Tim Russert (1950-2008)

No, I didn't have any respect for Tim Russert's faux-journalistic enabling of the Bush crime syndicate through his rah-rah support of the illegal "war" in Iraq and his constant fluffing of maladministration officials, but this is one "liberal blog" that doesn't celebrate anyone's death. So RIP Li'l Russ.

No matter what his political bent and inability to challenge the Right, he seemed like he enjoyed his life and his family. He was only 58 -- much too young.

UPDATE (7:36 am 6/14/08): The hagiography is getting a bit much. As of this moment, it's still all Punkinhaid, all the time on all three major cable news networks. I can almost understand MSNBC's constant coverage -- after all, Russert was an NBC stalwart -- but to see "Remember Tim Russert" continuing on Fox News, let alone CNN's ongoing he's-still-dead treatment just goes to show everyone that the world Inside the Beltway and In the Village is vastly different than what we live in the rest of the country. I've even seen stories on Russert's death on ESPN and on the NFL Network.

Look, Russert's death is tragic and sad and unfortunate and all that, but he wasn't the president or the pope or even known at all to a vast majority of the American public. Sorry, Villagers, it's true. I'm quite confident more Americans knew, for example, who Heath Ledger was than knew of Tim Russert, yet the imbalance of coverage in their respective deaths is so far out of proportion to their news value, it's amazing.

Hey, Villagers, I'm sorry your friend died, but there's still an illegal war in Iraq and massive flooding in the Midwest and impeachment proceedings beginning in the House ... you know, real news. But I suppose it would be too much to ask you to do your jobs. After all, you haven't shown that you can do that for years now ...