After checking my feeder reads, Oliver Willis had the first report of this at 3:19. I heard it on an NBC news bulletin at 4:39, Democratic Underground had it earlier, at 4:34, several at DKos had it at 4:34, along with Booman, and John Aravosis. Think Progress had it at 4:36, and others started flooding in at 4:40. So Willis beat everyone by 75 minutes.
The above quote came to me via a mailing list I'm on that caters to Liberal bloggers. I'm not going to get on Kevin's case about it, because I understand the point he was trying to make, which was the speed with with the blogosphere is able to get to breaking news, sometimes even exceeding the Mainstream Media. Hayden even went on to say in his email that he understands how his observation might come across. What struck me about it was the it reflects a reality that so many of us who have an interest in politics seem to forget, and that's the reality that everyone- politicians, journalists, and bloggers- are people first. We all have lives, families, loved ones, hobbies, and passions outside of politics...and yet all of that tends to get left behind in an era when "gotcha" politics tends to reduce those who participate in the process to caricatures. And all it took was the death of Tim Russert to bring this to the fore.
I've never been a huge Russert fan, but he clearly had a last effect on friends, colleagues, and politicians of all stripes. Would that when I've departed this life that I would leave behind those who felt the same way about me. It's been said that the best revenge is living well. I seriously doubt that Russert's motivation was revenge, but judging but those he left behind, he certainly had the "living well" part down pat. All I really want out of life is that. It's not about money, fame, or anything other fleeting aspect of what passes for a life well-lived. If I can leave people behind who feel for me half of what Russert's friends and colleagues feel for him, then I will have lived a full and successful life. I can only hope that when my time is up, I will have touched people around me in a manner approaching the way Tim Russert did.
Now THAT would be a life well lived.
