[martin_fierro]

That'd be The Ultimate Arkancide.

[zarf]

This is a cheap shot.

[mylife]

pretty morbid

[tioga]

Good grief.

[KJacob]

Sounds like standard procedure to me.

[Ol' Sparky]

Sounds like PMSNBC might be hoping to see Clinton pass on so Kerry can get a post-mortem bounce...

[.38sw]

Not surprising. I'd read *somewhere* that news outlets keep obits on hand, update them as needed, for aging celebrities. In the case of Clinton undergoing major surgery, who knows?

My hubby has said that people often lose several IQ points after bypass surgery. True or not true?

[Samwise]

Obits are prewritten and updated for all famous people. But you know that, don't you?

[WashingtonSource]

Newspapers have obituaries prepared for almost every famous American all the time. This is nothing unusual. I'm sure they had an obit for Bill Clinton long before today.

[kevkrom]

Morbid, but practical. News organizations regularly update obituaries for famous, living people, so they'll have them ready if needed. If someone is ill/hospitalized, they're more likely to make sure their obit is updated.

[Wormwood]

They'd better hurry up and invent a legacy, first.

[GoLightly]

IOW, they have updated it. I'm sure every major media outlet is doing the same.

[dighton]

SOP is to write obits for public figures well in advance, revising them as events may warrant.

[Loyalist]

This is not news.

Every major newspaper, wire service and broadcaster has stock obituaries of important public figures, updated regularly, ready to print or air on a moment's notice.

[Sacajaweau]

Hillary probably reserves immediate rights to anything printed and Tim Russert's _ _ _ _ _!

[Osage Orange]

In the end.....tragedy T.V. will try and have the obvious angles covered.

While at first glance it's morbid...but it is realistic. And I could/can see where they wouldn't be very thorough..if they weren't at the very least somewhat prepared for that possible scenario.

FWIW-

[airborne]

Isn't the Anti-Christ supposed to be someone thought to have died?

[asgardshill]

This is SOP with newspapers. Large ones and the wire services have obits prewritten in their files for famous people. However, broadcast outlets as a rule don't do this unless the person has been ill for a while or is very old because of the cost. (A few paragraphs on a piece of paper is much cheaper than professionally produced video footage).

[TomGuy]

All major news outlets, broadcast and print, have obits of famous people 'ready' just in case. They periodically update those files as necessary.

This is standard operating procedure (SOP); no surprise, nor anything out of the ordinary.

[Soul Seeker]

Why is this news? This is standard. They should already have an obit on hand only needing tweaking to bring it to date.