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Tim Russert Dies At 58
SputnikPanic writes "Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and moderator of the popular Sunday talk program Meet the Press, has died of an apparent heart attack. He was 58. Russert was known as an even-handed journalist who did not shy away from asking direct and often difficult questions of politicians regardless of their political persuasion. Earlier this year, Russert had been named by Time Magazine as one of the '100 most influential people in the world.'"
I always looked forward to how Russert handled interviews and debates. Left or right, loony or sane, one always got a fair hand from him. He'd get on anyone who was hiding something, but I don't know of many who left his presence angry.
He was a rarity in the world of political journalism.
You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
Sundays will never be the same again. We lost one of our best journalists around. Goodbye Tim.
America has just lost one of the last great newsmen out there. I know my sunday mornings wont be quite the same.
The irony is, on his show recently someone referred to his dad, "Big Russ", as being deceased. Tim had to correct him.
Unitarian Church: Freethinkers Congregate!
rip
are you seriously turning this into an os debate
Well he'll be missed by those who don't make dumbass analogies.
Virtually no one in news asks candidates and newsmakers the tough questions anymore. You could always count on Tim to throw hardballs every time. He also was very good at ignoring spin when he didn't get a straight answer. Great interviewer and moderator. Condolences to his family and friends, he certainly was taken before his time.
good man, great reporter.
I agree. Hey you kids, get off my lawn!
Does this seem strange to anyone? I'm not sure any politician would have a real motivation to have him taken out, but something doesn't smell right here. Of course that could just me my foil hat cutting off the circulation again...
~Eien no Inori wo Sasagete~ Searching for my Hatsumi...
Tim Russert was one of the few journalists today who are worthy of that name. Hearkening back to the proud traditions of Walter Kronkite and Edward R Murrough, who asked tough questions of big players who could normally intimidate or frighten their way out of being asked the questions.
Instead, we're left with Barbara Walters asking what sort of tree people would be, and persisting.
Another blow to quality journalism in America.
Why can't you just fucking google him
"It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities." -- Prof. Dumbledore
cheers
Well, back to rejecting software patent applications.
Meet The Press was my Sunday morning staple, and it was because of Tim Russert. NBC will be hard pressed to find someone to fill his shoes.
I'll never forget Russert on the NBC coverage of the 2000 presidential election. Early in the evening, Russert wrote on his little whiteboard "Florida, Florida, Florida!" before anyone had any idea how close it was going to be. I stayed up with Russert and Brokaw that night until the next dawn, hoping to find out who the next president would be. Of course there were no conclusions, but Russert's exploration of the electoral college system and the implications of the vote returns were insightful and kept me watching.
Russert wasn't afraid of asking tough questions to powerful people. When they would try to weasel their way out of a direct answer, he would ask again, and again if necessary. If only all journalists would have that kind of conviction.
He will be missed. My condolences to his family.
-molo
Using your sig line to advertise for friends is lame.
Sad news indeed.
Here is his interview on Readers Digest a while back.
http://www.rd.com/poll-archive-parent/games-and-humor/celebrities-and-pop-culture/politicians/tim-russert/article26850.html
My fav. part is
After he was named moderator of Meet the Press in 1991, Russert called Larry Spivak, one of the show's original panelists, for advice. "Learn as much as you can about your guest, and his or her position on the issues," Spivak said. "Then take the other side. If you do that, you will have a fair and balanced program."
I think he followed that mantra throughout.
My wife and I had only one TV program in common...alas..our sundays won't be same.
RIP Mr. Russert.
but... in your own weaselly way, you have.
Whether or not he did or didn't do anything, how is it that you can't see your way to honoring him as a human being?
You are trying to smear possibly the only relatively unbiased guy on NBC with a Huffington Post article, on the day he dies. You sir, are a worse man than I. And you get modded informative, nice.
I'm not not licking toads.
The world of political news, especially with this historic national election coming up, will be poorer for his passing. I wish he could have lived to see it and report on it.
+++ATH0
You must be new here...
There's more than one kind of nerd, and more than one thing that matters.
(rot13) rpbzbab@tznvy.pbz
Now correct me if I'm wrong, (I definitely could be) but if somebody dies of a heart attack wouldn't a physician be able to immediately tell that the cause of death was indeed a heart attack?
He called Bill Clinton the Democratic nominee early for the '92 election...called Florida the "must win" state in 2000, and you could always count on him saying something that sounded like it was from left feild but would come true in a few months.
A few days ago, after Obama secured the nomination, I saw him smile a little while talking about him on Nightly News. Smiling not for the candidate, but I think he was really, really, really excited that he would might see a black man get elected president of his great country in HIS lifetime. He looked like a little kid...sad he did not live to see what will be.
Didn't know him personally, but great journalist. A lot will miss him.
My father died of a massive heart attack at the exact same age.
I've discovered something: claiming in a post that the post will be downmodded due to groupthink is a surefire way to keep it from being downmodded. It seems you've discovered this as well.
(rot13) rpbzbab@tznvy.pbz
And tough questions like: "There's been a lot of discussion about the Democrats and the issue of faith and values. I want to ask you a simple question. Senator Obama, what is your favorite Bible verse?" What a hard-hitting issues question.
Yes, a great loss to the hard-hitting news media of our time.
That is all.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
While I doubt any of his family or friends is going to see this, for what it's worth, my condolences go to you.
Tim Russert was both an amazing man and an incredible journalist- a tremendous asset to the fourth estate, our nation, and the world. His unique blend of hard-hitting questions and high standard of impartiality have made our politics richer, our people better informed, and our politicians that much more honest.
Without any doubt, Mr.Russert's passing is a terrible blow to the once-noble profession of journalism. He will be sorely missed both by those who knew him well and by those of us who knew only the good he did in the public eye. His death, early as it was, should be taken by all of us as a reminder of our transience, and of the need to preserve the work of our lives for the generations that come after us. Tim Russert's great work, the great effort of his life, was to restore to journalism the spirits of integrity, honesty, and candor that once characterized the mighty fourth estate. It would be a great shame to his memory if those spirits were to die with him; if, in the absence of the man himself, we allow his dreams to wither.
For everyone reading this, I hope you can find a way to honor a man who worked so hard to make this world a better place in which to live- to build upon his life's work, and to bring even one more iota of honesty to the political process. Register a voter, write a letter to your representative or the editor of your newspaper, join a campaign- and always ask the hard questions. I don't think he would've liked anything better.
RIP, Tim. If you see God, I hope you get an exclusive.
I respected Tim Russert a great deal. He was one of the few out there who still seemed like he wanted to do hard news and prevent bias as much as he could.
You do realize this is a US site, with predominately US issues in mind don't you?
Or...you must be new here?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I find it interesting how all of the trolls and flamers in this thread seem to be averaging a staggering number of typos and grammatical errors in every sentence they type. I know that correlation != causation, but it's still telling.
That has got to be one of the dumbest articles I have read all year. It is just nitpicking. Russert didn't lie in that regard.
Of course, you can also just fucking google Zico, or Evert Taube, or Pajarito Buitrago, but it still wouldn't be "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters".
Your post itself is offtopic more then the story is. People don't usually die at 58. It is news because it is unusual and because most people on here DO care about politics because politics is just humans interacting with each other. Maybe you don't get out of the basement much and your only tan is from your monitor but in real life humans interact all the time and that interaction is what makes up politics and makes it interesting. Plus if you would ever stick your nose in a political thread you would see thousands of comments in there proving that the Slashdot userbase thinks it's important and nothing is more important than that.
Of course you are. But hey, I am impressed you didn't go for the Hitler analogy.
You're just a mean spirited bastard. I hope when it's your turn, you're remember well anyway.
Who cares if it is not interesting to you or to people outside the US? The set of people who are not you and live inside the US is plenty to make it worthwhile.
Also, if this were "offtopic" for slashdot, why is there an entire Section about it?
Politics
This section is for news relevant to United States government politics. It was created primarily to cover the 2004 US Presidential Election, but today exists for occasional stories that fit the bill.
Hows this for a geek tie in, I built my mythTV box specifically so I wouldn't miss Meet the Press. Very sad news.
If you consider the commentary on political threads here to be useful, you may be the one who needs to get out a bit more here. I like The Economist myself. Check out the comments on the articles at their site if you want to see a whole different class of politically informed Internet writer than this site attracts.
But I sure wouldn't ask there about, say, what to do wite a gigantic pile of leftover hard drives--a thread that's collected twice as many comments here as this one has in about the same amount of active time, since you brought up comment count as a metric of worthiness. That's the sort of thing I like and expect to read here, if I want politics I go to a real politics site.
I remember reading about a young woman (25) who died after getting off a flight to Australia fron a DVT blood clot. She apparently didnt leave her seat for the whole 13 hour flight.
Since I fly a lot, I make sure that on flights longer than an hour or two, I get up and walk the length of the airplane, just to keep the circulation going.
Russert, being overweight, would be prime for a DVT Heart Attack. One little clot, it breaks loose, blocks a blood vessel in the heart, and boom, you die.
I would not be surprised that this happened to Russert. Shame, he was as fair as a liberal gets. I'm not trolling, either. I liked him.
It makes me sad to see people memorializing Russert as a giant of journalism. At best he was a non-abrasive talker tossing softballs. The standard for journalism only seems to get lower and lower.
It's too bad he has died but it's only bad for journalism because so many of his competitors are loudmouth idiots. A calm demeanor has been enough to make him look like Walter Cronkite but for those of us with longer memories Russert is not notable.
Someone is likely to try to take over the balanced format that he started. The name Tim will always remind me of the ABC episodes of Jim Henson's Dinosaur Sitcom. "Gonna need another Timmy!"
Its news in which nerds might be interested, and it matters. It isn't "Nerd News, Stuff that matters". Or are nerds supposed to be completely oblivious, apathetic, and uninterested in the real world? Seems a pathetic existence.
If you don't care, don't open the article. Easy enough for you?
That said, I'm a nerd, and I care, and I find that this matters, since Russert was one of the last true journalists out there, who wasn't a pretty talking-head pundit. Our supply of actual newsmen is dwindling rapidly, and soon we will be stuck with hordes of O'Reilly/Olbermann* clones. Commentators disguised as newsmen.
* I personally like Olbermann, but calling him a newsman is rather inaccurate, he's a pundit, insightful, but still a pundit.
A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
It is only Karma that came back to him.
For:
Selling out and becoming a pundit.
Making the news instead of reporting it.
His handling of reporting on the Iraq War and selling the war to the American people. He sold out the American people on the truth about the war. He assisted the Bush Administration on its propaganda for the war.
He helped still the nomination from Clinton for Obama, because it was a more sensational headline.
All of your contrarian posts on slashdot indicate that you are begging for attention.
You need to invest in psychotherapy; at the very least we will ask you to stop posting your cries for help, thinly veiled as legitimate opinion, here on slashdot.
And I'd recommend reading Scott McClellan's book to see how the press was manipulated. And is still being manipulated.
McClellan's book also has about the only decent quote from Russert about Gulf War II.
Lou Dobbs asks harder questions about immigration almost every single week than Russert ever did about the war.
Jon Stewart is the best journalist we have and he's limited by whatever he can turn into a joke.
Russert had earlier been diagnosed with asymptomatic coronary artery disease, but it was well-controlled with medication and exercise, and he had performed well on a stress test in late April, Newman said. An autopsy revealed that he also had an enlarged heart, Newman said.
This is what all that Omega3 fish oil is supposed to prevent? Time to go kill a salmon!
I'm sorry. Severe brain-fart there. I have confused Russert with someone else.
"Never mind."
-Emily Litella
Get your facts straight.
... never heard of him. If he is worthy of mourning then I wish all those affected all my condolences.
No, your children are not the special ones. Nor are your pets.
Didn't Stephen Colbert recently make fun of a Hillary Clinton aid for making threats at Tim Russert's dad, saying that they'll put him in heaven if Russert doesn't play nice with them? (Damn. It was just a week or two ago...)
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
No..I don't usually pay that stuff much attention, but, when one of the most important political newsmen of recent times...that is as unbiased as they come dies....especially in such an important junction in US politics...it is something that is, or should be to US citizens.
Too many people in the US aren't paying attention...and this was as good of a guy to help that problem as possible. He couldn't make you watch or care...but, he was good at putting it out there.
At this point in time....this was an important death.
I cannot at this point think of much of anyone out there to replace him......and we need many more like him. Especially these days....we are going to miss having someone that does ask the tough questions of our leaders....and not only play softball with one side or the other.
We need answers...and there's not many out there that can be trusted to do that.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
that Tim Russert is gone?
Oh, that's right. Every other mainstream reporter not employed by Fox.
Not to mention Slashdot itself.
Now let the ritual downmodding begin.
RIP.
Yup, typical. "-1 Troll".
Even though you cited every claim.
Even Hillary Rodham Clinton said she got the fairest coverage on Fox News!! People on the left politically tend to believe what they want and are comfortable/reassured/vindicated by, and facts be damned. Any contentions to their views threatens their little bubble of self-created, self-vindicating reality and is viciously attacked with tactics justified by a "the ends justify the means" mindset.
This is not to say there aren't intellectually honest people with liberal/left views. Most of those people I like and respect, and can have very enjoyable and interesting debates with. The same goes for people with right-leaning, conservative views. There are people on the right that suffer some of the same pitfalls and temptations to twist reality to their mindset as people with left-leaning, liberal views. I have little patience with either.
Russert was at the top of his game and worked very hard for a long time to get where he was, and that deserves respect. However, to lament his passing as a loss of a fair and balanced journalist is simply delusional and self-vindicating feel-good mental stroking by people with leftist views at the expense of a dead man.
Oops, in the time I took to type this, someone actually modded the parent up to "-0 Insightful". There's at least one mod that doesn't equate "I disagree politically" with "Troll".
Cheers!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Am I the only one who thought Russert was the spitting image of Jimmy James from Newsradio?
There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
... Who? I never watch TV and I've never seen him mentioned on /. that I remember. He effectively doesn't exist to me.
"Most people, I think, don't even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"
Even if you are outside of the United States of America, what happens in the United States of America can and will effect you.
Tim Russert will be surely missed. He was a leader.
He set The Standard when it came to investigative political journalism.
He was prepared for every interview with whomever he met.
He only sought Truth.
Those of you that are mourning tonight, must look ahead.
Tim would want that of you. Embrace your role now.
Be prepared and dig. Dig as hard as PJ at Groklaw digs for the truth.
Rest in Peace, Tim Russert, the Americans will expose Truth.
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
Don't feel badly about the Flamebait mod. I'm looking that the article, as it sits, with 97 comments. Apparently the guy (whoever he was--typical Slashdotters seem to be far more television-oriented than I am) was popular--to the point that everyone with something good (even regarding random maudlin sentimentality as good) to say about the man gets modded up, and anyone else gets modded down. This article, so far, is the single best piece of evidence I've seen yet for how completely broken the moderation system is.
From:
http://slashdot.org/moderation.shtml
"Concentrate more on promoting than on demoting. The real goal here is to find the juicy good stuff and let others read it. Do not promote personal agendas. Do not let your opinions factor in. Try to be impartial about this. Simply disagreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it down. Likewise, agreeing with a comment is not a valid reason to mark it up. The goal here is to share ideas. To sift through the haystack and find needles. And to keep the children who like to spam Slashdot in check."
A post (modded Insightful) down the thread:
"I'd have to say he was actually a great man and a great reporter...from what I know of the man he was a good father and an excellent role model.
R.I.P. Tim, you will be sorely missed, not only on election nights, but on Sunday mornings. And though I'm not a Buffalo Bills fan...in your honor I say...Go Bills..."
Where's the insight in that? Three sentences, all personal opinion, displaying nothing but sentimentality, and one was about expressing support for some random football team in Teh Great Man's 'honor'!
This entire article is *stuffed* with that sort of thing. Slashdot lurches toward mediocrity again. The up side is that now I won't feel guilty when I read without turning off adblock.
What you do with a computer does not constitute the whole of computing.
It seems to exemplify what is wrong with modern journalism/punditry. They're acting as if Russert wasn't just the guy telling the story, he was a part of the story.
This was worthy of a breaking news bit, and some coverage on the 6pm news, along with a memorial 2 hour special a week later. But they've been going on non stop since like 4 pm this afternoon.
I doubt Walter Cronkhite will ever get this kind of coverage when he dies, and he was 10 times the reporter all of these people are I see on the tubes today.
I am originally from Buffalo and I always had a great sense of pride to have that common bond with Tim Russert, a man who I watched intently on Sunday mornings. Though beyond that, his CNBC interview show was always fascinating as well as his regular commentary on MSNBC, especially on 'Morning Joe'.
Tim Russert was one in a billion. We'll never see the likes of him in our life time. It's a truly sad day for America, Tim's extended family.
Kathy Nooan said today: "Tim was a patriot, he had a love of country that just radiated..." Perhaps that should be inscribed on his tombstone.
As someone in my early twenties, Meet The Press is by far the best political show I have ever watched. I distinctly remember the first time I happened to catch it while channel surfing on MSNBC. Tim Russert would take 'gotcha' quotes from many years ago and read them directly to a politician's face, forcing them to respond and justify their new positions. He was always fair and neutral, able to play devil's advocate to draw out the facts that the American people needed to hear. Even after watching only one episode, you could tell it was leaps and bounds above the political talk shows on the rest of 24 hour cable news. I hope NBC can find someone appropriate to succeed his position. Condolences to his family, especially his son.
Tim,
Wherever you are, I want to say thanks for helping me relate to the world of politics.
I didn't watch all the time, but I must admit that my perverse interest in watching politics on Sunday mornings could only have been shepherded by trust in a man that radiated genuineness.
You will be missed, friend.
Russert was probably the best news interviewer on US TV. Unfortunately in all the interviews I saw him conduct he didn't push the interviewee as well as an average UK one, for candidates from any party. His great virtue, I think, was his evenhandedness, but that came at the expense of pushing for the truth. A sad event, even so.
Tim Russert was always interesting to watch on TV.
He came the closest to asking the follow-up questions that everyone wanted to throw back at the politicians.
This story should have had more prominence on the Slashdot front page.
There are only three "famous" people whose deaths made me sad to the point of weeping. The first was Jim Henson, the second was Johnny Carson. Tim Russert is the third. He was truly irreplaceable, and no matter what you think of his politics, his love of life and family were to be admired and emulated. Tim, you will be missed.
"Was it a millionaire who said 'Imagine No Posessions?'" -- Elvis Costello
"-1 Troll"
/. feelings!
/. feelings.
:D
Oh noes! You've hurt my
Oh...wait. I don't have
You can mod me Troll all you want, but you *know* my post was in no way a Troll or Offtopic, nor even Flamebait. Again, modding a political viewpoint you disagree with "Troll" only demonstrates your inability to tolerate any opinion that challenges your views, thus validating one of the major points of my post.
In other words...
I win.
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
Slashdot is an American website. It is United States centric, and will remain so. If you don't like it, you are welcome to leave, install Slashcode on a server in Portugal or wherever the fuck you're from, and have a Portugal-centric site.
Failing these, you are also quite free to fuck off.
+++ATH0
He had good days and bad. Some interviews were harder some softer. One interview that still pisses me off was the interview with Dick Cheney and he's helping to hold up drawings of elaborate underground bunkers. It appeared, at least to me, he was swallowing it hook line and sinker. He gave Cheney a voice that I passionately disagreed with. I suppose that comes with balanced reporting. By definition I should have trouble with 50% of his interviews.
The 2008 election of Obama will be bitter sweet without him.
-[d]-
Hey, um, I wrote a hotfix for you. I've taken all the slashdot 'politics' stories and separated them off into their own little section, just for you. Now you don't have to read stories from that section so you can stop wasting your (and the rest of our) time by NOT READING STORIES IN THE POLITICS SECTION.
Of course, if that's not enough for you, I can see what can be done to make sure EVERY story on slashdot meets your high standards. Using 'The Economist' as a model should make that rather easy... Lesee, we need a rose-colored reality filter, we need a little more professional incompetence, and we need a situation such as the internet being realistically shown to be crashing in a year or so while slashdot story after slashdot story tells us how great things are going. Yeah, that'll be MUCH better, and it'll make the Almighty and Allwise greg1104 happier! Yay!
I used to watch this regularly on Channel 7 (in Australia) when it aired at 2am, I liked the way Russert would let the guest respond to a question and move on, I always think this is far more effective (if the response is BS) than trying to debate the point and get the person to acknowledge they may be wrong.
I had my fill of US politics a while back but Meet the Press made for good Sunday night viewing for Americanophiles. Some episodes were very entertaining and others not so entertaining, and I found it interesting during elections to see Russert's interaction with Katie Couric, outside of his element perhaps.
Yeah, that's like skateboarding on your testicles.
~X~
~X~
Ok, now that the "24-hour-can't-say-anything-critical-about-a-dead-man" period is over, can I just ask - huh? Are you sure you're talking about the right Tim Russert?
I remember a Tim Russert who insisted in open court that his personal journalistic philosophy was that, when talking to a public official, anything that was said was implicitly off the record unless that public official said that it could go on the record, explicitly.
I remember a Tim Russert who adamantly refused to testify during the Libby trial, who refused to testify against a source who had committed treason against the United States (according to George HW Bush), a Russert who privileged his own journalistic access to the nation's elites over the interests of the people his journalism was meant to serve.
I remember a Russert who, in 2004, basically rolled over for the President. I don't remember any "hardballs"; I remember a craven submission to the bamboozlement of an administration he, along with the rest of his Beltway buddies, allowed to lie to us for years.
I remember a Tim Russert who the Bush administration knew was a sympathetic media outlet to their talking points, a Tim Russert whose "Meet the Press" was a preferred venue because, in the words of a top Cheney aide, they could "control the message."
I can't for the life if me imagine how you remember Russert as some kind of dogged truth-seeker who stuck politicians to the sticking place. Those of us who were paying attention to his show know that Russert was at the head of the destruction of American journalism; the leader of an abdication of their responsibilities as the Fifth Estate.
Who the fuck are you talking about? Because it wasn't, in any way, Tim Russert, official stenographer for the Bush Administration.
P.S. Maybe he was a great dad, and a great guy, I don't know. I feel bad for his father, I really do. But this Tim Russert you keep talking about, the one who was so brave and asked such probing questions... well, I sure as hell wished that Tim Russert had actually existed, instead of the craven, obsequious Tim Russert we actually had on Meet the Press, because maybe with a media that actually did it's job we wouldn't be in so many of the messes we're in.
I never have frustrations, the reason is, to wit:
If at first I don't succeed, I quit!
Texas?
I didn't mod you, and yet I "know" that your piece was INDEED flamebait.
Russert was at the top of his game and worked very hard for a long time to get where he was, and that deserves respect. However, to lament his passing as a loss of a fair and balanced
journalist is simply delusional and self-vindicating feel-good mental stroking by people with leftist views at the expense of a dead man.
That right there is almost the definition of flamebait, you know, baiting to be flamed. If you don't see this, and assume that such an egotistical assertion is just 'informing the masses', well then 'troll' might be accurate too.
If the definition of "Troll" and/or "Flamebait" is now anyone who doesn't buy into the liberal democrat group-think and is not afraid to point out when people are using a dead man to make themselves feel good about their political views, then I wear the badges proudly.
As far as "baiting to be flamed" goes, the only people who should be offended are the very ones I described who viciously attack anyone who doesn't adhere to their political ideals. If you're not a member of that subset of people who are too narrow-minded to tolerate differing opinions, then I wasn't referring to you, and you have no reason to feel my comment was in any way a troll or flamebait. That you seem to think so says all there is to say.
Cheers!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
>predominately
The word you were looking for was "predominantly".
HTH. HAND.
LOL, I wasn't personally OFFENDED by your post, I was amused at your smug attitude.
Your post was nothing more than a partisan attack on a dead man. An unwarranted and unsupported attack at that. You make a derogatory comment about someone based on political bias without any sort of evidence whatsoever, and are really trying to convince me that your post was something other than flamebait? And then the fail attempt at a subtle dig at me in the last paragraph? Yeah, you definitely exhibit tendencies of both flamebait AND troll. Partisan douche too, but there's not a mod option for that.
LOL, I wasn't personally OFFENDED by your post, I was amused at your smug attitude.
Your post was nothing more than a partisan attack on a dead man. An unwarranted and unsupported attack at that. You make a derogatory comment about someone based on political bias without any sort of evidence whatsoever, and are really trying to convince me that your post was something other than flamebait? And then the fail attempt at a subtle dig at me in the last paragraph? Yeah, you definitely exhibit tendencies of both flamebait AND troll. Partisan douche too, but there's not a mod option for that.
How, pray tell, is stating that the man worked very long and hard to get where he was and deserved respect an attack? Or are you referring to the FACT that he was NOT "fair and balanced"? Is stating a fact that someone doesn't want to hear now an attack?
I didn't attack Russert personally or professionally, I praised him. I just pointed out what people here wouldn't acknowledge, and that was that he wasn't the icon of fairness and balance that many commenter's here seemed to be claiming. Are there others far worse? Yes, on both sides of the political spectrum.
My evidence is his Obama interview, which is widely acknowledged to have been far far less probing or pressing after facts than his Hillary Clinton interview. Also the links cited in the parent post. If you can watch the two interviews and NOT come to the conclusion that he basically tossed Obama softballs, then you're too blinded by your own views to be reasoned with.
My last paragraph wasn't an attack on you if you don't fit the stereotypical intolerant liberal who can't tolerate differing opinions, and when confronted with facts that contradict your assertions, must attack those who dare expose the intellectual dishonesty. I'm sorry if you feel I'm attacking you if the shoe is fitting uncomfortably-well. Maybe you should try another cobbler rather than attacking those who point out that it isn't the paving-stones causing your pain.
If you weren't offended, you wouldn't have felt it necessary to attack me for my post, and any other explanation is hand-waving and obfuscation. Period, stop, end-of-line. I consider this thread closed.
Cheers!
Strat
Progressivism (aka US 'Liberalism'): Ideas so good they need a police/surveillance-state to enforce.
I'll take my -1, Offtopic mod now, but come on, it's got to start grating after a while - think about it: "yeah, we know X number of guys did this before you, but hey, you're the first BLACK guy!". It shows subtle ingrained racism and is just making out that black people are slower than the rest of us and deserve special praise when they achieve something other races can do without fanfare, like parents making a fuss over a slightly slow child managing to tie it's shoelaces. It's insulting, and people need to knock it off.
Dealing with lawyers would be a lot less tedious if they all looked like Casey Novak.
Russert was the broadcast version of print's David Broder: a Very Serious "journalist" who's very tough on Democrats, but bends over backwards for Republicans. Cheney's media director suggested he go on MTP for message control. Russert couldn't wait for Gore to conceed in 2000 so Bush could become president. He asked Bush about the number of nuclear missles under a Start II treaty and gave Bush a pass when he didn't know. Four years later, Howard Dean didn't know the exact number of active duty troops in the U.S. and Russert tore him a new asshole.
No, the only reason Russert looks good is because most of the press is so bad - he wasn't fit to tie the shoelaces of Cronkite or Murrow.
Russert wasn't fit to tie the shoelaces of Murrow or Cronkite. Russert wasn't a great journalist, he was a Very Serious Journalist. As in he would kiss the ass of right wingers like Dick Cheney while playing petty gotcha games with everyone else.
Regarding your second quoted sentence, that 'Period, stop, end-of-line' hubris might work with your children or your subordinates at work, but it fails miserably when dealing with real-world conversations and only serves to indicate your level of self-grandeur; no one is impressed.
And finally, the fact that you are consistent in suggesting that any possible dissent from your opinion MUST be liberal group-think or liberal intolerance shows exactly what kind of worldview you have: Liberals vs You. Attempting to maintain an illusion of neutrality whilst consistently rattling off about what I can only assume is the 'other' (gotta love false dichotomies) philosophy is self defeating.
I won't be so prideful as to tell you the conversation is at an end, in fact I invite you to reply yet again, but this time try not to insinuate I'm serving some partisan agenda without the slightest shred of evidence.
Bruce gave a tribute to him from the stage at Cardiff last night. It's on the front page of his website http://www.brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html.
ian
Just an opinion - but having an opinion that disagrees with your own isn't flamebait.
Why are you letting these clowns ruin our country?
No, but presenting a negative opinion about the recently dead without even trying to show evidence IS INDEED flamebait. Just because somehting is an opinion does not shield it from being flamebait. I'll give you an example.
#1 Brittany Spears' newest album pleases me just as much as the rest of hers have; not at all.
#2 Brittany Spears' newest album is nothing but a continuation of her self-worship and continued detachment from reality.
Both are opinion, both are very likely true, but one is a simple stated opinion and the other is intended (or would be, if this were more than an example) to create a negative emotional response in her fans. It's very likely to draw strong negative reactions due to the way it's worded; this is the very definition of flamebait.
I know that for you US guys this must be an iconic figure.
But that Time names a US interviewer, that few people out of the US know, one of the *world's* most influential people, just comes to show the complete and utter lack of journalistic integrity in your country, where the press has stopped to inform you and instead patronizes you and gives you frequent pats in the back.
If this individual was raising the bar a little it is indeed bad news his early demise.
IANAL but write like a drunk one.
I, like a few others in this thread, don't think of Mr. Russert as a journalist at all, let alone a tough incisive one. However, most of the people posting in the thread have only high praise for his objectivity. Can you direct me to any inteviews by Russert that demonstrate this? Asking questions about real issues that demanded thoughtful answers? Pressing guests in the face of evasive answers? Most of what I see from "tough" journalists is comprised of questions about what I'd call distractions. The questions may make the guests fidget, but they don't have merit.
When the axe came to the forest, the trees said, "Look out - the handle was once one of us."
I really hate the new display. Your comment appeared just one indent in from Veramocor's, directly below Fritzed's. Your remark offended me when I thought it was directed to Veramocor's comment, so I viewed all to see what exactly to put in my return flame to you, only to find that you were talking to Phairdon and I completely agree. I'm sure I'll get used to this just like I did to the last change, but right now I hate the current design.