RIP Tim Russert

• Posted: June 13, 2008
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• Author: Christina
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• Filed under: television, writing
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• Tags: death, obituary, politics, sad news, tim russert

Tim Russert was a great journalist, broadcaster and political commentator. His work and legacy will live on and he will be missed.

The news of Tim Russert's death hit me like a ton of bricks. I loaded up a new browser window and saw his face at the top of Variety.com and I thought I saw the word "dies" as the page was exiting to whatever destination I clicked. I had to click back, only to see it was true.

Twitter, unsurprisingly was all over the news. It is an interesting phenomenon, watching people react to shocking news simultaneously. I also think the somber, shocked and dismayed reactions speak to Russert's character as a journalist and broadcaster to people all over the world and all over the political spectrum.

Tim Russert was a great journalist, broadcast and political commentator. His work and legacy will live on and he will be missed.

I try not to write much about politics on this blog (it isn't really the venue), but I am deeply, deeply interested in world affairs and I'm kind of sucked into the entire American political system (even though I criticize it frequently). For me, Tim Russert, Meet the Press and Sunday mornings have been a staple of my weekly routine for probably 15 years. I was nine or ten when I first started to really get interested in politics, and Meet the Press was always something I either watched (or later listened to via podcast).

Russert was one of the last journalists from the Murrow/Cronkite school of journalism; he didn't masquerade opinion as news and he didn't let his personal politics obscure his ability to interview or go after the truth in a story. He was a gentleman, a family man and a comforting voice. He was also hella smart as a political analyst. He was able to identify the key states needed for electoral victory in 2000 and 2004, and I'm sure his 2008 predictions will be spot-on as well.

As we approach a truly historic election, it is sobering that his voice will not continue to narrate the coverage and events.

He will truly, truly be missed.

My favorite Russert moment was probably his guest spot on "Homicide: Life on the Street", which to me is one of the greatest television programs of all time and second-only to "The Wire" as the greatest drama of the last 25 years.

So here is a picture of Russert from that episode ("The Old and the Dead"):

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