The Sunday Morning Void
June 13th, 2008 at 9:35 pm by BrianI’m not feeling articulate enough to put into words what the loss of Tim Russert means to me. He’s the only mainstream journalist I ever had any respect for. Even though he was a lifelong Democrat.
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own fact”
If ever a journalist lived those words.
When the horns, cornets, and timpani stopped blaring or bum-bum-bu-bumping you knew whoever had the guts to climb into the ring with him on Sunday morning had better attended an early morning service beforehand because no prayer could save you once the spotlight came on. Unless you were honest.
Which, needless to say, was not always the case.
The loss of Russert is a tolling bell for the credibility of network news. I cannot think of a single person who comes close.
Condolences to his family.
***UPDATE***: Never one to be outclassed, Chrissy Matthews claims on Olbermann’s vaudeville stage that he never understood why Russert supported Iraq. You know, because he doesn’t. Hearkening back to a conversation where he kept grilling him – how can you believe and support this???
“The nuclear thing.”, Matthews claims he said.
Then, the answer rhetorically hits Chrissy with all the impact that a clenched fist should have a long time ago, Republicans exploited the patriot in Tim Russert by playing up the nuclear angle in order sell the Iraq War to the American people and when he bought it, the American people bought it.
Example A of why Matthews couldn’t carry Russert’s jock with a wheelbarrow and why he should never even be considered in succeeding him.
Trying to capitalize on Russert’s death to push his agenda. You’re a sick bastard Chrissy.
UPDATE 2: Stop The ACLU has got the video up. About 1:30 in.
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Judging by some of the incoming links, some of you are of the morally degenerate variety who can’t tell the difference between a well-respected journalist who spent decades holding those in power responsible for their actions versus a foul-mouthed namecaller who was exalted for engaging in libtarded hate speech.
Um, not quite the same thing.
Do the right thing, I say. Don’t piss on Russert’s grave.
No one ever wants a rematch for the battles they won, do they?
June 13th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
I always liked Russert as well, even though I knew he was a lifelonglefty. He just seemed like the kind of guy who loved what he was doing all the time and it was infectious.
Speaking of infections, we’ll offer an alternative to all the alternative-types who are popping in uninvited. Mental midgets all.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:06 am
I’m saddened by Russerts death, hell, he didn’t look anywhere NEAR 58 (which is pretty damn young now that I’m 50) and even though he was on the opposite side of the tracks politically I thought he was reasonably fair & diplomatic, unlike Chrissy, Keithy, etal.
Another unfortunate by-product of his death is that now there will virtually no-one to put a foot on the neck of Matthews & his fellow NBC ilk. Look for them to get bolder now.
RIP Lil’ Russ.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Well said, Brian. To watch Russert was to see a journalist neck deep in politics who would never reveal his own.
In other words, a rare quality journalist.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I can’t tell you how many times I watched and he would have somebody on the ropes and I’d be yelling at the tv “Now ask him about _________ !” and it was the next question out of his mouth.
Nobody has a follow-up question anymore. Mainly because it goes against what they’re trying to accomplish with their interviews – which is just to recite their rehearsed talking points and get the message out. You know people like Stephopottamus are in the bag for the Clintons. You know Katie Couric is Clinton country. You know all of MSNBC is smoking crack with Obama in the limo and then burning incense in their shrines to him at home.
I sat here overnight trying to imagine who could even attempt to fill the void and came up blank. When Firing Line with Bill Buckley went off the air it signaled the end of reasoned debate. Losing Russert is the end of the tough but fair interview.
It’s just cream puffs and built-in slant from here on out.
If I was one of the leads bloviators at NBC, right about now I’d be asking “why will no one mourn me this way?” and start trying to correct it.
Screaming and yelling might make you a household name but being a fair and impartial journalist can make you immortal.
June 14th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
Russert was one of the last of the credible MSM journalists. MSNBC’s conducting a non-stop 24 hour a day eulogy for him. Call me a cynic but I can’t help but feel this is not so much to honor a noted journalist but to pump MSNBC’s abysmal ratings at a dead man’s expense.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
After finally getting a chance to see Chrissy Matthews take the opportunity to take a dump on Russert, I find myself asking the question “why couldn’t it have been Matthews…?”
June 16th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Poor Keithy
June 16th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
By the way, these DUmmies make me sick! They wouldn’t recognize a “commrade” if they were standing right next to them.
And, in usual liberal fashion, they must stomp the ground of the dead, because, you know, they don’t know any other way.
SICK I tell ya!
June 16th, 2008 at 7:31 pm
I read a few of the comments. My gosh, it is a veritable library of psychological disorders