Like everyone else, I'm shocked at the sudden death of Tim Russert. When I was living at home, my father and I watched Meet the Press every Sunday morning. He did a great interview, and he seemed like a genuinely nice person. He'll be terribly missed.
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This isn't the time to push the critiques, but to say he "did a great interview" is really not true. He was very good at the kind of interview he did, but his gotcha style of questioning and his paper-thin engagement with the meat of the policy issues were real problems for the country. That said, he was a towering figure and yes, seemed like a genuinely likeable and good-natured guy.
I saw him give a talk once at school right after the November 2000 election craziness. He was a great storyteller and really, really gracious to all the questions in the audience.
Tim Russert was an uber mensch and a class act all the way. Watching him cut a phony politician to ribbons was like watching a skilled surgeon at work. Nobody in the MSM did a better job at exposing dishonest politicians than Russert. Now, Russert belongs to the ages. RIP Tim.
Maybe it's because I'm young, but I'm surprised at how sad I feel about this. I didn't watch the show very often, but somehow there was a connection. Anyway, we'll be worse off without him.
It has been a number of years since I was a regular viewer of Meet the Press, however, Russert was a class act and a tenacious interviewer who was afraid of no one. Watching him interview someone was the most facile way to get a grasp on a political figure's ideas and character. His death is a great loss for political journalism.
I rarely watched 'Meet the Press,' but Russert was a lot of fun to watch playing a fictionalized version of himself on 'Homicide: Life on the Street' opposite his fictional "sister," Det. Megan Russert, played by the splendid Isabella Hoffman. Russert's acting, like the late Steve McQueen's race car driving, was something done well enough he could have made his living at that instead of what he mainly did. It's a shame he's gone.
Celebrity deaths never phase me, but this has saddened me immensely. He will be missed tremendously. My prayers to his family and friends
He was one of the good guys. RIP.
By the accounts of the people who matter, he was a wonderful husband, father, son, and brother, which really is about the best that can be said of any of us.