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R.I.P. TIM RUSSERT: Reactions to passing of NBC news veteran from Obama, Sharpton, Jackson, Gumbel and others.
*"Meet the Press" began Sunday morning with dimmed lights and no one sitting in the moderator's chair occupied just last week and for the past 16 years by host Tim Russert, the beloved NBC news titan who died suddenly on Friday.
Russert, 58, was in the network's Washington D.C. bureau recording voice-overs for yesterday's "Meet the Press" broadcast when he collapsed of a heart attack. He had just returned from a trip to Italy with his wife, Maureen Orth, and son, Luke, to celebrate Luke's recent graduation from Boston College.
It was Tom Brokaw, the former “Nightly News” anchorman, who delivered the news on the air shortly after 3:30 p.m. Friday. In the minutes and hours that followed, journalists on his MSNBC cable news channel – Keith Olberman, Andrea Mitchell, Chuck Todd and Chris Matthews, among others – reported on the death as they, too, were still struggling to grasp what had happened. Competitors CNN and Fox News Channel also provided immediate and extended coverage of Russert's passing.
It was Brokaw who yesterday morning anchored "Meet the Press," the famous table and chair empty in tribute to the beloved newsman. Guests spoke in a semi-circle in front of the set. Reflections were offered by frequent "MTP" regulars – including Mike Barnacle, Gwen Ifill, James Carville, Marlee Matlin, and Doris Kearns Goodwin.
Listed below are some of the statements that have poured in from politicians, colleagues and friends of Tim Russert:
Sen. Barack Obama (Presumptive Democratic Presidential Nominee)
• I’ve known Tim Russert since I first spoke at the convention in 2004. He’s somebody who over time I came to consider, not only a journalist but a friend.
There wasn’t a better interviewer in TV, not a more thoughtful analyst of our politics and he was also one of the finest men I knew. Somebody who cared about America, cared about the issues, cared about family. I am grief-stricken with the loss and my thoughts and prayers go out to his family. And I hope that even though Tim is irreplaceable, that the standard that he set in his professional life and his family life are standards that we all carry with us in our own lives.”
Congressman Charles Rangel (Chairman of House Ways and Means Committee)
• "He was a quintessential New Yorker who had a lifelong love affair with his hometown of Buffalo and its football team, the Buffalo Bills. We in the delegation always admired him as one of us, as a real New Yorker."
Reverend Al Sharpton (National Action Network)
• "I was shocked and saddened to hear about the passing of Tim Russert and the country has lost one of the best and fairest journalists to ever sit in a TV studio. I saw him recently and he told me fondly that people still approached him and called him 'Brother Russert' which was a title I came up with on an appearance of 'Meet the Press' several years ago. I have done his show several times and he was tough but fair and was one of the few journalists that one actually prepared to face because you knew he was the best prepared talk show host of his time. All the while he never stopped being a gentleman. He will be missed and he will always be respected.”
Rev. Jesse Jackson (Rainbow PUSH Coalition)
• "He took 'Meet the Press' to another level. Whenever you were the interviewee and he was the interviewer, you always had to have your seat belt on because he was always prepared. The irony is, he wrote that book about his father [2004's "Big Russ & Me"]. And now it's Father's Day, so Tim becomes kind of a Father's Day gift to heaven."
Bryant Gumbel (Former Host of "Today" Show while Russert was a Producer)
• "He truly was not just a giant in our industry. He was a wonderful, wonderful person, a fabulous friend, an incredible journalist, great father, big baseball fan. I just, I still can't believe Tim's gone. I really can't."
Tavis Smiley (Host of "Tavis Smiley" show on PBS)
• "Tim Russert was an authentic news journalist. His goal was always to seek the truth and then tell the story. When it comes to covering politics, Tim Russert was the oracle. I was honored to interview him and be interviewed by him, but I'll never forget the fun we had doing "Celebrity Jeopardy." He will be sorely missed."
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