Tim Russert dead at 58

What a sad bit of news today. Regardless of what you may have thought about his journalistic style, it's just way too early for someone who seemed fairly decent to check out.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Tim Russert, who pointedly but politely questioned hundreds of the powerful and influential as moderator of NBC's "Meet the Press," died Friday of an apparent heart attack. The network's Washington bureau chief was 58.

In addition to his weekly program, Russert made periodic appearances on the network's other news shows, was moderator for numerous political debates and wrote two best-selling books.

NBC interrupted its regular programming to announce Russert's death, and in the ensuing moments, familiar faces such as Tom Brokaw, Andrea Mitchell and Brian Williams took turns mourning his loss.

Williams called him "aggressively unfancy."

After seeing and absorbing this news, I'm slightly ashamed to admit that the next thing I thought of was a list of more deserving "journalists" to whom fate apparently had given a pass today. Honestly, I try not to let myself think along those lines.

Justice, and Karma, apparently, are both blind.