The Canonization of Russert is Building
Hyperbole. Over and over and over. Why did Russert have to die at the beginning of the weekend when news is slow?
Can we be far from St. Tim of Buffalo?
Most bigwigs have settled into a “he was a great journalist” reaction now that the spinmeisters have had a chance to sleep on it, so they are coming around to my first reaction.
But their still are a few who are just nuts.
Barbara Walters:
“There is no one who knew Tim, and that includes millions of Americans who felt they knew him too, who isn’t deeply shocked and saddened by his death. Tim was everyone’s idea of what a journalist should be and he made us proud. He interviewed me just one month ago for his weekly television show and much of our conversation had to do with his love for his father, Russ, and his son, Luke.
Millions who felt they knew him? Does she have such little respect for our intellect to think that people on TV are really like what we see? Apparently so. “he interviewed me… and much of the conversation was about…” his dad and son. Which was is BaBa? I thought the interviewer listened to the person being interviewed. She needs to retire to The View permanently.
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi
Today, broadcast journalism lost one of its giants, who will be remembered along with names like Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, and David Brinkley.
Oh, puh-leeze to put him in the same category as those people is just ludicrous. Absolutely laughable.
In the big scheme of things Tim Russert was Just. Not. That. Important.
UPDATE: The death of Tim Russert at age 58 is garnering the sorts of blog attention usually reserved for presidents and popes. (emphasis mine)
UPDATE: Conan got the memo. His late night COMEDY show paid their tribute. Looks like if you’re NBC you pay tribute.
Will this continue up to his interment? Will Today devote more to Russert?
If Cronkite dies, CBS will have to go black for 24 hours to top this!
CLARIFICATION: (Based on Sue’s comment.) I wouldn’t have had a problem with NBC taking the Meet the Press Hour and talk about him, his family, his dog, his Aunt Minnie, whatever. But it’s going on and on and on.
More overkill: During the golf tournament on NBC, they took time to pay more tribute… Golf? Russert?
Hello fellow boomer blogger (altho my blog’s mostly about sex),
You’re a brave guy – I’ve felt battered by all the endless repetition about Russert. I know it’s freaky when someone dies completely unexpectedly, but the “canonization” (good word!) is expecially strange this time. It’s all about what a great son and father he was. Not really about his journalism – just this fixation on his dad Big Russ and his boy Luke (I had never known their names before this weekend.) Hey, there’s a lot of people who are good parents and good kids. In fact, one EXPECTS a person to be a good parent. Why must I listen to hours of this maudlin family stuff on every channel?
Thanks for writing from the heart,
Sue
Sue Katz’s last blog post..Older? Into fashion? Get some dark tights and botox.
@Sue: thanks for the support. I’ve added a clarification based on your comment.
Yeah, they’ve been wallpapering the coverage for much of the weekend. Well, he seems like a good guy and Ben says he was very insightful about the last couple of elections, but enough is enough.
Plus, guys in their fifties keeling over from sudden heart attacks freaks me out, since I have an abiding fear of that happening to Ben.
Gretchen’s last blog post..Lizard Shit.
@Gretchen: no argument, but he was a pundit. I hate pundits. But as far as pundits he pontificated the least – if at all.
Yah well. At least he got paid for blathering his opinion all over the place. I wish you and I could get on board with that shit! And pundits not pontificate? Hard to credit. (I never watched the guy, at least not apart from 3 a.m. while insomniac.)
Gretchen’s last blog post..Lizard Shit.
Since I don’t watch network or TV news, I managed to avoid this whole thing. I wasn’t even aware of this guy or the fact that he died until I read it HERE.
However, today even Ed Schultz on Talk America had a segment about him with comments from callers. And yes, indeed, they were getting ready to declare him a saint.
Oh, GLS, how often my thoughts return to you.
me again’s last blog post..Wedding hell–the end of the story
@me again: You help make my point – people outside the beltway just don’t have the same importance as those inside. It wasn’t a topic of conversation among us commoners.
I still can’t grasp why insiders are having this Love Fest for Timmy.
Because politics is same-old, same-old. Talking about St. Tim is something new, at least until Dub-yuh decides to bomb Iran next week. Then that will give them something else to talk about, at least for the following week.
me again’s last blog post..Wedding hell–the end of the story