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Farewell, Tim

June 13, 2008 · 6 Comments

I always like Tim Russert, even when i didn’t agree with him.  He was dedicated to both his family and his work, which he did as conscientiously as anyone.  He’ll be missed.

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6 responses so far ↓

  • Tim Russert Is Dead : Post Politics: Political News and Views in Tennessee // June 13, 2008 at 4:11 pm

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  • heartbreaktown // June 13, 2008 at 9:31 pm

    Sad and shocking. Sunday morning just won’t be the same.

  • democommie // June 13, 2008 at 11:38 pm

    Mack:

    I’ll withhold my true nastiness, I did not like the man, ever. He was a shill for Bushco for far too long.

  • nm // June 14, 2008 at 7:38 am

    Nah, he wasn’t a shill; he was a lot more complicated than that. His problem (and, if he had been able to recognize it, I believe that he would have agreed that it was a problem, because he started out as a good straight journalist) was that he had come to identify so strongly with the culture he was supposed to be reporting on (the political establishment in DC with all its ramifications) that he could see it only from the inside. He could no longer step outside it and question its basic premises and principles; he could no longer recognize the bullshit. So, no matter how many times he played gotcha with politicians and spin doctors (and he did that, very effectively), it was rarely about anything really important. And he was losing touch with the fact that there might be people who weren’t just like him but who still were good folks.

    Nevertheless, by every single account I have ever heard he was a remarkable family man, a loving friend, and a generous mentor. And way too young to die.

  • democommie // June 14, 2008 at 12:41 pm

    nm:

    I’m not glad he’s dead. I would’ve been perfectly happy if he had just gone off the air.

    He facilitated people like Dick Cheney; letting them come on and spew nonsense and lies without really going after them.

    I actually heard someone today, Bob Schieffer from NBC (?) say that he never “ambushed” or cheap shotted his guests. Well, that’s all well and good, if they’re telling the truth. We know for a fact that Cheney is to telling the truth what George W. Bush is to fiscal prudence.

    It’s great that he was a good father, I just wish he had been a good journalist/interviewer.

  • nm // June 14, 2008 at 3:41 pm

    Sure. But there’s a huge difference between not being a good journalist and becoming a shill. And though he was guilty of the one he wasn’t guilty of the other.

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