Friday, June 13, 2008

Tim Russert

I was greatly shocked to see that Tim Russert died just a couple of hours ago of a sudden heart attack. Political commentator, NBC Washington bureau chief, host of "Meet the Press," and moderator of many of the recent primary debates, he was a huge force in the political media and an extremely good predictor of electoral politics. I've been watching him so long that I can't even remember when I started -- it can't be my whole life. I always thought he was a very even-handed, engaging, intelligent figure. That's not to say that I always agreed with his angles, but overall I always found him one of the ones worth watching. Especially given some of our other alternatives (that Gibson-Stephanopoulos hosted debate, anyone?) he will be sorely missed in this upcoming election and beyond. It leaves a gaping hole in our political coverage, which despite the blitz of primary attention is normally so unincisive.

1 comment:

jodi said...

yeah---we're sad about it over here, and I had almost the exact same reaction--I asked M, "hasn't he been doing meet the press for pretty much our whole LIVES?" It felt that way even though he started in the early 90s.

It feels strange and deeply personal when the news people die-- it's like that whole "they're in your living room every day" mythos really works. And Russert really was one of the more insightful (and humorous) ones.