TIM RUSSERT

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Author	Comment
Wich2		#21	[-]
(06/15/08 9:30 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	It really IS a terrific body blow to The Process, Frozen. I mean to start no flame war, but only speak factually: guys who THINK they are Journalists, but who fit more the Editorialist/Entertainer role - from Hannity on one side, to Olbermann on the other - are not fit to untie the bootlaces of a man like Russert. A real Pro in the tradition of Murrow's Boys, he was. -Craig W.
taraco		#22	[-]
(06/16/08 1:56 AM) Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I remember Tim Russert from way back in the 1980s when he was with Gov. Mario Cuomo in New York, and I was a fledgling political reporter in Westchester. He was the same then as he was on the air later -- gregarious, full of life and laughter and almost falling forward into whatever the next wave of politics would bring. Years later in 1993, I was at USA TODAY and was invited onto one of those morning reporter roundtables on C*SPAN. It was pretty daunting company -- Brian Lamb, me, Gwen Ifill (who was just leaving The New York Times for PBS) ... and Tim Russert. It was a viewer call-in format and I guess I was doing OK, talking about the first months of the Clinton administration and such. But then someone phoned in to talk about gun control. This was a few months after the Long Island Railroad shootings, and I recall blurting out that, ''well, there's certain to be new pressure on Congress when some guy can walk onto the Long Island Railroad and kill 7 people.'' Russert interrupted: "Let's get our facts right,'' he said. "The shooter killed six people and injured another 19.'' He sounded just like he did now -- clear, direct and rock solid. I don't remember wincing, just marveling how with so many facts flying around in every newsperson's head he had such instant command of the details, even months after the fact. I thanked him later for correcting me. "No problem,'' he said. "Nice show.'' The accolades and true emotions that have filled the airwaves all weekend are a bit overwhelming -- MSNBC became the Russert Channel this weekend -- and the cynics are out as the tributes don't stop. But he really was remarkable. In an era of talking, and then shouting, heads, Tim Russert was fact-based and centered on only getting to the truth, as elusive as that can be. That he was a great guy -- God I wish they'd show him interviewing Yogi Berra and the other All-Stars again! -- only made him more approachable and believable. And I'll always remember being corrected on-air by Tim. Makes me smile even now. david Last Edited By: taraco 06/16/08 2:39 AM. Edited 3 times.
taraco		#23	[-]
(06/16/08 2:06 AM) Burgomaster Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	By the way, if you want to read some stuff about Russert you haven't heard all weekend, USA TODAY tomorrow is running a great remembrance by Michael Gartner, the former president of NBC News who convinced him to take the job on Meet the Press. Really a terrific read: How Russert got Meet the Press job
captainmarvel1957		#24	[-]
(06/16/08 5:03 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	This weekend the media has been saturated with stories about the passing of Tim Russert and who he was. His legacy is not that he took an old commodity and made it new with his journalistic style, it is not that he worked hard and was always over prepared. This is what I heard and what I've taken away from those who spoke about him. This is his legacy. He dearly loved his father, he dearly loved his son. He made sure they both knew it and knew he was always in their corner whether the news was good or bad. He loved, as David who knew him noted, to laugh. He was a fellow well met. I am sure he must have loved his wife as much as he did his father and son, though that point wasn't mentioned as much in interviews this weekend. So, in the end, Tim Russert loved completely and, it seems, as a result was loved completely by just about everyone who met him. That's the legacy that trumps his strong work ethic. That is the talent that he had that will surely survive as his survivors and friends move on with their lives without him. The pieces of him that they take forward with them will surely make the world and the lives of those they touch better. And, I think, it is a goal that we would all be well served to strive for. He was a teacher. He knew what was important in life, and we would all be well served to be his students and learn from both his public and private example. I would have liked to have known him. Last Edited By: captainmarvel1957 06/16/08 5:06 AM. Edited 1 times.
Wich2		#25	[-]
(06/16/08 8:34 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Nice thoughts, Cap; thanks for the first-hand, David. Great story that one of the Talking Heads mentioned this weekend, re: Russert's mastery of facts- He was on the phone with someone doing prep once, and they asked about the size of his Research Staff. "Hell," he chuckled, "I'M my research staff!" Damnation, what a loss. -Craig W.
jakeoy		#26	[-]
(06/16/08 7:05 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Sundays will never be the same. All my Love to his family.
thebrainfollower		#27	[-]
(06/16/08 8:11 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I've been watching Meet the Press for all the time I have been interested in politics. I can't say enough how much my Sunday mornings will be filled with emptiness just a bit from now on.
Terry Pace		#28	[-]
(06/16/08 8:21 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	taraco wrote: And I'll always remember being corrected on-air by Tim. Makes me smile even now. As an old-school newspaper and broadcasting journalist (or Recovering Journalist, I suppose I should say), I never thought I'd admit this, but I truly envy that classy (and perfectly timed) correction. Just hearing that story makes me smile. If I were David, I'd wear that correction like a proud badge of honor ... I always found it so refreshing to see Tim Russert with a big, friendly smile on his face every time he was dishing out the most highly civilized tough love to some unsuspecting guest. The assessment that he was always beautifully "overprepared" says so much about what differentiated him from the rest of the TV news crowd. Like Murrow, Brinkley, Cronkite, Doug Edwards, Osgood and precious few others, Tim Russert represented journalism at its absolute best. Terry Pace pillaroffire@bellsouth.net "They're going to have to think up a lot of new adjectives when I come back!" -- Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) in King Kong (1933)
Gord Shriver		#29	[-]
(06/16/08 10:58 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Terry, thanks for saying what you did. As a former anchorman and reporter myself, I think people need reminding every now and again that there is class and quality in the broadcast news business. It's easy to forget when you have local news nationwide of various quality, syndicated magazine shows that look like newscasts, and such a nonstop glut of information that it's easy to lump it all together. And Tim Russert was class and quality not only in what he did, but how he lived his life.
David Schecter		#30	[-]
(06/17/08 3:09 AM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	"I would have liked to have known him." Amen to that. There are not many people in the world I liked and respected for as many reasons as I liked and respected Mr. Russert. If he had any skeletons in his closet, I don't want to hear about them. Politics and honest journalism just took a major hit that will take a long time to recover from. Luckily, Mr. Russert seemed to care a lot about teaching others about many different things, so his influence will clearly be felt for many, many years to come. I know many who were very touched by his books on fatherhood, another positive influence he made in this world before his sad and premature departure.
Jimchig		#31	[-]
(06/20/08 4:16 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	I'm just now able to write something after this tragic event and watching his 'service' on Wednesday. Which was beautiful, by the way. I would wish that we were all so well thought of. I didn't know the man. I knew of him when he was working for Cuomo. Some of my coworkers had crossed paths with him then. A few years ago I was in Bethesda for training and I stopped in a little restaurant for lunch. There perched at the bar eating his lunch was Russert. I was a little star struck and for whatever reason wanted to say hello, maybe shake his hand. But I'm not the type of person who does such things and shied away, happy to have just shared a lunch place with the man. He seems to have had that effect on everyone who has ever known him. His passing has saddened me more than rational thought can explain. I wish now that I had shaken his hand.
Wich2		#32	[-]
(06/20/08 10:52 PM) Reply Quote More My Recent Posts Message Me Connection Blocking Invite	Dear Jim- ALWAYS gratify that impulse - for exactly the reason of the regret you mention for not doing it - if you're able to do it without annoying the person. Best, -Craig W.

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TIM RUSSERT

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