You can all be sad over Heath Ledger ...

[veronica_rich]

(Who was a good actor and I'm sure a very nice man, BTW. Not saying anything bad.)

But for me, the death of Tim Russert is shocking and particularly sad. Russert was accused by the Bush administration for a good while as the person who leaked Valerie Plame's name to the public (he didn't), and NBC actually defended him instead of throwing him to the wolves (coughDanRathercough) - after which he went on tear of hard questions to Bush backers and staffers.

No journalist is perfect (except maybe Edward R. Murrow), and I did see the guy stumble once in a rare while by not asking a question he should've - but more often than not, he knew how to ask questions, would keep pushing an issue as far as he could, and always had proof to back up his questions and assertions, to put public officials in their place if they tried to lie or back up over themselves.

Dead at 58. RIP.

Comments

[flybaby014563.livejournal.com]

I cannot believe that Tim Russert died. That's just...no words can explain how sad I feel right now :(

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Yep.

And yet, Bill O'Reilly continues to breathe. So does Rush Limbaugh. The world is not a just place.

[flybaby014563.livejournal.com]

Yeah I know what you mean. I hate those two motherfuckers with a passion, and of course I know I'm not the only one.

Tim Russert was such a great guy too. This just breaks my heart :(

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

The loss of any good, effective, ethical journalist in this day and age is very bad news indeed. There's precious few of them left. I suspect we're better off here in the UK for that sort of journalist, but even so the world needs all of them.

[porridgebird.livejournal.com]

I just heard this on the radio, driving home from work. 58, wow.

[solitaryraven.livejournal.com]

I feel that way too.

[kahva.livejournal.com]

And yet, Bill O'Reilly continues to breathe. So does Rush Limbaugh. The world is not a just place.

What's the line - "Only the good die young"? That should tell you my opinion of O'Reilly and Limbaugh.

RIP, Mr. Russert. Lord knows we still needed you here, and need more journalists like you.

[a-silver-rose.livejournal.com]

The way people are talking about him, you could put his photo in the dictionary under "fair and balanced". As for O'Reilly and Limbaugh, I don't like wishing death on anyone. I prefer to think those two are here to remind us to be vigilant in protecting our rights (in a weird, twisted way).

[justawench.livejournal.com]

"Only the good die young"?

If that's the case, they'll live to be 100.

[kahva.livejournal.com]

That's exactly what I'm afraid of. Though, isn't Rush already like 175? ;)

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

No, he just thinks that's his IQ.

[kahva.livejournal.com]

Oh, so that's not how many years out of date his ideas are then, okay. Yep, probably what he thinks his IQ is.

Knew I had underestimated how many years his ideas were out of date by, dang it all...

[veronica-rich.livejournal.com]

Oh, only by a millennium or so ...

[kahva.livejournal.com]

I blame flybaby014563's icon for distracting me. I'm easily distracted by the sexy. :)

Which is yet another reason I need to remind myself to take my pocketbook outside with me the next time we have a fire alarm here at work and need to evacuate. I could've distracted myself from the heat by taking pictures of good-looking firemen. ;)

Now if any of them looked like Will, Jack or Norrington, there's a sliiiiiiiight chance we might would have more false fire alarms for the firemen to response to out here. {Puts on innocent kitten look}

[justawench.livejournal.com]

The chemicals he's ingested ought to preserve him to that age, anyway.

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, this is such a shocking event, I can't help but harken back to my X-Files watching days.

It's no doubt Tim Russert could and did piss off the wrong people, especially with the whole Valerie Plame incident.

As Depeche Mode said, "I don't want to start any blasphemous rumors, but God's got a sick sense of humor. And when I die, I expect to find Him laughing."