Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A first-person experience from one of our readers - Tim Russert's Memorial Service


Greetings to the keepers of VivaChuckTodd,

I am not certain if any of you are local to the DC area and didn't want to post this at large to the site, but I attended the wake this afternoon for Tim Russert along with easily 1,000 other people and actually spoke to Chuck. He truly appeared to be like a man who lost his father. I was amazed by who was there (given they are holding a private memorial) I saw at least half the NBC crew there along with many from other networks and most astonishingly - Tim Russert's son and wife were there greeting mourners who had come to pay their respects. It was unbelievably moving and horribly sad, both were tremendously brave. When I spoke to Chuck he was still obviously distraught and having a hard time with the idea moving forward. He was overwhelmed by the outpouring for Tim and to all of them at the Washington bureau. I said to him in wishing my condolences that the best way we honor Tim is to ensure we get people out and voting on November 4th. He concurred and I told him I could only imagine how hard is was for him this week but that we were going to be looking to him to gain that understanding of what was happening in the election because I believe that is what Tim would have wanted. He appeared very touched by the outpouring of tributes and there were many fans of the blog standing in line with me (I discovered this as we started to share stories).

Dalissa
(MovieMom)


5 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I feel so bad. I never really knew how much Tim Russert meant to so many people. I feel bad for The Chuck. He was so deeply touched by TR, the pain he must feel must be so enormous. I still cry when I watch the coverage and the rememberances.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for posting this. I had been wondering how he was doing and I think your words to him perfectly summed up what I would have loved to have conveyed too. Thanks again.

Edited to add:
I thought everyone might be interested in seeing pictures of the "Russert rainbow" that appeared immediately after his memorial service. You can find them here:
Russert rainbow
It's worth clicking through to the links, as there are several more pictures and some background info.

Anonymous said...

It is truly, truly despicable that NY Post is outright *lying* about Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann are chompin' at the bit to replace the irreplaceable Russert and now Perez Hilton (that slimy fatass!) is now spreading the lies.

Anonymous said...

I finally have time to grieve (after the floods in Iowa and working for the American Red Cross since June 8th) for Tim Russert! I realize he is not a family member, but when I got the "twitter" at 3 pm on Friday, June 13th, that he had died of a heart attack, I was nearly unable to contain myself with the grief I felt. I see Chuck Todd as the logical replacement to the wisdom and dedication that Tim Russert had for his role at NBC. I know most people won't realize this, but THIS BLOG WILL! Chuck Todd will bring the same care and honesty that Tim brought to the Meet the Press chair. I am still so heartbroken (and I can't explain it to most of my friends and family) about Tim Russert, but I just felt I had to comment to you all here, who love Chuck Todd as well (and there isn't a bunch of us either, I suppose!) But we know who we are!!
Sandi Lincoln
American Red Cross Volunteer
Century 21 REALTOR
USA