I was shocked, stunned, and continue to be in a daze over the untimely and sad loss of my colleague, NBC’s Washington Bureau Chief and Moderator of Meet the Press, Tim Russert.
Tim Russert probably traveled even more than I did. Before his death, he actually had just come back from a trip to Italy with his wife and child.
I travel more than 400,000 miles a year, but I can tell you from experience that at least 25 percent of the time that I’d land in a destination, Tim had already beaten me there.
He was following the primary campaigns, on his book tour, getting the impossible interview, confirming the elusive guest.
He was a role model, a mentor to so many, someone who was deservedly one step ahead of all of us.
There are news anchors, but he was a real anchor, not just for the audience but for the people who worked with him and for him. He held everyone together, and we came to depend on that strength.
The funeral for Tim is taking place today in Washington. It will be an overflow crowd, and many tears will be shed … Tim’s death makes many of us in the news business question not what we do, nor how we do it, but whether it is worth it.
In Tim’s case, that’s a rhetorical question. His work was valuable and valued. He set the mark. It is now up to us to live up to the standards he set.
It is just hard to fathom how he will be replaced. You really cannot talk about politics or the American experience without remembering and thinking about Tim Russert. The answer, of course, is that while he will be succeeded, he can never be replaced.
By Peter Greenberg
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