The Atlantic - Latest Comments in John Cole goes where I was too much of a chump to venture

Re: John Cole goes where I was too much of a chump to venture

asl — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 22:57:17 -0000

John has fought criticism of his post. Good for him. Russert seemed to be a genuinely kind person but he pretty much sucked as a journalist. His blue-collar shtick made for hilarious analysis, like when he said New Hampshire women felt that Dems were rushing to nominate Obama and used their primary to say, 'Hold On!'. But as a debate moderator, his act was pernicious. He forewent substantive issues for the gotcha and association crap.

Re: John Cole goes where I was too much of a chump to venture

jaye — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 19:12:25 -0000

I agree with John's view. Yes, it is polite to wait a bit before you start criticizing, I get that you don't want to be rude. But the coverage is making him seem like a saint, that is the point of view that will persist with the average viewer, and the more nuanced reality that he seemed like a good guy, but was also complicit with allowing one of the most unnecessary and propaganda-ized(?) wars in history that has resulted in the deaths of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people, should not be glossed over. Not to put it all on Russert obviously, but by making him seem like some kind of journalistic hero when the truth is a little less polite, but could also be a window into finally holding the press accountable, is something I think that is very important to understand. We're not doing the eulogy at his funeral for God's sake, we're trying to contextualize this man's life to make sense of our world, and sometimes politeness isn't the best way to make our world better.

Re: John Cole goes where I was too much of a chump to venture

shani-o — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 18:55:56 -0000

I chalked up the intense coverage on MSNBC to the fact that the people there really loved him and were completely shocked and heartbroken over his death. That may not be very journalistic, but if newsmen and women are going to get upset about anything, it's gonna be the death of one of their own.

I can't begrudge them that.

Re: John Cole goes where I was too much of a chump to venture

Hicks — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 16:35:07 -0000

I don't think you're a chump. I think your reticence is good manners. There'll be plenty of time to point out Mr. Russert's inadequacies because, honestly, there there for all of YouTube viewership. They're not going anywhere.

Re: John Cole goes where I was too much of a chump to venture

Eat My Shorts — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:35:07 -0000

Real classy from John. The dude been dead for 4 hours and these snarky bloggers and their klan were already pissed off .

Seems like there is always something to be mad about with some of these people. Even when somebody dies.

I liked Tim Russert, and I wasnt feeling him the way the media is, but still i didnt feel their coverage of his pasing was some big injustice that needed to be railed against.

Off all the things to be mad at as well.