There’s also a whole bunch of shallow, misinformed idiots out there that put one highly paid shill for corporate fascist interest ahead of our fellow citizens.

How ’bout some respect for the soldiers dying every day!! They aren’t rich. They suffer more than Timmeh’s family every did!!!!!

1. Several young people (around 20 years old) in the breakroom viewing the news remarked they didn’t even know who Tim was. Talk about being out of touch.

2. The manager of operations in my area first expressed surprise upon hearing about his death, and then joked, “that’s what being a Democrat got him.” Ass—-.

Anyway…

R.I.P. Tim. Whether or not anyone agreed with him or not, it cannot be denied that he had a great love for politics. I admire him greatly, and will miss him, for that.

And for the earlier comment questioning Tim being healthy yet was felled by a heart attack, I do believe there can be no warning signs of an impending attack, and a heart attack can kill anyone in any age group, “healthy” or not. In 1972 my grandfather passed a physical exam with no problems, was not overweight, yet died a week later from a heart attack.

My condolences to the Russert family.

Wow, you would think he’s a missing blue-eyed blonde pre-teen in Aruba with this kind of coverage…anyone hear ’bout that Iraq war thing goin’ on?? Or the Afganistan thing?

“Oh, he was so great”…etc.!!! Bullshit!!!!

He was a Corporate Fascist suckup!! He could have brought the truth out but he sucked a bunch of GE war mongering feet completely clean every Sunday morning!!

…and about 4099 souls to whom he has some ’splaining.

Please do tell me again what a great American Raygun was…

Why do we have to be nice to them when they treat progressives with such public distain?

Who created the “you’re either with us or against us” mentality?

Who coined the phrase “Love it or leave it”?

Who cornered and stymied progressives in the 50’s by accusing them of being communists?

Who, when they took over both houses of congress, in a show of “bipartisonship” told the Democrats it was time for them to sit down and shut up that the repubs were now in power?

Russert, I hope that if there is a god in heaven that he has mercy on you. You have some begging for forgiveness to do first.

I really don’t want to sound insensitive, but it never ceases to amaze me how much attention The Media will pay to one of their own who gets wounded or dies. There are citizens dying every day from lack of health care, from fighting an illegal war, but they get minimal coverage. Every single outlet has been literally gushing about how wonderful Russert was. I’m seriously NOT trying to diminish him, but am extremely disappointed in this ‘balanced’ coverage of a good newscaster who certainly didn’t live long enough to become a Cronkite.

I agree completely. Google News is tearfully hosting his ascension to sainthood. That’s the sorry state of the MSM’s objectivity. Politics aside, I’ve got heart concerns of my own, and Russert was just a little bit older. Time to get out for a walk.

He pretty much defines “parasite” in the SCUM sense: abstracting his fee for providing no measurable service except to the powerful.

He took the paycheck and kept his mouth shut. The easy road.

The media is going wa-a-ay overboard on their eulogizing Russert. I understand their interest, but the coverage reflects their self-importance/self-absorption and is extraordinarily inappropriate.
Today the count of dead young soldiers in Iraq hit 4099, with 15 dead in June.

The media creates their own reality. I’m curious about the U.S. soldiers who die in Iraq. Who are they? Where are they from? What’s THEIR story? What about their families? who are they? 4099 of them. Just once in while I’d like to see someone in the media talk about THEM. I don’t hold any hope of the media actually doing a piece on the Iraqi dead, THEY really don’t count.
Maybe the media doesn’t want to acknowledge who these dead Americans are they share responsibility for those deaths by “catapulting the propaganda”, and that includes Mr. Russert.
Like I said before, I guess those soldiers don’t count to the media because they’re not celebrities. What is a celebrity anyway?
Answer: someone made famous by the media.
To me it’s all a bunch of horses***, that’s what the media produces, that’s one of their prime products: sh**.

He was one of the toughest and most informed intervewers around. Countless times he would take things a guest may have said that contradicts something they said in the past and use it against them. …
______

Gee — too bad he didn’t do that when he was felching Dick Cheney, or any other Bush Misadministration criminal. When he had THEM on, he was Larry King’s wimpy kid brother.

Not even tossing softballs — catching them on his chin

only by his family, and that segment of the political culture which mistakes, as a matter of principle, and lauds a partisan hack and tongue-laving tool of the Regime masquerading as an ‘objective journalist.

He pretty much defines “parasite” in the SCUM sense: abstracting his fee for providing no measurable service except to the powerful.

When interviewing democrats. Republicans usually got to relay talking points uninterrupted, and unquestioned by “the giant of broadcast journalism.”

Yes, the “true nature”: erudite and tactful honesty; something sorely lacking in a conservative. While you claim Russert was informed and ‘tough,’ he was also cited by cheney’s staff as the best place to disseminate lightly-or-unchallenged bush administration talking points. Having the vice president’s lackeys label you as a patsy isn’t likely to endear you to the Pulitzer committee. One has only to do a cursory search here or Media Matters to produce a legion of Russert’s contortions and lop-sided guest roster.

…and remember as a great journalist. Not as a shill.

Only by those who take the word of the vested-interest-administration-serving media.

Edward R. Murrow was a great journalist.

Bill Moyers is a great journalist.

Seymour Hersh is a great journalist.

But Russert, along with Brokaw, Couric, Lauer, Gregory, Stephanopoulos, Matthews, etc. are personality pundits who’ve abridged their journalistic ethics to facilitate access. They “cooperate” to get their ledes and consequently erode their credibility. At least they get invited to some “great journalist” cocktail parties, eh?

For those people who are complaining about all the coverage Russert is getting you must not be paying attention to what they are saying about him. He was one of the toughest and most informed intervewers around. Countless times he would take things a guest may have said that contradicts something they said in the past and use it against them. Making them defend their point, or admit they have flip flopped. He felt it was his job was to find out where a person stood on a topic, and then take the opposite side.

He will be missed, and remember as a great journalist. Not as a shill.

However, the accolades for the “journalist” are misguided or false. He spearheaded the mutation of Lawrence Spivak’s justly lauded and revered Meet the Press into a FOXNews-like Gong-Show joke.

His suckfests with criminals like Cheney plumbed the depths of corporate-media corruption. He was one of the spotlighted phonies who killed off serious broadcast journalism and paved the way for the likes of Bill O’Reilly.

Nobody forced him to do this. He could have either grown a spine or quit in disgust.

He may have been a decent fellow in private life, and I have no reason at all to believe otherwise, but he was a disgrace to the Fourth Estate.

He was no more a real journalist than Matthews, Hume, or Williams. He COULD have been good — he could have been GREAT — but he was not. He CHOSE to stooge and he CHOSE not to care about it.

A great pity.