I think it was Virgil who said that we rarely find anyone who can say he has lived a happy life, and who, content with his life, can retire from the world like a satisfied guest. Obviously, he never knew someone like Tim.

Luke got to spend 22 wonderful years with this man. What a tribute! What a country!

Tim Russert will indeed be missed in person, but with us in soul and spirit.

I hope we will be able to continue what Tim Russert did for us: leading intelligent people who honestly disagree about issues through a civilized dialogue about their beliefs. God bless him - what a loss for all of us.

I loved it that the Russerts asked Obama and McCain to sit together during the funeral services. They did, and they were talking to each other before and after the services. It seemed like a wonderful thing to do. I was not surprised to learn that Tim Russert was a big Springsteen fan; what was fun to learn was that he helped book him back before anyone but a few diehard Jersey folk knew who he was. A friend of my family was Springsteen’s manager back in the early days, before the E street band. I was also a big fan of Tim Russert’s cable show, which took a thoughtful look at things. Even though they have replaced him as moderator on Meet the Press, he seemed to have several other jobs, as Washington Bureau Chief and as political commentator and doing his cable show. I don’t quite see how he managed it get everything done. But he certainly did it with style.

Brian Williams announced at the end of Meet the Press today that Tom would take over the helm until the end of the election. Then they showed the retrospective about Tim’s life and ended it showing the rainbow that showed up in DC as “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was playing at the end of his memorial. It gave me a chill.

The Boss and Tim—Wow! you did him proud, Bruce. ;-)