“Tim Russert died today after suffering an apparent heart attack, according to TV industry sources.” Update: story confirmed by the NY Times. Russert was 58. It’s a sad day for journalism. [NY Post]
RIP Russert.
Help make sure LGBTQ+ stories are being told...
We can't rely on mainstream media to tell our stories. That's why we don't lock Queerty articles behind a paywall. Will you support our mission with a contribution today?
Cancel anytime · Proudly LGBTQ+ owned and operated
Woof
Bummer, I liked Tim
CHURCHILL-Y
My thoughts and prayers go out to his loved ones.
Kid A
Holy shit, no way. I can’t believe this. I’ve been watching Meet the Press since I can remember. He’s responsible for getting me interested in politics in the first place.
DavidDust
This is so sad. He was one of the best – if not THE best – political journalist out there.
Charley
Hey, you never know. Don’t let anyone tell you what or what not to do. “There are no accidents”. KungFu Panda
Charley
He had a stressful job. Getting everything right, in his own view, and then taking the darts.
Wow. I don’t envy his celebrity.
Chris
Wow. Kissing Obama’s ass is officially toxic.
fredo777
Great taste, Chris.
Tom
I would always watch his show when I had the opportunity, but I am surprised by my emotions for him. I guess he had more of an impact than I realized…he will be missed.
donsnyc
I am in shock. My sundays are never complete without some Tim Russert. My thoughts goes out to his family. Sad that his father outlived him. Rest in Peace Tim.
RPCV
Left wing loony, and never asked the probing questions. NBC is in Obama’s back pocket, and so was Timmy. Bye Bye
BobP
RPCV,
Don’t you have a Log Cabin meeting to attend with the other self-haters?
If you don’t have something nice to say, shut the fuck up.
chandler in lasvegas
Fredo777,
I thought it tasted like chicken; dark meat but chicken.
fredo777
Chandler, there’s nothing wrong with dark meat.
Tsk tsk.
Thomas Delayed
One less swill to answer.
Do you know what Tim Russert was doing during the 80’s while my friends fell dead all around me from AIDS? He kissed Ronnie Reagan’s ass. He was the mouthpiece that lead us into a war that has killed thousands on innocent children, men and women and destroyed their homes.
Thousands die everyday. I reserve my sympathy for those with good hearts. Fame does not impress me so much that I cry over people like this.
No sympathy for the devil from this dude.
RPCV
BobP: YOu warned me not to do this, but I will: FAGGOT. Period.
ggreen
No 15 Amen.
Russert was excellent at obsequious apology for both General Electric (NBC’s parent) and many government thieves/Republicans. Tim loved the spotlight to further his book sales and push the fallacy that he was just a blue-collar type guy (did you know his 12 million dollar home had a cutting-room just for cutting fresh flowers?) He not only served his corporate paymasters at GE/NBC but he was a trusted villager in side the beltway. Tim could be counted on NOT to upset the status quo. Tim was “a walker†of sorts to the politically powerful. That said, my condolences to his family on their loss.
hells kitchen guy
He was a toadie.
slider
Tim Russert may you rest in peace and I send my prayers and thoughts to his family and I do so feel bad for his Dad, Big Russ and his wife, Maureen and their son, Luke.
I always loved watching Meet The Press and he made Sunday mornings my favorite part of the week since he gave us a lot of insight and was to me a regular guy but a smart guy and excellent political journalist.
RIP Tim Russert….may you walk with the Angels and serve as the Guardian Angel for your family.
Jim Pickett
Me and my partner are in total shock. He was a part of our Sunday mornings for so long – we will miss him. And who can possibly take his spot? I shudder to think what could happen.
Bob R
I for one will sorely miss Russert. Although not a big fan, he was a pleasant and comfortable television presence and I shall miss having him around. I found nothing malignant about him. And yes I’m well aware that he enabled Reagan, Bush and others. But I’m also aware of the fact that we, the voter, played our roles in the Bush ascendancy and his continuation in power.
I suppose one reason I feel so sad is his death once again slapped me in the face with a stark reminder of my own mortality. Russert, a couple of years younger than I am, had heart problems much like my own, only his were not as severe. Sudden death syndrome is something I live with every day and try to forget. Then comes an untimely death like Mr. Russert and I cannot help but think “that might soon be me…”. Rest in Peace Mr. Russert. My heartfelt sympathy to your loving family who will indeed miss you this coming Father’s Day. Very sad.
devilgirl
I’m in shock– over both Russert’s death and the negativity posted here. You may not have liked him, but he was a father, husband and son, a friend and cowroker, and a professional man. Get your bitter-queen heads out of your asses and mourn him for what he was…a man.
Tim, you’ll be in my thoughts, as will your family.
ggreen
Many posters here may not have known in any detail who Tim Russert really was. Many saw him on television every week for many years and trusted him simply because he was on television every week. Much in the same way our celebrity culture has been cultivated by viewers seeing stars on TV every week and feeling that they are their friends.
Everything on television and in advertising is aimed at feeling NOT any facts. Everything is presented and SOLD to consumers/citizens via feelings and emotions. That’s how we get into unnecessary wars, mountains of consumer debt and voting against our own self-interest. Emotions and feelings being sold to us by the likes of Tim Russert and GE (the world’s third largest company with financial interests in nearly every country in the world and stakes in every election worldwide)
One poster said: “he was a pleasant and comfortable television presenceâ€. Of course he was if he were shrill or made you uncomfortable about who you were or how you were living your life you wouldn’t watch him. That’s the whole point and why GE chief Jack Welsh (prominent republican and new guilded age advocate) chose Russert to be the face of NBC news.
Mr. Russert is dead and that’s sad but lets not try to turn him into some kind of saint. The scuttlebutt around DC is Tim was a heavy daily drinker. If so that was his choice and lets hope he lived a full and happy life.
fredo777
Not that every deceased person should be “sainted”, but I also don’t see the point in harping on a dead person’s flaws + shortcomings (i.e. him being rumored as a drunk, etc.).
RPCV
He was obnoxious and self-centered. Good riddance.
hells kitchen guy
“You may not have liked him, but he was a father, husband and son, a friend and cowroker, and a professional man. Get your bitter-queen heads out of your asses and mourn him for what he was…a man.”
So was Stalin. I never got that Suzie Sweetness line of reasoning. If you didn’t like someone when he was alive, don’t be a hypocrite and go all goey when he’s dead.
Jimmy
I feel sad that we lost a good man. He was a man that new his stuff, new what he was talking about. When we all go to church we keep him and his family in our prayes. Rest in peace Tim!!!!
Thomas Delayed
Celebrities are no better than the rest of us.
Every death is sad. The death of Tim Russert is no sadder than the death of that Iraqi mother that was killed in Iraq yesterday. She had children, a mother and a father, brothers and sisters. Why is Russert’s death more profound?
It is not. He was a Bush mouthpiece and had he had the integrity that people speak of, perhaps he and the rest of the media would not have lead us into a war.
Notice how the media is doing nothing but patting itself on it’s back.
fredo777
I still don’t get the point in speaking ill of the dead (unless they were really terrible S.O.B.s). If you don’t have anything nice to say…
Todd
To the powers-that-be at Queerty: Do you EVER exercise your right to delete comments? *cough RPVC* cough
RPCV
Todd: I have not personally attacked you, or said anyting remotely offensive about you. However, I opine that you are a lefty loon. Your buddies in the ACLU are constantly calling foul when a person’s right to freedom of speech is trampled on/denied. You’re proposing to do the same to me. How is silencing me fair? Your buddies in the ACLU and other left wing organizations show surely support me in this regard. Think about it……
Mark
My partner and I can’t believe the 24/7 coverage of this man’s death–something like a pope, or a head of state…if I feel anything about the event, it’s shock at how degraded “news” is–and Tim Russert had a lot to do with shoving corporatized, airbrushed, crap down our throats and asking nothing questions to creeps like Cheney. I feel little about him otherwise, but that seems like I’ve already given too much consideration to someone who had no consideration for the 4th estate and what its role should be in American life. He’s dead, that’s unfortunate, but it’s not unthinkable. What’s really bad is the crapfest news organizations that dunderheaded people like him front(ed).
An Other Greek
I am –DISGUSTED– at the commercialization of Russert’s death. It is so vulgar and self-serving, I am at a loss at the spectacle! A new low in American media greed and obfuscation.
My condolences for his family, true- I felt a shock over his death, but after reading the comments, I am left to wonder if we all saw the same program and followed the same career…
Aside from parroting self-interested media memes, can anyone please explain to me how Russert was anything but an enabler to the powers-that-be?
Can anyone please explain why he was “such a great journalist” when all he did was offer a forum for propaganda with almost no opposition?
Does anyone doubt that Russert HELPED ELECT BUSH in 04? Do you fools not think he knew what was up and decided to be a pawn to GE’s interests and power in general?
Did you not see the many reports chastising Meet the Press for its transparent and insulting republican lean? There were many shows when all the guests were republicans!! Can you not remember past last year?
Did you not scream at the television all those times Cheney made nice with Timmy and LIED TO OUR FACES while the troops and the innocents died?
I will NOT miss this man.
Don’t be fooled by what the talking heads are telling you to think/say/feel…
—————————————————
An Other Greek
ok, just go here if you can bear it…
http://journals.democraticunderground.com/Time%20for%20change/31
did he really wear a Bush-Cheney pin UNDER his lapel?
—————————————————————–
dgz
thank you, Mark! while i disagree with the idea that he had republican leanings (he was on staff for two dems), i wholeheartedly agree that the exhaustive coverage is nauseating. i mean, two solid days of tribute?! all the while, REAL news is happening all over the world, but the journalists have to self-congratulate themselves by talking up some guy who was just doing his job. what about the soldiers dying and human rights and environmental crises going down as we speak??? why should anyone care that Tim loved the buffalo bills??? ridiculous.
Ian
I was watching coverage of Mr.Russert’s death the other night; specifically Keith Olberman interviewing Andrea Mitchell who regaled a rather pathetic story about how when she was on a panel of journalists moderating one of the Dukakis-Bush debates, that Mr.Russert told her not to ask Dukakis about nuclear armorments or something else substantial, but to infact ask what he (Dukakis) would do if his wife was raped? WTF? It played into Bush’s scheme to portray the former govenor that he was a elitist liberal soft on crime. It was totally incredulous moment that helped erase Dukakis’ 17% lead; which with the help of the rest of our “liberal” media help to inventually install G.W.Bush for 4 years. So actually we should not be morning the passing of Tim Russert as a champion of objective journalism, but instead wake up to the fact that many of our friends and neighbors aren’t really getting the full stories that shape our quality of life. I completely agree with Hells Kitchen Guy. Fuck him and his complicity.
Jim Pickett
Yeah, wow, I keep forgetting that it was all Tim’s fault for AIDS and for Bush and for Cheney and for the War. I’m sure he should be nailed for Katrina and home mortgages and the current collapsing infrastructure throughout the levee-busting Midwest. He asked stupid softball questions and now we are lying in the puke and the shit of 7.5 years of lies, deceit, and gross negligience. And many of us are already dead from AIDS due to Tim’s nose up Reagan’s crack. Tim’s fault. All of it. Not ours. He
is responsible, oh, and with, of course, some help from the media cabal. WE were all smarter than all of them, WE spoke up and WE voted and WE protested and WE knew, knew, knew that we were being sold a bill of goods. So…. WE had nothing to do with any of it coming to pass. We, ordinary Americans were screwed over by Tim, time and time again. Damn him! And, right, all this annoying media coverage of Tim’s death is the FIRST time the various networks have covered something AD NAUSEUM, and ignored REAL NEWS (besides, um, polygamists in Texas anyone? missing blonde girl anyone?) But, now that Tim is gone daddy gone, and once this self-indulgent orgy of memorial reflection ceases, undoubtedly stupid news of all manner will be no more – Tim is gone after all – and we as a nation and a world can enter a new Post Russert era, a New Enlightenment. And it shall be noted here, on Queerty.
ggreen
WOW it seems some of the commenters really do pay attention. Of course we have the Greek Chorus chanting “get over it†“don’t speak ill of the deadâ€. As if forgetting the past improves the future. One of the reasons we are in this political mess we are in is that no one held Nixon and the corrupt republicans accountable for Watergate etc. Like vampires they keep coming back for more blood. Cheney was a big time Nixon supporter as were the Bushes. Conservatism/Republicanism have failed miserably and repeatedly for the last 12 years starting with Newt’s Contract for America. Tim Russert constantly touted Gingrich and the “new†republican majorities as geniuses and the way of the future. All at the behest of his corporate paymasters GE/NBC and Jack Welsh.
fredo777
Who gives a rat’s ass? The dude was a reporter. He reported the news + some people appreciated his presence + others are blasting the guy post-mortem for his opinions (personal or supplied).
Mayhaps you should “get over it” + stop “speaking ill of the dead”. He’s gone. This finger-pointing is useless. Let the guy rest in peace.
An Other Greek
uhm, Fredo777, I can speak for myself, and I have been “blasting” Russert for years.
And so have many others, if not the MSM, who are
1-self-serving
2-greedy
3-business oriented, and NOT ethic-oriented
Russert ENABLED and shilled for the liars and cynics REPEATEDLY. Follow the link above if you have any doubts. Media Matters and Crooks and Liars have -ample- archives.
Now as far as respecting the dead, well, yes, sure, I would like to do that, and even grieve a little for such an omnipresent American, but,
how am I supposed to do that?, when all I hear/read are lies about his legacy, pushed down my throat by his same fellow liars???
And, how am I supposed to “respect” his death when it has turned into a dollar/rating-driven circus??? Is that respect?
Let’s not delude ourselves, let others do that.
Russert was a -power-player- first. I doubt his journalism, and as a matter of fact I accuse him of being a BIG part of the problem. He wasn’t “just a journalist”, he was a quintessential insider who imposed a very false air of “gravitas” from his bully pulpit!
I would like to “get over it” but how? and why? I am sorry he died young, but his legacy must reflect the truth.
——————————————————-
ggreen
In case you haven’t figured it out by now Fredo777 is a “concern troll†tying to get traffic on his lame Youtube home page.
Thomas Delayed
I think #37 did a great job of summing up the entire event. We are just in the 3rd day of
the Ronnie Reagan style death watch. Be sure to purchase your memorial plate early.
fredo777
Ggreen, a). I’m not a troll of any kind.
b). Everyone is able to link to a homepage of choice; I chose that one + couldn’t care less how “lame” you think it is.
c). Fuck you + the horse you rode in on.
RPCV
Ok everyone please leave Freddy777 alone. He’s just trying to be a typical bleeding heart liberal Democrat by saying we should respect the dead and honor Tim’s past accomplishments as a great newsman, while refusing to accept the truth and all the many shortcomings of the person/policy/effect on people, etc. As long as we can all sing Kumbaya, Freddy777 is happy. The world doesn’t need Kumbaya, rather it needs balls to demand law and order and to hunt down and kill those many thousands of radical Islamists bent on killing us.
fredo777
RPCV, I don’t give two shits what you think of me. It just so happens, though, that you’ve read some posts + jumped to a conclusion about my entire outlook. Not surprisingly, you’re wrong.
Also, don’t call me Freddy.
RPCV
FredO777, you indicated earlier that you weren’t going to respond to any more of my postings, especially those referencing you. Can’t adhere to your own principles/assertions???
Mr C
Hey Fredo777
STOP wasting your time. Just another internet TROLL who wouldn’t have the NERVE to spew it in your face
Just BREATHE and EXHALE!
fredo777
I’m well aware of what I indicated. First of all, though, it’s my prerogative to change my mind. What’s more, I do tend to skip over the majority of your posts, unless I glimpse my name.
Should I change my mind + decide to completely ignore your posts again in the future, I’ll do that.
fredo777
Mr. C, I’m aware of how RPCV operates. I’ve dealt with his type before + (in spite of myself) I sometimes enjoy engaging trolls like him for my own amusement.
RPCV
Fredo777: You’re right. For my own amusement……
An Other Greek
geez, have some respect for the dead.
————————————————-
Charley
Several days now of Tim on teevee. I am sick of reporters becoming the news. He was a Bush operative.
This 24/7 Russet wankery doesn’t stop, as bad as Katie Couric’s X-Ray’s of her husband/s colon cancer.
ggreen
Ain’t it great the way TV works? TV anchorman with ties to many corrupt political and media establishments dies = round the clock coverage for days. Government lies us into war (Downing Street memo) Thousands killed = No Coverage, Pentagon/Bushies pay retired generals with financial ties to war profiteers to go on TV and sell the war = media black out.
Corporate media has a life style to sell you but you can’t afford it and you’ll be in debt for the rest of your life paying for it. But hey isn’t Paris Hilton a bitch and all the judges on American Idol are your personal friends. What happened to that stimulus check from Uncle Sam did you buy a lot more shit that you don’t need, so you had to rent a storage locker to put the other crap you don’t need in? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice but then send me some more money and put more channels on cable!
Joe Lieberman
This newsflash just in…..Tim Russert is STILL dead……Enough already – get over it – he was a fucking journalist, not Jesus Christ! What the fuck with all this coverage over some overweight 58 year old blowhard? Enough…..returning to regular programming…..
RPCV
Enough already. Jeez, put him in the ground and be done with it. Time to move on………
RPCV
OOOps, forgot. One last comment. Will the goddesses upstairs please take, in short order: Sen. Ted Kennedy, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, Sen. Harry Reid, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Justice John Paul Stevens, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Justice David Souter, Prince George’s County Executive Jack Johnson, Sen. Dick Durbin, and my neighbor who insists on playing the music way too loud.
With these gone, we’ll all be able to sing “Happy Days Are Here Again.”
An Other Greek
RPCV
Reptilian
Provocatour’s
Cancerous
Vomit
—————————————————-
Mr C
Hey Another Greek.
Like that one…..AMEN!