Tim Russert, moderator of Meet the Press and NBC’s Washington Bureau Chief, died earlier today of a heart attack while recording voiceovers for Sunday’s program.
Tom Brokaw, looking a bit like he wanted to barf, delivered the news for NBC. He would later join a bleary-eyed Keith Olbermann on MSNBC to parse out, as best he could, the reasons why Russert’s life was cut short.
Russert’s 58 years were 17 shy of the average for American males, and a full two decades short of the overall US average, according to CDC numbers published in yesterday’s Washington Post. Seventeen years, it is worth noting, is the same number of years Russert hosted Meet the Press. The show is the oldest running program on television, having been on air for 61 years.
Newspaper editors nationwide have begun thumbing through the R’s in their cabinets of ready-made obituaries, with the New York Times being particularly quick on the draw. Bill Clinton got in on the action as well, interrupting four months of dementia and racism to offer these words:
Tim had a love of public service and a dedication to journalism that rightfully earned him the respect and admiration of not only his colleagues but also those of us who had the privilege to go toe to toe with him.
Congratulations are also in order, I think, for the large number of anchor people who have unabashedly lamented that Russert outlived his father. Campbell Brown’s deliciously simple “that’s now how it’s supposed to work” was among my favorites, as were Chris Matthews’ (hopefully drunken) comments about Tim having already faced judgment in the afterlife.
Irish Catholics…
