I liked Tim Russert, even though I thought his BS gotcha nonsense was thorough idiocy and not helping the debate at all. He was a likable guy- friendly, always smiling. I understand it is a loss for the beltway folks, and he had a lot of really good friends and meant a lot to people, and I would be dishonest if I failed to mention that I feel sad by his passing.

MSNBC has been running nothing but a 5 hour (and presumably it will go until 11 pm or beyond) marathon of Russert remembrance. CNN has done their due diligence, and Fox news has spent at least the last half hour talking non-stop about him.
But let’s get something straight- what I am watching right now on the cable news shows is indicative of the problem- no clearer demonstration of the fact that they consider themselves to be players and the insiders and, well, part of the village, is needed. This is precisely the problem. They have walked the corridors of power so long that they honestly think they are the story. It is creepy and sick and the reason politicians get away with all the crap they get away with these days.

Tim Russert was a newsman. He was not the Pope. This is not the JFK assassination, or Reagan’s death, or the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. A newsman died. We know you miss him, but please shut up and get back to work.

I agree with John’s view. Yes, it is polite to wait a bit before you start criticizing, I get that you don’t want to be rude. But the coverage is making him seem like a saint, that is the point of view that will persist with the average viewer, and the more nuanced reality that he seemed like a good guy, but was also complicit with allowing one of the most unnecessary and propaganda-ized(?) wars in history that has resulted in the deaths of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people, should not be glossed over. Not to put it all on Russert obviously, but by making him seem like some kind of journalistic hero when the truth is a little less polite, but could also be a window into finally holding the press accountable, is something I think that is very important to understand. We’re not doing the eulogy at his funeral for God’s sake, we’re trying to contextualize this man’s life to make sense of our world, and sometimes politeness isn’t the best way to make our world better.