I enjoyed the journalistic work of Tim Russert very much. Mr. Russert died today of a heart attack at the age of 58.
Russert was an old-school kind of guy with and old-school approach to his craft. He would have fit in well with the likes of Cronkite or Brinkley. He moderated the oldest of hourly news shows, Meet the Press, for 17 years. Which is not to say that he was in the least stodgy, he was not. He brought a vitality to the shows with his honest curiosity and love of the subject, which was usually politics.
You have to love a guy who can write a book like Big Russ and Me, his autobiography and tribute to his father. A graduate of old-fashioned Catholic schools, the product of Irish roots, normal middle income parents, and a nun-teacher named Sister Lucille. Russert was an American boy from Buffalo who made it big -- the right way: hard work, faithfulness to family and friends, love of the true and the good. It sounds old-fashioned -- and it is, but he made it very present and attractive. I loved this guy and the way he lived.
In the last few years you could see him on Hardball or one of the other MSNBC shows and you could see who was the most respected and liked, it was Russert. Colleague, Chris Matthews said it best, " I think we lost the quarterback tonight."
May he eternally rest in peace.
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