A True News Icon passes

[Plane]

Coulter must have never been on his show then...

Probly right.

I know little of Tim Russert , I don't watch that time of day I guess.

All these comments make me think I must have missed something good.

[Rich]

>>Coulter must have never been on his show then...<<

If she was, I'd never have seen it.

[Rich]

>>All these comments make me think I must have missed something good.<<

Not really. He was just another liberal on television. A dime a dozen.

[chickencounter]

If you never heard of him, how would you know that Rich?  Seriously, you missed out.  He was just as tough on the liberals as he was the conservatives.

[sirs]

As a partisan conservative, I can concur with that.  He was.  It's also probably the main reason you haven't him seen as a moderator to any of the Obama & Hillary debates.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Anyone who has seen Russert do an interview knows that he was an expert in his field.

Those that haven't are just blowing smoke if they criticize him.

[Cynthia]

>>All these comments make me think I must have missed something good.<<

Not really. He was just another liberal on television. A dime a dozen.

How  would you have known that, Rich?

He was not a dime a dozen. My gosh, your comments here are typically flame throwin' in the wind .... while folks on the board take a moment out to remember someone who was not only brilliant, but fair and precise. Your comments shed a light on your lack of humanity to man.
 You have indeed missed out, as Chicky stated.

I rarely had time to watch him on Sunday mornings, but I at least paid attention to the center for political awareness to know WHO HE WAS!. . .He was a great American.

Sometimes your stance doesn't lean right at all --more like to the down right hateful. Even those on the right knew of the man.

with all due respect. 

[sirs]

The thing that really stands out with Tim, at least from our political angle, is that he is largely admired by BOTH sides of the spectrum, minus Rich apparently.  That said, there will be other pundits and newscasters that will leave this world before their time, but likely not receive the same accolades from both sides.  You think the right will see....let's say Helen Thomas, as a great icon, when she passes??  The left of course will raise her up on a pedastal, but it'd be an acutely biased one. 

Tim transcended that by being largely objective, despite being a Democrat.  He would ask just as tough a questions to a Democrat politican as he would a Republican.  Which again is why you never saw, at least recently, Democrats allowing Tim to be the moderator to any of their debates.  I see no one in the political world that can replace what he brought to the political process     

[Cynthia]

The thing that really stands out with Tim, at least from our political angle, is that he is largely admired by BOTH sides of the spectrum, minus Rich apparently.  That said, there will be other pundits and newscasters that will leave this world before their time, but likely not receive the same accolades from both sides.  You think the right will see....let's say Helen Thomas, as a great icon, when she passes??  The left of course will raise her up on a pedastal, but it'd be an acutely biased one. 

Tim transcended that by being largely objective, despite being a Democrat.  He would ask just as tough a questions to a Democrat politican as he would a Republican.  Which again is why you never saw, at least recently, Democrats allowing Tim to be the moderator to any of their debates.  I see no one in the political world that can replace what he brought to the political process     

Very nicely stated, Sirs.

[fatman]

I agree, good post sirs.

[Rich]

>>My gosh, your comments here are typically flame throwin' in the wind.<<

Oh brother. Could you please explain how anything I said could be considered flame throwing? Don't hurt yourself trying, but please, I'm interested to see if it's possible to follow such thinking.

[Rich]

>>The thing that really stands out with Tim, at least from our political angle, is that he is largely admired by BOTH sides of the spectrum, minus Rich apparently.<<

I suppose you could say he was admired, except when he asked what the left found to be tough questions. He was a liberal politically. He worked for Patrick Moynihan before going into the news business. Nothing unusual about that. The media is full of old Clinton and othe rliberal hacks. When I said I didn't know who he was, I was kidding. I was looking for a reaction. Cynduhia didn't disappoint. But that ridiculousness aside, this has become more about the media than Russert. The days and days of self flagellation on NBC is ridiculous. They don't give a damn about Russert. It's about them.

 Disgusting.

[sirs]

The thing is Rich, Russert my have worked for the MSM, but he was the exception to the rule.  He may have done and worked for everything you say, BUT, when it came to 1 on 1 questioning of congress critters and political pundits, he had done his homework, and wouldn't let politicans answer with their ususal stump non-answers.  He had great follow-ups, and would consistently remind the individual how they really hadn't answered the question yet.  Chris Wallace and Tony Snow are the closest in how they grill both Republicans and Democrats

You can rail away, and rightly so, about the transparent double standard the MSM holds, BUT, that doesn't equate to Tim being some Democrat shill, just because he was a Democrat.

[Rich]

I didn't mean to imply he was a shill. On the other hand, he wasn't conservative, that's for sure. Of all the talking heads I think he at least attempted to be a journalist.

I guess I'm just a realist, or just a hard case when it comes to public figures. I don't know him, I really don't give a damn. I suppose you could say I fell for his family, other than that ... ho hum.

[Christians4LessGvt]

Rich if you notice I gave my condolences to him as a man, and a father
not as an unbiased commentator. I agree with you 100% that he was a
liberal. Hell besides working for liberal Senator Moyinhan he also worked
for liberal Mario Cuomo too. If you notice during his tribute show yesterday
the whole desk was packed with liberals except for Mary Matalin.
In fact Carville stated he and Russert spoke on an almost daily basis.
Personally I thought Russert was very biased, but he was also
very, very clever about it and did it with a smile. Almost always his
Sunday roundtable was weighted with more liberals, plus himself.
He liked to "stack the deck". He was much more jovial with liberal guests.
Sure he would ask some tough questions to all, but you could sense
and see his body language towards liberals. But hey the guy died
too young. And he seemed like a good man, a good father, and a
good son. It's really too bad he didn't take better care of himself and
give himself a better chance to live to a ripe old age.
Again RIP Tim Russert.