Please keep his family and friends in your thoughts and prayers.
Kim adds: I just found out myself, and I'm completely shocked. Stunned. How sad. I liked and respected him. One thing that stands out for me is how much he loved his dad, a real salt of the earth kind of guy, about whom he wrote a book. And he loved his son and spoke so highly of him. Here's more Fox News:
NBC Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert has died, NBC reported Friday.Russert, host of top-rated Sunday talk show "Meet the Press," reportedly died of a heart attack. He was 58.
A noticeably shaken Tom Brokaw made the announcement live from New York, saying his colleague collapsed and died early Friday afternoon in the NBC News bureau in Washington.
Brokaw said Russert had just returned from a trip to Italy with his wife, Maureen Orth, and son, Luke, to celebrate Luke's graduation from Boston College.
"He has been a very familiar face on this network and throughout the world of political journalism as one of the premiere political analysts and journalists of his time," Brokaw said.
Russert grew up in Buffalo, which Brokaw said Russert had just visited last week to assist in moving his father to a new home.
Update: Hot Air linked to the video (embedded below ) of Tom Brokaw' as he announced Tim Russert's death. You can tell how difficult this is for Tom. Several times he sounds like he's going to lose it. As a viewer, it's hard to listen to him speak about his friend and not choke up:
Tom mentioned in this clip how often Tim worked to exhaustion on this year's election. While I was listening to MSNBC a bit earlier, I heard a woman who was being interviewed (it sounded like Barbara Walters, but I can't be sure) say that, apparently, people thought he was pushing himself too hard.
Update II: Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice has a nice tribute to Russert's work.
Update III: The Anchoress has, as usual, a very thoughtful piece in which she writes this:
We'll be reading a lot over the next few days about Tim Russert's impact on the Sunday News Show format, his integrity and hard work, his preparedness, and also about his gregariousness, his humor and humanity. One hopes that his colleagues, out of respect for Russert's memory and by example of his own ethics, may rededicate themselves to the ideals of journalism that have been subsumed over the past 10 years by the urge to sensationalism, bias and cartoonish bravado, a temptation Russert mostly managed to avoid. He didn't need to sink to those levels; he was a journalist. He just did his homework and asked the pertinent questions.
Update IV: WebMD has an article about Tim's death and includes a section by a cardiologist about what may have happened.
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Comments (20)
This is quite a shock. Res... (Below threshold)1. Posted by COgirl | June 13, 2008 4:32 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
This is quite a shock. Rest in peace, Tim Russert.
1. Posted by COgirl | June 13, 2008 4:32 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 16:32
2. Posted by Peter F. | June 13, 2008 5:00 PM | Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
This is terribly sad and shocking news. A true icon on the Washington political media scene, he will be missed by many people on both sides of the aisle.
Many prayers go out to his family and friends. Rest in peace, Mr. Russert.
2. Posted by Peter F. | June 13, 2008 5:00 PM |
Score: 4 (4 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 17:00
3. Posted by Big Mo | June 13, 2008 5:21 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
really sad and shocking.
3. Posted by Big Mo | June 13, 2008 5:21 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 17:21
4. Posted by Maggie | June 13, 2008 5:24 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
May the Lord be with his family.
He was a good journalist.
4. Posted by Maggie | June 13, 2008 5:24 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 17:24
5. Posted by lowmal | June 13, 2008 5:24 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Wow..
He seemed like a decent men..
Bless him and his family..
5. Posted by lowmal | June 13, 2008 5:24 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 17:24
6. Posted by HughS | June 13, 2008 5:37 PM | Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Tim Russert was the real deal. What you saw was what you got, a rare stranger to pretense, something of a liberal but highly respected by conservative Republicans.
This is particularly sad because the MSM has lost one of its very few intellectually curious, bright, articulate stars. Russert was, literally and figuratively, out of the mold of the last great Democrat icon, Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
6. Posted by HughS | June 13, 2008 5:37 PM |
Score: 3 (3 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 17:37
7. Posted by Glenn | June 13, 2008 6:30 PM | Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
And if you really want to honor Tims memory go to WebMD, find the body mass index calculator and honestly calculate your BMI. Don't shave off a few pounds, wink, wink, don't add an inch to your height, you know who you are. If you are 50+ and your BMI is 25+ START DOING SOMETHING ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW. 40% of the time the first heart attack kills you.
7. Posted by Glenn | June 13, 2008 6:30 PM |
Score: 1 (1 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 18:30
8. Posted by dr lava | June 13, 2008 6:42 PM | Score: -2 (6 votes cast)
I begged fat friends to lose weight. One died at 55 the other at 56. My fat friend John is probably next.
If you are fat and have friends or family stop being selfish.
8. Posted by dr lava | June 13, 2008 6:42 PM |
Score: -2 (6 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 18:42
9. Posted by HughS | June 13, 2008 6:52 PM | Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
My fat friend John is probably next.
Lava
I hope you are on the way to John's house right now instead of talking about him on a blog.
What a jerk.
9. Posted by HughS | June 13, 2008 6:52 PM |
Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 18:52
10. Posted by LaMedusa | June 13, 2008 7:26 PM | Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Sad news, indeed, and quite a shock. My thoughts and prayers are with his family. May he rest in peace.
10. Posted by LaMedusa | June 13, 2008 7:26 PM |
Score: 2 (4 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 19:26
11. Posted by Jay Tea | June 13, 2008 7:42 PM | Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Far be it from me to stick up for dr lava, but I took his comment as regretful -- as in he's tried to talk to his friend John, with no success, and doesn't expect things to change in time to make a difference.
J.
11. Posted by Jay Tea | June 13, 2008 7:42 PM |
Score: 2 (2 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 19:42
12. Posted by HughS | June 13, 2008 8:55 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Jay
Perhaps you have a point...so I will offer a very qualified "maybe you are right" to lava....on the condition that you, lava, stop seagull commenting her and engage in the debate.
12. Posted by HughS | June 13, 2008 8:55 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 20:55
13. Posted by infidel
| June 13, 2008 10:22 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
One of the true giants of TV journalism.....tough but never personal. The tributes from all who knew him will tell of his legacy.
Lava, how about waiting for him to get cold before you offer some asinine denunciation of the body frame that obviously repels you....I'd at least wait for the autopsy before I'd start judging other's life styles. Sorry, but this idiot really pissed me off at a time we've lost a gentleman .
Jackass.
13. Posted by infidel
| June 13, 2008 10:22 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 22:22
14. Posted by Jim in Cleveland | June 13, 2008 10:47 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I am a big fan of the way Russert conducted his business. But I am already sickened by the way some MSNBCers have treated his passing. Chris Matthews used his death as an opportunity to criticize the Iraq War. To see Keith Olbermann pay tribute is the most nauseating of all.
What a shame to lose a guy who was a Democrat, but more importantly, was an objective journalist, a good father and son, and a regular Catholic blue collar guy at heart.
14. Posted by Jim in Cleveland | June 13, 2008 10:47 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 22:47
15. Posted by Sheik Yur Bouty | June 13, 2008 11:29 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
One of the few MSMers I had any respect for and can actually say 'He'll be missed'.
May God give peace and comfort to his family.
-syb
15. Posted by Sheik Yur Bouty | June 13, 2008 11:29 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 13, 2008 23:29
16. Posted by sanssoucy | June 14, 2008 12:17 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Russert was special. He was the rare MSM mogul who dared ask The Tough Question to a member of The Anointed Party.
Godspeed, Tim.
16. Posted by sanssoucy | June 14, 2008 12:17 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 14, 2008 00:17
17. Posted by MichaelC | June 14, 2008 2:32 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Mr. Russert was universally liked and respected. In this day and age when Journalism itself is held in such low esteem by many, Tim Russert may said to have exemplified excellence and the highest standards of his profession, qualities we can only pray may be emulated by his peers.
Sunday morning will never be the same. My prayers go out to his family.
17. Posted by MichaelC | June 14, 2008 2:32 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 14, 2008 02:32
18. Posted by glenn | June 14, 2008 8:05 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
And if you want a look at what the political left is all about in this country, go to SFGate.com and read the comments about Tim's death.
18. Posted by glenn | June 14, 2008 8:05 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 14, 2008 08:05
19. Posted by WildWillie | June 14, 2008 8:57 AM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I too am saddended. He really new how, for the most part, to keep after a question until it is answered. I will say, I am sure he ignored the signs. For a few years, every once in a while, I felt weird and breathless. One time, my wife noticed I looked different and breathing too hard. She nagged me to the Emergency Room. Two day in intensive care and then the surgeons had to graph five by-passes around my clogged arteries. So, again, I am sure Tim felt something wasn't right once in a while. God bless him and his family. ww
19. Posted by WildWillie | June 14, 2008 8:57 AM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 14, 2008 08:57
20. Posted by sean nyc/aa | June 15, 2008 4:58 PM | Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
I am truly sorry for Russert's family and friends, but when I saw Brokaw's statement I couldn't help but think of Dana Carvey's SNL skit where he impersonates Brokaw reporting news of Gerald Ford's death. Of course, the real thing was not funny at all.
20. Posted by sean nyc/aa | June 15, 2008 4:58 PM |
Score: 0 (0 votes cast)
Posted on June 15, 2008 16:58