RIP TIM RUSSERT

I'll keep this short, and it's not funny, but I just couldn't take the news today of hearing my favorite journalist ever, Tim Russert, had passed away without saying something...

Tim was the host of NBC's "Meet the Press," and every Sunday morning at 8 a.m. since i can remember I've woken up to watch him skewer politicians of both parties and every stripe. He was unrelentingly tough, to the point that "SNL" even did spoof sketches of him pointing out ridiculous contradictions in politicians from 20 years ago.

He was unfailingly honest, unsparingly tough, yet always seemed to have a good core. A good soul. And now I know he was Catholic, like me, and very devout about it, an aspect in which i fail sometimes.

He just radiated goodness and integrity, two things that are in far too short a supply in this world. I know he's in a better place now, perhaps looking out for the rest of us, certainly helping St. Peter at the Pearly Gates with an intensive set of questions for us all.

The odd thing was, as I listened to the streaming online coverage of his death on MSNBC, I learned today that I got a big raise and am now in the most secure situation I've ever been in as a reporter. It would be nice if he were able to be sort of a guardian angel to a struggling reporter like me. He definitely was a guidepost.

God bless you, Tim.