Spectator

Falling over ourselves to pay tribute to Tim Russert

Posted on June 23, 2008 by Douglas Bell


Tim Russert, in case you hadn’t noticed, is dead. The longest serving host of the NBC political chat show Meet the Press passed to his eternal reward recently, and the Excited States of America lived up (or down) to its somewhat sardonic anglophilic nickname. At his memorial service, Bruce Springsteen sang and eulogized via video hookup. This in tribute to Russert’s working-class roots in benighted Buffalo (a city rapidly overtaking Detroit as a symbol of rust belt decline). At the “request of the family,” McCain and Obama sat together at the funeral, implying that, even in death, only Tim could reconcile America’s political divide. And more or less anyone in the media who deemed his passing worth mentioning was slavering in their praise. Even the New Yorker’s cleverer-than-thou David Remnick heaped on the praise with just the right touch of superiority.

Tim Russert, who died Friday at the age of fifty-eight, was a gifted and cunning Sunday-morning interrogator who, while never quite disturbing his genuine persona or television’s conventions, used his outsized position on Meet the Press to rattle many more politicians than any of his on-air rivals did.

One exception was the Globe's Rick Salutin, who took a mighty dump on the festival of hagiography:

There was nostalgia. Someone called Tim Russert “an Irish cop on a corner in a neighbourhood called America.” In the impending era of Obama, it sounded like a longing for an all-white America that never was. The U.S. of Going My Way, with Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald as Irish priests. The latter could have played Tim, too, and vice versa—before all the changes now being called for by blacks, Hispanics or this Obama guy, whatever he is.

That last crack pretty much defines the difference between a skeptic and a cynic. Still, if that’s what it takes to get over the general swoon, so be it. Tim Russert was famous for being on television, full stop. Even some efforts to put the whole schmear in context valiantly miss the point. Julia Keller, the culture critic for the Chicago Tribune, writes that:

I tend to believe that the Russert grief-o-thon emanated as much from the books he wrote as from the TV show he ran. Books such as Big Russ and Me (2004) and Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters From Daughters and Sons (2006) weren’t just vanity projects by a guy with high name recognition; they were heartfelt meditations on the importance of work and family in a world that sometimes forgets about the gratification of physical labor and the powerful bonds that link parents and children.

Nice try. Russert’s populist persona—Homo Americanus—was bound up with the boob tube as inextricably as The Fonz and Simon Cowell. Much like the mass media ululation at his death, Russert’s books are merely an outgrowth of the constellation of qualities that made him good TV.

• Tim Russert Doesn’t Want You to Read This [Huffington Post]
• Tim Russert [New Yorker]
• The man they called Tim [Globe and Mail]
• The tempest over Tim: Did the media overplay Russert’s death? [Chicago Tribune]

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leaf June 23, 2008 at 12:56 p.m.

“Tim Russert, who died Friday….”

As in the Friday before last, not last Friday. Talk about last week’s news…
Maybe you ought to quit spying on dependable and genuine posters, mister bell, and get with the program.

Could this be the beginning of the decline of the great blog fraud? Sure looks like it…

Fintan June 23, 2008 at 3:44 p.m.

I rather liked Tim Russert, who came across as a pleasant person, although I don't watch NBC very often. May he rest in peace.

I see daddy's little plaything is back again, must be very frustrated now that the phone numbers here have been changed. Mind you, I estimate that she might get the right one by trying about 100 combinations.

Poor little thing! Daddy really has a lot to answer for when his selfishness left such an angry and impotent loser to live for and by hate.

ROFL at the pathetic thing.

And how many days has His Lardship been in the slammer now? Oh, well, lost count, but it's still at least 1,650 to go. Morticia will be vastly more dilapidated than she is no by the time he shuffles out.

Karma be praised.

☺ ☺ ☺

leaf June 23, 2008 at 3:55 p.m.

huolellinen hiipiä. puhdistaen johtuen

Casey June 23, 2008 at 4:26 p.m.

Fintan June 23, 2008 at 3:44 p.m.

Great description of the blog's resident sewer rat - leaf....lol. Must be terrible to even stand next to this " thing " - imagine what it must smell like, living in a sewer. Poor old Raggedy Ann aka leaf - reduced to having once been a sicko parental plaything and now trying out its sicko rage on anyone and everyone - poor little smelly and disgusting creep that stands ( or sits ) at street corners begging for handouts......LOL.

Fintan June 24, 2008 at 1:18 a.m.

leafie is learning Finnish:

This is what she has learnt: "huolellinen hiipiä. puhdistaen johtuen". In English: "My daddy did terribly dirty things to me."

Do elaborate, leafie.

☺ ☺ ☺

leaf June 24, 2008 at 2:51 a.m.

with pleasure old perv.... if i understand my new finnish friend correctly, you will be treated to an inside out cleansing.

"The idea of unwanted conjunctions with his anus in the not-too-distant future is certainly an added incentive to head for the hills."

you could say that again. or something close. enjoy!

Casey June 24, 2008 at 6:14 a.m.

leaf June 24, 2008 at 2:51 a.m.

" with pleasure old perv.... if i understand my new finnish friend correctly, you will be treated to an inside out cleansing. "

All this garbage you state re a " cleansing ", what did you have in mind, ratbait?......lol. Since nothing is too creepy ,disgusting or nauseating for you to post, let's hear a description from an expert porn freak aka leaf. We dare you to demonstrate for this blog what type of " cleansing " you are referring to.......
Meh......

leaf June 24, 2008 at 10:55 a.m.

"We dare you to demonstrate... blah blah blah"

what else? would you like to be spoon fed too? does your imagination only stretch to rats, sewer, mice and bats?

ask yourself: what type of cleansing does a pedophile merit?

if you can't find the answer, call law enforcement. hahahahaha

Fintan June 24, 2008 at 1:16 p.m.

Good comments, Casey. The best way to deal with our resident nasty is to laugh at it. Poor thing, it should take a leaf from the book of Ms. Fritzl, who suffered even worse abuse than leafie, but seems to be a kind and caring person rather than the bitter little wannabee mischiefmaker that leafie is. Poor thing, can't figure out my altered phone number, so clearly is not in contact with another nutbar from Finland. If she was, said nutbar, even one with an IQ barely in double digits, would be able to figure out what an old phone number in the (rather smart) Töölö area where I live has become.

Oh, yes, leafie (Barbie?), do continue with the threats, and make them a little more explicit. It must be nearly seven months since you promised your "friends" would be calling round. LOL

It would be such fun to catch one of them. I don't believe you are even capable of grasping how little Supo (ask your friend who they are) like neo-nazis or any other kind of terrorist. And ask yourself why no terrorist has ever succeeded in carrying out an action in Finland. Could it be that the guys (and gals) at Supo are actually very good at doing the job we taxpayers pay them to do?

Now grab your little raggedy doll, have a cup of tea and lie down and try not to sob too much when you remember what daddy did to you.

ROFLMAO @ you pathetic little thing.

Casey June 24, 2008 at 3:15 p.m.

leaf June 24, 2008 at 10:55 a.m.

Spoonfeeding aside, I think Fintan and I would love to read your description of how you, leaf, would accomplish this " cleansing " as you so delicately put it. Perhaps you are afraid such demonstration might, in point of fact, constitute a threat to harm and THIS is what terrifies you because you are aware that you have been warned that you are being carefully monitored by law enforcement agengies who already know your identity, location and isp
and ip address.
Nope - I think you are simply a perverted and demented little monster who loves to pretend how fearless he is .....NOT and is basically a decrepit, contorted, ugly little creature that hides away in a smelly dark sewer of your own creation, shades drawn, with your only friends as the rats, bats, mice and insects that keep you company.
And the highlight of your day is to log onto child and adult porn sites and when ultimately your hands get tired from all that errrr " work ", you log onto this blog for a kind of shall we say " cooling off "...LOL.

leaf June 24, 2008 at 3:50 p.m.

"...you are being carefully monitored by law enforcement agengies..."

hi cops! heat! police officers! law enforcement agengents!
how's the monitoring going? been able to trace my contact in finland yet? you know.... the guy from surka who'll terrorize, oops, i mean conduct the pedophile cleansing...?
by the way, could you tell the 2 bozos on the blog that if there were more pedophile cleansings, the world would be a better place.

Fintan June 24, 2008 at 4:17 p.m.

Good night, Casey, always a joy to read your posts. It's almost as great a pleasure to read the maniacal rantings of that poor creature leaf, the fantasist who dreams of collaboration with nebulous idiots like the neo-nazi jerkoffs in "surka" - a better name might be "surkea", which means "wretched", "miserable", "pitiful", "lousy" or "sorry". LOL

Now that leafie is studying Finnish, she ought to ask her pals in SF what "isän kyrpä vitussa ja perslävissä" means. Hint: it has to do with daddy's "distinguishing characteristic" and the two orifices of the little rag doll into which he inserted same.

ROFLMAO @ the idiot.

☺ ☺ ☺

P.S. When will people from your part of the world learn that adjectives denoting nationality are capitalised? E.g. Canadian rather than canadian.

Schmuck

Casey June 24, 2008 at 4:32 p.m.

leaf June 24, 2008 at 3:50 p.m.

You have NO clue who or what is monitoring you, you ( what did Fintan call you and rightfully so ) - SCHMUCK. You are a defeated little schmuck who clearly has no one in Finland or Surka or wherever....you are a liar - you know it and law enforcement monitoring you is aware of same as well as Fintan and I do not believe a word that you post. Nevermind the Surka or Finnish friend, creep, have the guts you claim to possess to present your cleansing demo yourself or are you a ratty coward also?......Transparent as they come - pun intended...lol. How's the palm feel, by the way? Sore?.....lmao.
'Night Fintan - pleasant dreams and I enjoy YOUR posts as well....:-). Clearly, we have the resident sewer rat aka leaf on the defensive now and running scared via its dumb bluffing posts.......lol. Mission almost accomplished

leaf June 24, 2008 at 8:33 p.m.

if law enforcement knows i'm lying, why oh why are they monitoring me??? who do they actually believe they'll catch?
looks like you've put together quite the sharp "group" there, casey...

per your request: i'm sorry but i don't have a cleansing demo at the present time. i'll be glad to ask my pal from surka to record fickton's cleansing in detail and send you a video. how's that?

Casey June 24, 2008 at 9:43 p.m.

leaf June 24, 2008 at 8:33 p.m.

" if law enforcement knows i'm lying, why oh why are they monitoring me??? who do they actually believe they'll catch?
looks like you've put together quite the sharp "group" there, casey...

per your request: i'm sorry but i don't have a cleansing demo at the present time. i'll be glad to ask my pal from surka to record fickton's cleansing in detail and send you a video. how's that? "

Cowardly creep / ratbait - Meh......You have proved our assessment of you as a dumb and completely monstrous COWARD......blech
And yes, you ARE indeed being carefully monitored, bluffo...

Casey June 25, 2008 at 6:26 a.m.

leaf June 24, 2008 at 2:51 a.m.
" The idea of unwanted conjunctions with his anus in the not-too-distant future is certainly an added incentive to head for the hills."

That leaf continues, after so many many months, to focus upon sodomizing Fintan ( and I suspect others on this blog as well as elsewhere ) in every possible and perverted manner, is clearly indicative of a mind and psyche and soul that is very very disturbed, perverted and just plain sick. Leaf is really beyond help from psychiatrists at this point in time and clearly requires being forced into a heavily guarded psychiatric facility for the criminally insane for the remainder of its / his / her life. Frightening is too mild a term to describe this monstrous pervert. This is serious business and it is fervently hoped that someone from law enforcement who is undoubtedly monitoring this creep finally steps in and arrests this sexually perverted individual once and for all.

Fintan June 25, 2008 at 8:01 a.m.

Daddy's and the extended family's little plaything is still writhing in impotent frustration. Poor little thing, can't even make nuisance calls at night now, so she resorts to threats and intimidation - equally futile.

Thus, this drivel, worse than even some of the stuff Morticia has written: " The idea of unwanted conjunctions with his anus in the not-too-distant future is certainly an added incentive to head for the hills."

Point of information: no hills to head for. Finland is as flat as Morticia's chest would be if you took away the silicone. Does anyone remember Morticia? His Lardship Baron Black's wife Barbara Amielticket. She seems to have vanished into well-deserved oblivion - even that pathetic rag Toothpaste seems to have dumped her.

Guess I'll just have to rely on my (legally held) Glock.

They're pretty strict against using weapons to lethal effect here, but I think they'd understand and let me off with a fine if I just happened to kneecap a neo-nazi who invaded my home with malicious intent.

Poor little leafie, if she doesn't know what kneecapping means, maybe she should ask her nutbar friend in the marina in Victoria BC what it means and, in view of my history, whether it is as empty a threat as daddy's little rag doll specialises in.

ROFLMAO @ the gobbler.

☺ ☺ ☺

Well said, everything you say, Casey.

Having trouble sleeping? Here's a perfect soporific:

http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/colu...

Yadda, yadda, yadda - Nixon was really a good, wise, decent, honest, nice guy. Next week Bubba's cellmate will tell you about some of the undeservedly unrecognised aspects of that animal- and children-loving, artistically gifted, romantically inclined but sadly misunderstood sensitive soul and visionary Adolf Schickelgruber.

LOL

leaf June 25, 2008 at 1 p.m.

“Thus, this drivel, worse than even some of the stuff Morticia has written: " The idea of unwanted conjunctions with his anus in the not-too-distant future is certainly an added incentive to head for the hills."

OMFG!!!!!

Who has written this drivel, worse than even some of the stuff Morticia has written?

YES, YES, YES ---> fickton himself!!!
~ Fintan August 28, 2007 at 2:47 a.m. ~

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Try to live this one down, you self-proclaimed drivel writer!

What a keeper! ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺ ☺

Hahahahaha hohohohoho hehehehehehe laughing all the way to the moon and back!!!!!!! You made my day!!!

Fintan June 25, 2008 at 1:12 p.m.

Ha, ha, ha, leafie. Glad I made your day. Now daddy can make your night. Hee-hee-hee

P.S. Any luck with the phone calls?

leaf June 25, 2008 at 1:30 p.m.

"this drivel, worse than even some of the stuff Morticia has written"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

you got that right!

leaf June 25, 2008 at 3:21 p.m.

fickton can recognize drivel when he reads it. he just can't remember writing it.

"this drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel, drivel.....WORSE than even some of the stuff Morticia has written"

help me, i'm dying.....laughing!

in the blog's top ten list, this is definitely numero uno!
Bravo fickbozo!

Casey June 25, 2008 at 5:08 p.m.

leaf June 25, 2008 at 1 p.m.
leaf June 25, 2008 at 3:21 p.m.

Yup, Fintan. We have the creep on the defensive now...lol. Its " laughter " is simply coverup for terror, knowledge that it has finally been nailed as in caught with errr its pants down and running in fear for its life that will end in a prison for the criminally nuts aka insane. The type of " laughter " it posts with the " hee hee hee's, hahahaha's,; the " omfg " yadda, yadda, yadda are all dead giveaways to somone who who has clearly gone over the edge.
The more this monstrous creep and liar posts, the deeper the proverbial hole it digs for itself and thus alerts those who are monitoring this behavior to begin the process of getting leaf into the " system ". Once inside the system aka bureaucracy and red tape, it is next to impossible and takes months if not years to extricate oneself - providing of course, leaf is found to be of err sound mind.

leaf June 25, 2008 at 6:04 p.m.

Being boring, repetitious and insipid does not merit a cleansing.

[*Pheww* thinks casey]

- That’s right casey. No cleansing for you.
- Yeah! what do I get? What do I get?
- You get an outing
- I’ve already outed myself, twice!
- I know. Now I am going to out you. In the realz world. ☺

leaf June 26, 2008 at 12:24 a.m.

Speechless in Spectator, casey?

i think i hit a nerve. a bald spot in the big league.

"questionable ethics from gender challenged, multiple personality blogger"

sounds good?

leaf June 26, 2008 at 2:09 p.m.

hey jello.... i'm working on a PR memo about the blog and am fact checking.
you did describe yourself as a female chinese prison guard, correct?

leaf June 26, 2008 at 2:10 p.m.

oops... wrong thread.

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