Post here if you think certain others are being asswipes about Russert's death.

[Berry Cool]

We can talk about it in the Clubhouse.

Man, you think you know what cold and callous is, and then you see some people who have the nerve to call themselves Democrats and to think they care more about human beings than Republicans do...

What's so hard about being human and allowing people at a TV network experiencing the sudden death of one of their most prominent news personalities to have some hours of coverage in which they mourn him before they get on with covering the news of the world again?

It's disgusting.

[SharonRB]

1. I agree

Just when the primary nastiness was ending, a different kind of nastiness arose.

[RevCheesehead]

2. In my line of work,

we call it "EVIL." (the "D" is optional)

[SeattleGirl]

3. I know what you mean.

As I said in today's show thread, I got so pissed at someone for their asshole attitude that I told them to shut up. At that point, I knew I had to leave that thread.

[Berry Cool]

4. If I don't quit reading the threads now I will say something that will get me alerted

because I am so tempted to start telling people off.

Someone remind me never to die. That's when people say the worst crap about you. It used to be people idolized the dead and no bad word could be spoken about them. Now, it's like you can't say anything good or human without being accused of dishonesty or hagiography.

It's as if people feel they're going to earn some sort of brownie points by saying "Yeah, he died, but please let's not forget, he was a real asshole and that's what's important."

I just don't see how people like this can say that they belong to the party of compassion.

Oh, and let me add: I never did set my Ignore list free. Right now, I'm glad I didn't. There's still lots of asshats on it who I know are on there because they said asinine anti-Keith things, whether it was because of Hillary Madness or not. I am not ready to remove them as yet.

[CC]

5. The ones bitching about MSNBC's coverage

must not watch it very often. Tweety is in France so would of had a fill in, plus his show is about politics so not missing much there for day. Same with David's new show (that I have never watched). Keith gave up an hour of doing Countdown to honor a colleague, what else would anyone that watches him think he would do? After that it would of been Lock Up and all the rest of the weekend shows. So what have they really replaced in doing the coverage of Timmeh? The did spend the day covering the floods, Afghanistan and whatever else was going on.

[SeattleGirl]

6. Some people think that there is only room for THEIR issues.

I would have expected nothing less from MSNBC than what they did. They suffered a death in their family; those who can't understand that are people I just don't get.

[CC]

7. Same here and they did a great

if heartbreaking job of it. It is better to avoid those that want to dance on his grave. I feel for his family and friends and damn if they didn't make me wish I was one of them. They gave him a great tribute, one the family will be able to look at one day and feel proud and loved.

[SeattleGirl]

8. You know, sometimes Russert pissed me off, but after hearing

his colleagues at NBC, MSNBC, and reporters and anchors from other places like ABC and CBS talk about him, I couldn't help but think that he would have been a great man to have as a friend, and to have in my corner.

[Berry Cool]

9. There are people blaming him now for protecting his sources in the Scooter Libby/Valerie Plame thing

Idjits. If journalists don't protect their sources, they are WORTHLESS as journalists. Their job is not to bring wrongdoers to justice. Don't people see that?

Certain professionals have an obligation to report certain things to the authorities. Others don't, because it is part of their professional code not to. And they honor that code.

If you are a teacher and you see deep bruises on a student's buttocks or arms or legs, you are obligated to report that.

If you are a priest and you hear a confession to a murder, you are obligated NOT to report that, but to encourage the confesser to turn himself in to the police because it's the right thing to do. But you don't pick up the phone yourself. That is not what priests do.

If you're a defense lawyer and your client says "Yeah, I killed the guy, and these other three guys too," you are obligated NOT to talk about that. You are defending him and your job is to defend him as best as you can, even if he is guilty. You are also not in a position to have him charged and convicted of other crimes. It is part of your professional code. Not because he is a good man but because the Constitution says he has a right to a trial and to defense, and you are his defense. If you can't in good conscience be his defense, you get out of the relationship. But you don't break your professional code.

If you are a journalist, your code says that you are not a law enforcer and it is not your job to bring people to justice. It is merely your job to report truth. Sometimes, getting at truth requires use of anonymous sources. If you are asked to disclose those sources in the name of justice, you need to be willing to go to jail in order not to have to do it, no matter what's involved. Because if you don't, you are not being trustworthy and you are not doing the job of a journalist.

This is Journalism 101. If people don't like it, they can stuff it up their ass.

[Berry Cool]

10. One more thing I'd like to add, because I noticed it today.

You know how there is one aspect of conservatives that involves them believing that the difference between them and is us that we only use our hearts, while they use their heads?

You know: We only "feel." They "think."

We make our judgments based on foolish, soft emotion. They make their judgments based on sound, rational logic and common sense.

That's one of their big memes, isn't it? They're better than we are because we're soft and weak--sensitive, feeling people who can't think--whereas they're clearheaded, clear-eyed people who don't let their emotions get in the way of their brains when it comes to how the world should be and how the country should be governed. (John Dean does an excellent job of ddescribing all this in Conservatives Without Conscience. If you haven't read it yet, I would still highly recommend it.)

And, of course, goodness knows, a person's thought processes MUST be governed by EITHER his heart OR his head. There are two divergent tracks, and one must choose one or the other. It is simply not possible to choose both at the same time, to be able to simultaneously think with the brain and feel with the heart, and draw conclusions and judgments based on a combination of the two. At least not in Conservative World.

Well, I'm here to tell John Dean he's got it a teensy bit wrong. Because conservatives are not the only people who think that way. I have seen at least one thread today in which these very memes were put forth in the name of self-defense. By people I had previously respected, too.

You know: "We are the ones spitting on Russert's grave because we are the THINKERS of DU. We don't let stupid emotion interfere with our memories of exactly what he was. Only the softhearted fools think you have to get all mushy and forget what a person was the second he dies, and become all EMOTIONAL about it. Stupid FEELERS. Disgusting."

Yes, they're here with us, just as they are in Freeperland. And the funny thing is, if you look hard enough in Freeperland, you can find people who also defy the meme about what they are. Usually, though, they end up becoming part of us, because the rest of their society rejects them.

I try to understand why some people are so cold about death, why they have to ridicule others' reaction to it as overwrought, even when it isn't that intense. ("Death comes to us all. Why do you have to tear your clothes and gnash your teeth over it?") The only conclusion I can draw is that they really, really don't want to get too close to the subject, because they can't deal with it. Oh, yeah, they pretend like they're the only ones who can ("It's a fact. So what?"), but they're kidding themselves. And no matter what I do, I'm sure not going to change them. The best satisfaction I can get is to have my say and go. It's going to take something else altogether to make them face up to it.

But once again, it's nice to have a safe place here to talk about it.

[Patsy Stone]

15. It's happening over at dKos, too

and it seems KO had a few things to say:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3459420

[WolverineDG]

11. It's the same hypocrisy we've seen time & again on DU

on more than one occasion. It all depends on how those particular posters feel about the individual (or group) in question. If it's one they like, everything's okay. If not, then Katy bar the door, no holds barred in how low they can go to express their dislike/hatred of the individual (or group).

dg

[Berry Cool]

12. Did you have to mention Katy at a time like this? ROFL...but seriously folks...

It really is true, and you have just gone through a shit storm of it, so no one knows now better than you. I felt for you then and I still see it happening now.

I had hoped to find some relief from this thought process on Daily Kos, but they are just as bad.

What it all comes down to is, no one, liberals or conservatives, Republicans or Democrats, has cornered the market on shitheads. They are to be found in both camps. And the scariest thing is, sometimes they even use the exact same justifications for their shitheadedness.

And shitheads, as Jesus once said about the poor, we will always have with us.

[Serial Mom]

13. Ahhhh, a civil place has been found.

Thank you.

More of us need to practice what we preach (meant in non-religious terms, or for those that want, in religious terms!).

[Berry Cool]

14. Hey, come back anytime.

People like me are now being called "concern trolls" in GD and accused of inciting a "moral panic." Yep.

Too bad that when they shut DU down last night, they couldn't blast it with a spray of Assholes-B-Gone.

You know, I haven't even put all the jerks from the past two days on my Ignore list, because if I did, it would have just about everyone in DU on it but the Clubhouse and a few other people. That's how bad it is.

I saw one posting last night in which someone said--in all seriousness--on one of the Russert-bash threads that he had died because he used up all his chances in this life doing bad deeds, and he finally hit his limit, so karma visited him and gave him a fatal heart attack.

I would like to ask her, because surely she must know, exactly how my mother hit HER personal limit of bad deeds in order to "earn" herself the heart attack that killed her.

I know, I know. People can be amazingly arrogant, and they come up with these cockamamie beliefs only in order to comfort themselves that nothing bad can possibly happen to THEM. I should pity them, rather than be angry. But this time, I just can't pity. All I can do is be enraged.

It's definitely one of those times when it's comforting to remember that DU doesn't represent the majority of Dems, just a slice of the pie. And sometimes, that slice is Dingleberry A La Mode.

[ailsagirl]

16. In all fairness, I must say that MOST DUers have been

respectful, but then there are those who just love to
rip people apart. I can't stomach that, particularly
in this case.

:hi:

[ailsagirl]

17. Wait-- I take that back. Today when I visited DU, I found a slew

of anti-Russert threads, along with the obligatory crass "humor."
One good thing about it-- I managed to add quite a few names to my
"ignore" list.

[Berry Cool]

18. I think I'm going to finally start.

But I'm going to have to put half of DU on my list.

[ailsagirl]

19. By the looks of it, I think I already have...

:argh: