13 June 2008 - BREAKING NEWS: Tim Russert Dead at 58
This afternoon, I heard from my wife Kathleen, that Tim Russert, best known as host of "Meet The Press" since 1991, is dead of an apparent heart attack at 58. (An autopsy is underway and results pending. Some now suspect a clot broke loose like what happened to late NBC News reported David Bloom.)
Russert also served as Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief of NBC News.
Criticize the media all you want, they deserve it, but Tim Russert was one of the good guys. Once I learned of Tim Russert's background, having worked for Daniel Patrick Moynihan and Mario Cuomo, I watched Mr. Russert to see bias coming from him.
Guess what? I found it.
Tim Russert had a major bias. Not so much politically, but he would HAMMER hypocrites for being hypocrites. (I think that may have been part of the story told by four men known as Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.) It didn't matter to him if the person was liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican, if they did something or said something wrong, he called them on it. His bias was against hypocrisy. That is a bias that I can endorse.
Tim Russert was the DEFINITION of tough but fair. Period.
Sure, many of us joked about the white board during the 2000 Presidential Election. But, he brought some understanding of what was happening when even the experts were confused.
As host of Meet The Press, he took a show that was sort a panel taking on a newsmaker and he changed it. Not due to ego but more due to the level of talent he had when conducting an interview. He didn't need someone else and having others there took away from what he doing for us who were watching.
Tim Russert taught me to ask the questions that need to be asked and how to do so in a fair and non-badgering fashion. Tim Russert was an expert of confronting someone without being confrontational. If Mike Wallace knocks on your door, you look through the peep hole and wait for him to go away. If Tim Russert came to your door, you'd let him in. He'd warm you up, let you say your piece. But then he'd hold you accountable if your piece wasn't holding water. He'd make you hang yourself, but he made you realize that you had done it.
Like Jim McKay on Saturday, the timing is also sad. Father's Day Weekend. "Big Russ and Me" was a best seller that has been recommended to me by many friends and acquaintances. I have not yet read it. I need to.
Big Russ survives his son. I am sure his heart is aching now.
Worth noting also about Tim Russert is his depth as a man. A HUGE sports fan, his Buffalo Bills need to dedicate a season to him and WIN ONE!! But also had a great sense of humor. And, he even played himself in one of the best television series ever, "Homicide: Life on the Street" as the cousin to Megan Russert (played by Isabella Hofmann, a fellow graduate of East Troy High School).
He will be missed.
I may comment more on this over the weekend.
Please feel free to post your comments in the comments section.
