Tim Russert Dead At Age 58
Tim Russert, arguably the toughest interviewer on television, collapsed and died at his office in the NBC Washington Bureau this afternoon, reportedly of a heart attack. He was 58 years old.
As Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent Andrea Mitchell said during the breaking news coverage this afternoon on MSNBC, Russert's Sunday morning talk show "Meet The Press" was considered "the 'Meet The Press' primary" when it came to political campaigns. The big question was always what candidates would run the journalistic gauntlet that was Russert and which ones would survive it?
If you watched one of his interviews you could always be certain that whatever question you were thinking of asking the politician sitting opposite him, Russert would ask it. My favorite moments were always when a politico thought he or she could escape without answering the question by simply spouting political jargon.
It would be then that Russert would say in that distinctive voice of his, something like, "But Senator, that wasn't the question. The question was..." That was always good for a laugh. And also good for us as voters because Russert held their feet to the fire so that we could make more informed voting choices.
President Bush who's in Paris released a statement of condolence that said in part that he and Mrs. Bush were "very fond of him."
"Tim would want us to say he won the lottery in life." Brian Williams, "NBC Nightly News" anchor said. And referring to NBC's Washington Bureau, Williams said Russert was the political "go to" guy.
"If it had to do with politics the question that always followed was, have you run it by Tim?"
Russert's survivors include his son Luke and his wife Maureen.
David Gregory, also during this afternoon's MSNBC coverage talked about Russert's personal side. "He loved kids," he said. "He loved his own and anybody else's." There was nothing that he loved more than "providing for his boy."
"He was always teaching us to be as rigorous as he was," Andrea Mitchell said. "All of us are the better for knowing him. Our hearts are breaking.
RIP Tim.
