
Golden lads and girls all must,
As chimney-sweepers, come to dust.

Fear no more the frown o' the great;
Thou art past the tyrant's stroke:
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The sceptre, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust.

Fear no more the lightning-flash,
Nor the all-dreaded thunder-stone;
Fear not slander, censure rash;
Thou hast finished joy and moan;
All lovers young, all lovers must
Consign to thee, and come to dust.

No exorciser harm thee!
Nor no witchcraft charm thee!
Ghost unlaid forbear thee!
Nothing ill come near thee!
Quiet consummation have;
And renownéd be thy grave!

-- William Shakespeare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTJDamCW5vU&feature=related

Russert was a propagandist for General Electric and the bought out media as whole, but he seemed to be a swell gent who you could have a beer with. He did die way too soon.

Life is not promised, guys.

http://www.zmag.org

I'm not saddened by Mr. Russert's death. What does sadden me is this over the top carrying on as if a head of state had died. The man did propoganda, for crying out loud. Hundreds of thousands died in Iraq without so much as a note in passing but the man who enabled the war-mongers who had them killed goes out in a blaze of glory.

I am not impressed.

It is sudden crisis that brings out the deeper impulses in people.
The nature of those emergent deeper impulses says so much about the strengths or weaknesses of the individuals.

Some, in crisis, find themselves even risking their lives to express a core of humanity that they themselves didn't know was inside them. They act without their usual measured intellectual distancing, and simply find themselves expressing their 'better angels' whether that involves spending hours helping find a lost child, or rescuing a Katrina victim, or digging through the Twin Towers, or falling on a grenade to save buddies, or.....yes, responding to an unexpected death by allowing and honoring the finest memories of the deceased's life.

Some, in the event of crisis, lose whatever autonomy they seemed to have had under normal circumstances, and they dissolve into a disfunctional 'falling apart' mode. These are the folks who never matured beyond a dependency of childhood [except in appearance] and will make any crisis worse by needing help themselves rather than being able to offer timely help to those in more dire circumstances. Think of a mother who sees her child hit by a car, but stands there screaming instead of phoning or going to a neighbor for help.

Some, in the event of crisis, run away from being touched by that crisis, and reach inside for whatever coping mechanism works best to separate themselves from another's suffering. The more common coping mechanisms take the form of dismissive judgment about the sufferers [ 'New Orleans residents have only themselves to blame for not getting out in time'] while the worst of coping mechanisms takes the form of shutting off one's senses [like the recent folks who walked past the old man hit by a car and lying on the street] or of even 'kicking someone while they are down' [yeah, Russert died, but he was so____________fill in the blank with some faultiness]. This distancing mechanism is seen as 'inhumane' or even 'evil' ....and rightly so.

I am glad to see that most on this thread did express their better selves in response to the horrible news of Tim Russert's fatal heart attack.

.

I’m sorry folks, I can’t join in on the calvalcade of accolades to good ol’ Tim. Tim, you’re dead, and I’m sorry for those you leave behind, because grief is a no fun. But we all gotta go sometime. Like those adolescent girls gunned down on an empty Iowa back road. Or the Iraqis who died today and didn’t even got a mention—not a mention—in today’s media reports, of which you would have been an active part if fate had not called your number today,

My audio memory banks run from Edward R. Murrow to now, and Tim just doesn’t fit into the “towering” category. He doesn’t begin to compare to either Huntley or Brinkley, neither of whom were the #1 new anchors of the time. Tim may have been important perhaps. But Himmler was important. Longevity… ? Hitler had longevity, rather too much according to most people. Egyptian pharaohs, and Hosni Mubarak, had longevity. Longevity is no benchmark of glory. Someone said he had an unusual ability to work both sides of the aisle, meaning, I guess, fighting with both Dems and Repubs alternately in an entertaining way.

Definitely not towering compared to Cronkite, who will never, ever be over-towered in terms of impassionate reading of the news. But Tim didn’t merely read the news, he drove the news, as one person said today. Is that what made him different? When were newspeople given the right and duty to “drive the news”? And why is that a virtue? Where is the value of “driving the news” to be found in the pronouncements or writings of the fathers of the Constitution?

Sorry, but what I saw of Tim was that he was a second rate news man who rose to the position he did only because he was swimming in a picked cauldron of third rate news people, where “news” wasn’t as important as entertainment. It might not be possible for one to see Tim in any kind of historical perspective if one had not had the experience of news as something other than entertainment. But I have. In these times of peril where the nations future as a free democracy is definitely, immediately in question, I could not in good conscience hope that the next great news broadcaster could merely fill Tim‘s shoes. We need much more than that.

Cronkite lost faith in what he was being fed by the military and government during Vietnam and did not keep that a secret. Cronkite's era was of Kennedy, Vietnam, civil rights, and LBJs Great Society. The journalistic processes of Vietnam, and later Watergate, established painfuilly constructed models of how journalism could bring to public view issues the public needed to know in order to make decisions necessary to maintain democracy. Not all the individual events of those times were handled with equal ability by the new media. But in general the media did step up to the plate and try to hit the ball.

The military paid great attention to what happened in Vietnam and by Gulf 1 had a new policy in place which took great pains to encourage military talking points and disable independent reportage. Ever since Watergate, Cheney has been a leader in doing the same to increase executive power and disable effective journalistic oversight. Cheney apparently believes that Joe Stalin had just about the right mix of executive power and journalistic oversight. Russert's era was Cheney's. As the analogy goes, Tim should have stood on the shoulders of Cronkite (and others) and reached higher, to counter Cheney's grab for power. Tim didn't. And the batting average of the rest of the media team in the current era has been abysmal.

Other views and examples:
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.com/2008/06/13/at-the-risk-of-being-churlish/
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Time%20for%20change/31