Shut Up
You can always change the channel, so John, Marcy, TBogg, Oliver, and you too Avedon, if you don’t have anything nice to say and you’re unsure about the timing of speaking ill of the dead . . . don’t.
I agree with absolutely everything you guys have to say, and I’ll agree with it later, at a slightly more appropriate time.
But I’m reminded of something said when we had wall-to-wall coverage of a diaper-wearing astronaut driving cross-country with murder in her heart, or when a doe-eyed bride disappeared that engendered 24 hour coverage. If the front page of every paper carries the same story and the cable news outlets devote hours and hours and hours to the same subject — that IS the news. Deal with it.
Respectfully if you can.
It’s their network, it’s their friend who passed away right in front of them. He was their leader, mentor, and often their conscience. The shock hasn’t worn off, let alone have they had adequate time to mourn. They can express their feelings anyway they want, engage in a week-long cathartic group hug if necessary. Don’t be petty. Go read something else if you don’t want to watch.
Tim Russert fell over dead right in the middle of the most historic presidential campaign ever, and he had placed his team front and center of it all. He was an institution that built an institution. Maybe he wouldn’t have wanted all the fuss and would have told them all to get back to work, but he’s not there.
Was there much to criticize there, you bet. Was he emblematic of many of the problems with the Village and the Versailles Press, of course. Did his gotcha style leave much to be desired, well nobody’s perfect. Were there times when he let the powerful off the hook too easily and enabled events with tragic consequences, I cannot argue with that.
You folks didn’t know him. I get the feeling he’s someone I would have liked to have known.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:52 am
Hey, if Williams and Tweety and Gregory and Olbermann and all of them want to go off somewhere to some little rental in the Hamptons and cry and hug and mourn all week long, that’d be fine.
I just don’t wanna see it on my TV screen, presented as *news*. Unless they make one of those snazzy CGI graphics for the open, something like “A Village Mourns”.
June 14th, 2008 at 8:57 am
…oh, and respectfully, “that IS the news. Deal with it”?
I think that’s kind of the point that the people you link to up top are making. They’re dealing with it. It may not seem as genteel as you might prefer, but I don’t think we’re obligated to join in on the mass gentility hypnosis just because everyone else is.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:22 am
I just don’t wanna see it on my TV screen
There’s a remarkably simple solution to this, and it’s called turning off the damn tube.
June 14th, 2008 at 9:47 am
Is this really the most historic presidential campaign evah?
June 14th, 2008 at 10:04 am
And just what “great” programing are we missing? Caught On Tape and Inside Prisons? This is actually better than the usual fare on MSNBC on Saturday afternoons. There’s some history and public interest stories intermixed in the navel gazing here.
June 14th, 2008 at 10:35 am
Mark, you’re being more than a little hysterical about this. Russert was a husband and a father. For that we mourn the family’s loss. He was a journalist of some note and some would say dubious note. All human life is precious and we mourn that loss, but this elevation in death is not warranted!
June 14th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Brian, yes it is.
tommy, I trust by “hysterical” you mean “funny,” as opposed to “overwrought.” If his extended family, which includes the network, wants to display their bereavement this way, on the air — and you don’t like it. As I and strasmangelo said, change the channel.
Just because he didn’t mean that much to you, doesn’t mean he didn’t mean that much to them — and you are in no position to judge their offer of tribute to their friend and colleague. It’s their network. They can do whateverthefuck they want with it. If they want to change it tomorrow into the 24/7 Scooby Doo playhouse, there’s not a thing you can do about it but change the channel.
But as you mock and bitch, think about this for one measly second of your cynical day. where else but America could the son of a garbageman get Russert’s job, let alone warrant the accolades he is now receiving.
If you don’t understand that the man was an institution, something that everyone takes for granted as enduring, worthy or ridicule and criticism, yet always going to be there — and that presumption has been shattered, maybe you should be watching MSNBC right now.
I’m not trying to lionize him. Not my place nor (as I said above in my agreement with the critics linked above) my inclination. It’s just that it’s obviously too soon. Give it a day or two.
But no one can deny the gravitas of his opinion. When Russert said the race was over, you knew who won. When he said it, the rest of the media took his lead. No one commanded such power — nor should they — but that’s the world we live in.
Big shoes to fill. Maybe part of the problems with the system he led will improve with the attempt to fill those shoes. But I don’t think he was the problem as much as all the others (many now publicly displaying their grief) who deferred, almost reverently, to his opinion. Maybe now they will think for themselves.
But this is a process. Let ‘em get through it.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:40 am
I’m with Mark on this. The guy’s been host for almost 17 years so he is an institution. Critiques can wait. We can respect the mourning period. I so rarely have my TV on anytime that I assure you, the burden of their grief indulgence has no impact on me while I watch movies.
Let’s all presume he was our next door neighbor and grant respectful consideration.
Sure, it would be civil if we could do that for 100,000 Iraqis who died too young, but as civilization goes, we’re nowheres near there yet.
June 14th, 2008 at 11:49 am
I assiduously avoid the Sunday morning circle jerks. I sympathize with Tim Russert’s family and those of his peers who are grief stricken over his untimely death. That is my reaction, and yes, I turned off the coverage and watched Becket instead.
June 14th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
This is one of those situations where I can understand both sides of the story. It’s got to be tough when it’s your friend who dies and that becomes the story. Nonetheless, these are professionals who know that doing their jobs often involves setting their own personal emotional investments aside. Not an easy thing to do, to be certain, but that’s what professionals do.
I had occasional issue with Russert, but would that we could all inspire such heartfelt remembrances when we shuffle off our own mortal coil. By all indications he was good people…and perhaps that’s what get lost here- the humanity. Whether we’re talking about politicians, journalists, or bloggers, we’re all people- which is far more important than whatever hat we happen to wear.
My heart goes out to Russert’s family, especially his father. No parent ever wants, or expects, to outlive their children.
Life’s a bitch…and then you die. Any questions?