Robert Novak

With immigration reform back on the front page thanks to Arizona's new controversial law, it's going to be very interesting to see how the Obama-loving press report what he did concerning this issue when he was a junior senator from Illinois in 2007.

For instance, David Broder's "How Congress Botched Immigration Reform" published in Thursday's Washington Post didn't even mention Barack Obama's name.

This seems particularly odd given this paragraph (h/t Jennifer Rubin):

But once the bill hit the floor, it was attacked from both flanks. The most conservative Republicans -- Jim DeMint of South Carolina, David Vitter of Louisiana and Jeff Sessions of Alabama -- led the assault. They were joined by some civil libertarians and allies of organized labor who were dissatisfied with the bill's protections for guest workers. Democrat Byron Dorgan of North Dakota repeatedly tried to gut the guest-worker program before finally succeeding by one vote on his third effort. 

Broder curiously chose to ignore the fact that Barack Obama was, for all intents and purposes, the fateful deciding vote as reported by the late Robert Novak in June 2007:

The death of columnist and reporter Bob Novak was a sad occasion for conservatives who voraciously read his columns and cheered his verbal punches on cable television for decades. On TV, Novak’s passing was treated with respect, but only briefly: ABC, CBS, and NBC all noted it on their evening news on August 18, but by the next morning, NBC offered only a sentence or two. ABC and CBS had nothing at all. (All three squeezed in the mandatory daily update on Michael Jackson.)

Perhaps this wouldn’t be surprising for a newspaper columnist, since it’s unrealistic to expect self-adoring TV people to think a mere national print journalist would be worth much air time. After all, who even knows what these newspaper people look like? But Novak wasn’t just a newspaper man, but he was a TV personality as well – starting with almost 250 appearances on NBC’s "Meet the Press," many of them well before he became known as a cable gladiator for conservative principles. (This makes is stranger for "NBC Nightly News" to offer him a mere 67 words on the night of his death.)

I cannot say I knew Robert Novak well. I worked for him very briefly – on a six-week internship in October and November of 1987 as part of a program at the National Journalism Center. But working for him and his partner Rowland Evans was an important educational experience for me.

The first thing I feared was getting chewed out by Novak, which I had heard happened to many NJC interns. One of the first things I was assigned to do was assemble a news-clip file for Evans & Novak to interview then-Rep. Les Aspin about national defense. I mistakenly found a set of older Aspen clips in the Newsweek Washington bureau downstairs. Novak saw my thin folder and said in an exasperated tone to his secretary, "Caroline, tell the intern how we do things." (They wanted a pile of newspaper clips from the last few days.)

At this time, Novak was a busy man, taping Crossfire on CNN many weekday afternoons, and I remember being sent to discuss matters with him as he shaved shortly before heading over to CNN. He never did yell at me, and for that, I was grateful.

Some of the real treats of that short tenure were attending some TV tapings. I saw Evans & Novak interview Sen. Daniel Patrick Moyhihan for CNN (Evans was nice enough to ask me for my opinion afterwards, as if I knew that much.)

Even though conservative columnist Robert Novak was talked about and attacked many times on MSNBC's Countdown show -- especially as host Keith Olbermann frequently devoted time to the Valerie Plame case -- the MSNBC host did not take time this week to report on Novak's passing. In fact, even though he reported on Novak's hit-and-run car accident last year just before Novak's brain cancer diagnosis and portrayed him negatively, Olbermann never revisited the story to inform viewers that his illness was the likely cause of the conservative columnist's erratic behavior.

And when Olbermann launched his Countdown show's regular "Worst Person in the World" segment on June 30, 2005, the very first recipient of the number one "Worst Person" dishonor was Novak, because of his role in the Valerie Plame leak case, even though the story at that point was two years old. Olbermann: "We still know what you did last summer. Well, summer before last summer." His dislike of Novak was so great, that Olbermann even included him again in the next night's "Worst Person" segment -- in the number two position -- calling him a "holdover."

The network morning news shows could not have cared less about the passing of conservative columnist Robert Novak. While ABC, CBS and NBC all ran obituaries during their August 18 evening news shows, ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s The Early Show completely skipped over Novak this morning, not once mentioning his death.

Over on NBC’s Today, fill-in news anchor Hoda Kotb squeezed in a brief item during the 7am update: “Friends and fellow journalists are remembering famed columnist and TV commentator Robert Novak. He died Tuesday in Washington after a battle with brain cancer. Robert Novak was 78 years old.”

According to the New York Times’ Douglas Martin and Jacques Steinberg, the "often churlish," "pugnacious" Robert Novak "could not always document" his scoops. Littered in the August 19 obituary of the conservative journalist are other snide remarks and asides.

Discussing the political column that Novak co-wrote for 30 years with Rowland Evans, the reporters worried, "For all its influence, though, the column could not always document its scoops. In April 1972, Mr. Evans and Mr. Novak reported that Senator George S. McGovern, the Democratic presidential candidate, favored abortion rights, legalization of marijuana and amnesty for draft dodgers — positions that crippled his standing with most conservative voters."

David Zurawik, the Baltimore Sun’s TV critic, didn’t even wait a full 24 hours after Robert Novak’s death to launch a stinging criticism of the former Crossfire host on the newspaper’s website on Tuesday. Zurawik lamented the apparently contaminated state of political discourse on cable TV and placed much of the blame on Novak in the blog entry titled, “Robert Novak on cable TV: A Polarizing Presence.”

The critic began by announcing his intention to focus on the conservative’s television legacy, instead of his “place...on the political and journalistic map.” He then when right into his attack on Novak, which read like a thinly-veiled critique of the Fox News Channel: “Novak titled his 2007 memoir, ‘The Prince of Darkness,’ and he was indeed a very dark force in cable TV news contributing mightily to the toxic culture of confrontation, belligerence and polarization that so defines cable TV and American political discourse today. There is no way to be nice about his impact on cable TV during its formative years -- and his contributions for the worse to the tone and style of what passes for political conversation today.”

ALEXANDRIA, VA – Media Research Center President Brent Bozell has issued the following statement regarding Bob Novak’s passing:

Bob Novak possessed all the qualities of an exemplary journalist.  During his storied career, Bob produced some of the finest work of anyone in the business of gathering and reporting news.  He was hardworking, accurate, and independent.  Above all, Bob was tough and fair.

Politicians and bureaucrats feared him for what his well placed sources revealed. Rival reporters envied him for the many exclusives he delivered over the years.  We will always admire his lifelong devotion to journalism which produced a standard that few reporters could hope to replicate.

Bob lent years of support to the Media Research Center and was also a personal friend.  All of us at the MRC will miss Bob for his accuracy, integrity and his work ethic.

Sadly, news came this afternoon (Tuesday, August 18) that Robert Novak passed away, at age 78, after a battle with brain cancer. A reporter, columnist and television commentator over his long career, starting in 1994 Novak generously helped the MRC as a judge for our annual "Best Notable Quotables" annual awards for "the year's worst reporting," lending his credibility and expertise to our efforts to highlight the worst liberal bias of the year. He faithfully took the time to complete his ballot over the next 13 years and, starting in 1999, was a founding judge for the MRC's "DisHonors Awards."

[Statement from MRC President Brent Bozell on Novak's passing.] 

[Tributes from Creators Syndicate columnists.]

Whether on CNN's Crossfire, which he co-hosted for 25 years, on CNN's Capital Gang which he created, in his twice-a-week column, in other media appearances or in his informative 2007 book, 'The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington,' Novak often brought unique and noteworthy insights. A few from the MRC's archive, which covers only a portion of his career, to honor his many years of dedication to journalism and advancing conservative principles:

The story of his passing is here. Brent Baker's tribute to this true exemplar of journalism is here.

Here, in my view, the most direct measure of the man: He never forgot those who worked with him (and I suspect that was the case for those who worked for him).

Proof: He and his partner Rowland Evans were responsible for the Evans-Novak Political Report until Evans died in 2001. Novak never renamed the newsletter.

Wikipedia says of Evans: "He was known best for his decades-long syndicated column and television partnership with Robert Novak, a partnership that endured, if only by way of a joint subscription newsletter, until Evans's death."

But Novak obviously didn't believe that the partnership dissolved when Evans died.

The Washington Post printed Robert Novak's column about his brain tumor today, but it substantially edited the ending. The Post removed a mean-spirited quote from Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame attacking Novak that appeared in the version distributed by Creators Syndicate.

The original column by Novak ended like this (emphasis added, more below the fold):

There are mad bloggers who profess to take delight in my distress, but there's no need to pay them attention in the face of such an outpouring of good will for me. I had thought 51 years of rough-and-tumble journalism in Washington made me more enemies than friends, but my recent experience suggests the opposite may be the case.

But Joe and Valerie Wilson, attempting to breathe life into the Valerie Plame "scandal," issued this statement: "We have long argued that responsible adults should take Novak's typewriter away. The time has arrived for them to also take away the keys to his Corvette."

Filling in yesterday for Chris Matthews on MSNBC's Hardball, Mike Barnicle showed what an understanding, compassionate fellow he can be:

We have some sad news to report this evening.  Columnist Bob Novak has announced he has been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  He is retiring from the “Chicago Sun Times” to focus on his treatment and recovery.  Bob Novak, despite your ideology, is a terrific guy, a good friends of ours.  We certainly wish him all the best.

Novak is widely viewed as a conservative.  Yet, despite that, he's still a terrific guy in Barnicle's opinion.  Apparently, being a conservative and a terrific guy are mutually exclusive most of the time.

Chris Matthews must be reassured.  His show's in good hands with Barnicle.

In its haste to publish the news about columnist Robert Novak's retirement (reported earlier by my colleague Matt Sheffield), the Associated Press left out an important word that might have led readers to believe that up until recently, the longtime journalist was emulating Ray Bolger in "The Wizard of Oz."

The following was published by AP Online at 2:09 ET (photo right courtesy Yahoo):

Novak has been a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times for decades. He announced late last month he has a brain.

DCist blog caught the following screen-cap of what the New York Times posted seconds after the AP released it (h/t NBer blogonator):

Sad news today for conservative icon Bob Novak who announced he is retiring from his long-running political column to seek medical treatment for a brain tumor.

I had the pleasure of seeing Novak speak at last month's RightOnline conference. Best wishes to him and his family for a speedy recovery.

PS: Keep an eye on that Sun-Times story I linked above where you'll see that the paper's editorial staff is running full-speed to delete vile left-wing comments about Novak. Lefty tolerance in action. (Hat tip: USA4freedom)

Picture at right is from Novak's most recent TV appearance which was taped for Bloomberg TV's "Political Capital" show July 18th.

Apparently, it must have not been enough for Jack Cafferty on Monday to merely call Barack Obama’s overseas trip "almost flawless" on Monday’s The Situation Room. On Tuesday’s program, Cafferty opined that it was a "mystery" that Obama didn’t have more of a lead in the polls. "It seems like that Obama should be miles ahead of McCain when you consider the political climate. Americans can no longer stand President Bush or the Republican Party or the war in Iraq, and, of course, there's the deteriorating economy." He continued: "...Obama has run a pretty flawless campaign, highlighted by that hugely successful trip overseas last week. John McCain, on the other hand, spent last week making one mistake after another."

Pretty flawless, Jack? How do you so quickly forget issues like the Illinois senator’s church that he attended for two decades and his pastor, Reverend Wright? How about his "bitter" comments about people in Pennsylvania?

For the second time in about two weeks, the Huffington Post has published bad health news about a high-ranking conservative media member, and has closed comments on the article likely to prevent its readers from disgracefully applauding the event.

UPDATE at 5:40PM: Comments still closed almost five full hours after the announcement.

On July 12, it was the passing of Tony Snow.

On Monday, it was the announcement that columnist Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor:

Longtime reporter and columnist Robert Novak appeared on Fox's O'Reilly Factor on Tuesday and agreed with host Bill O'Reilly that media bias may not help Barack Obama that much. But that doesn't mean it isn't biased. Novak declared: "I’ve been covering presidential campaigns since 1960. I have always said I have never seen the media as much entranced by a candidate than when they were in my very first campaign, in 1960, when they were for JFK. But I'm telling you right now, the enchantment with Obama beats the JFK syndrome."

O’Reilly was amazed and mentioned how Novak recounts his early days in his memoir Prince of Darkness. But a bigger infatuation than with JFK?

Novak said "I believe it is. It is just such a feel-good atmosphere of my colleagues, my senior colleagues, people I’ve known for years. And I get it from some of the young people, too. They just feel this is such a wonderful thing, in the first place to have an African-American candidate, nominee, but also one that makes them feel so wonderful."

O’Reilly conceded that Obama was tremendously charismatic and could have his own TV show, but the he also makes them feel wonderful because they hate Bush and hate conservatives.

Los Angeles Times media critic Tim Rutten, in his latest column titled "The rebirth of abortion," voiced his dismay that social conservatives are reviving the issue of abortion in the 2008 presidential campaign. "If there's one issue that epitomizes the culture wars that have so deeply divided American politics over the last eight years, it's abortion. That's why those who benefited most from those wars are desperate to revive abortion's single-issue virulence in this presidential cycle." He continued that "some on the right think they see an opportunity to hammer once more on the abortion wedge."

Rutten also launched an attack one key member of the so-called "hard cultural right:" Robert Novak. At one point, Rutten suggested that if Novak used a phrase like "abortion industry" to describe abortionists and their supporters, it would be legitimate to use a term like "under the sway of neo-fascist clericism" to describe Novak and his pro-life fellow travelers.

As the veepstakes heats up along with the summer temperatures, columnist Robert Novak is reporting that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is not the "moderate" that the media elite might suggest as she's considered by the Obama campaign as a potential running mate. She has run afoul of her local Catholic bishop for being a staunchly pro-abortion governor:

Last year, she vetoed a bill requiring explicit medical reasons for a late abortion, and she vetoed other abortion legislation in 2006, 2005 and 2003.

Those positions are necessary for Democratic politicians to pass their party's pro-choice litmus test, but Sebelius's connection with abortion is more intimate. She is allied with the aggressive Kansas branch of Planned Parenthood in a bitter struggle with antiabortion activist District Attorney Phill Kline. There is substantial evidence she has been involved in what pro-life advocates term "laundering" abortion industry money for distribution to Kansas Democrats. Kansas is the fiercest state battleground in the abortion wars, making Kathleen Sebelius the national pro-choice poster girl.

So will reporters see only "moderation" in her abortion alliances? Novak dug into the specifics:

Was that Mike Huckabee on "Morning Joe" today -- or John Edwards? The former Arkansas governor found an odd way to refute charges he's not a true conservative, indulging in some class-warfare rhetoric that would have been the envy of the former North Carolina senator.

Mika Brzezinski hit Huckabee with an excerpt from Bob Novak's column of today. Here are the opening paragraphs from Novak's False Conservative:

Who would respond to criticism from the Club for Growth by calling the conservative, free-market campaign organization the "Club for Greed"? That sounds like Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich or John Edwards, all Democrats preaching the class struggle.

If Alan Colmes turns up at your Thanksgiving get-together sporting a couple shiners and a re-arranged smile, don't press the poor guy if he claims to have walked into a door. The FNC host just got clobbered by a certified DC heavyweight -- Bob Novak.

Novak was a guest on this evening's Hannity & Colmes. Colmes first questioned the venerable reporter about the item he published this week regarding the Clinton campaign's claim to have a scandalous story about Barack Obama. For the record, Novak stated this evening that since first reporting the story, "I've had substantiation from another source, another very, very good source, who with his own ears heard Clinton people putting out" allegations about Obama.

That's when Colmes decided to press his luck. Mistake.

View video here.

CNN’s John Roberts conducted a softball interview with Joe Wilson on Wednesday’s "American Morning," based upon the claim by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan that he had "unknowingly passed along false information" about the roles of Karl Rove and Scooter Libby in the Valerie Plame "leak." McClellan made the claim in his upcoming book, and further stated that "Rove, Libby, the Vice President [Dick Cheney], the president’s chief of staff [Andrew Card at the time], and the president himself" were "involved" in this "misleading," as Roberts put it.

Roberts first asked Wilson (who was falsely identified as the "former U.S. ambassador to Iraq," when Wilson actually worked as Deputy Chief of Mission in Iraq from 1988-1991, and as ambassador to Gabon from 1992 to 1995) for his response to McClellan’s statement. Wilson responded that the statement ‘advances the narrative a bit" about Vice President Cheney’s involvement in the "leak,"and proposed that President Bush was "either completely out of touch, or he's an accessory to obstruction of justice, both before the fact and after the fact" in the matter.

David Shuster has hurled a hand grenade in the direction of one of Washington's most venerable political reporters. The MSNBC "correspondent" has alleged that many people don't believe Robert Novak has "any credibility as a journalist."

View video here.

Shuster sat in as a "Morning Joe" panelist today. His comment came in the context of a discussion regarding the Novak column from over the weekend stating that "agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it."

Valerie Plame (wife of serial anti-war misleader Joe Wilson) has just published "Fair Game," the biography of her life before and after columnist Robert Novak "outed" her as a "CIA operative" in a column in 2003, starting a domino effect that made her and her husband heroes of the antiwar movement and the media, including the New York Times.

Times critic Janet Maslin's review Monday neither questioned Plame's story nor raised a single inconvenient truth.

"Needless to say, the story of how her career was derailed and her C.I.A. cover blown also has its combative side. But the real proof of Ms. Wilson's fighting spirit is the form in which her version of events has been brought into the light of day. 'Anyone not living in a cave for the last few years knew I had a career at the C.I.A.,' writes Ms. Wilson (who has gone by that name since she married former Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV in 1998). Once that career was destroyed, she wrote this account of her experiences as a means of both supporting herself and settling scores. She was contractually obligated to submit a draft of the book to the Central Intelligence Agency's Publications Review Board. That draft came back heavily expurgated. She was then expected to rewrite her book so that it made sense despite many deletions."

The saying goes, if you tell a lie often enough, people will begin to believe it.

Such is the case with Valerie Plame. In reporting about Plame's setback in publishing her memoirs (a judge ruled she cannot include the dates of her employment with the CIA as they have not been declassified), Reuters says the following:

The ex-spy whose unmasking led to the conviction of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide cannot disclose the dates she worked for the CIA because the details were never declassified, a federal judge has ruled.

The decision, made public on Friday by U.S. District Judge Barbara Jones, was a victory for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, which sought to block former agent Valerie Plame Wilson from including the dates in her upcoming memoir, "Fair Game."

Young conservatives looking to get into mainstream journalism face a very difficult path according to veteran journalist Bob Novak.

The syndicated columnist made those remarks on a conference call with bloggers about his new book "The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington."

Novak blamed liberal discrimination which he said forces young conservatives to remain "in the closet" if they hope to have a career in media.

"One of the big differences in 50 years is that the liberals have now filtered into the executive ranks of journalism. And so if you go into journalism now not in the closet but out in the open as a conservative, you're going to have a hard time getting a job, believe me."

Four years ago, syndicated columnist Bob Novak wrote an article about a man few Americans had ever heard of that included information about this man’s wife who also was practically an unknown entity.

This set off a media firestorm, and, given that the president at the time was a Republican, included the usual misinformation from the usual suspects.

Four years later, regardless of no one actually being charged with the crime of outing a CIA operative, or a special prosecutor not concluding that the wife in question actually was outed, the media, hell-bent on destroying a Republican president, refuse to report the truth.

Might this change given Novak’s appearance on Sunday’s “Meet the Press” wherein he once again addressed details surrounding this scandal that seem impossible to penetrate the mental block the press have created regarding this matter (video available here, partial transcript follows, h/t Hot Air)?

You can take the man out of CNN - and stick him in Congress - but you can't take the CNN out of the man. As per this Robert Novak column, Steven Kagen, a Democrat elected in November to represent a Wisconsin district in Congress, recently bragged of having insulted First Lady Laura Bush, President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and Karl Rove at a White House function for new members.

The details of Kagen's insults, set forth below, boggle the mind. What kind of person would do something like this? The kind of person that CNN would hire to be a consultant. A quick Googling uncovered the fact that, as per the Democratic Congressional Committee's official web page, Kagen, a doctor, "for seven years was the Allergy Consultant for CNN."

Here is Novak's description of Kagen's vulgar and unseemly actions.

"Newly elected Rep. Steven Kagen, a rich allergist who self-financed his campaign in Wisconsin, by his own account taunted President and Mrs. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove during a White House function for new members of Congress in December.

"Kagen told a group of activists that after he found himself in the restroom with Rove, he blocked the White House deputy chief of staff's departure by holding the door closed. According to Kagen, he then said: "You're in the White House and you think you're safe. . . . My name's Dr. Multimillionaire and I kicked your ass."

On Monday's edition of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central -- the same edition rolling out the red carpet for Bill Clinton promoting his latest Global Initiative talk-a-thon -- Jon Stewart opened his show by trashing conservative columnist Robert Novak over his C-SPAN critique of Stewart as a self-righteous comedian with airs of grandeur. Admitting he's "mean" and "sophomoric," Stewart described Novak as a heartless "vampire demon," a "terrible person," and even an "enemy of American democracy."

Video clip (4:06): Real (6.8 MB at 225 kbps) or Windows Media (2.5 MB at lower quality 81 kbps), plus MP3 audio (1.16 KB).

Bill Press, the former CNN and MSNBC host refuses to yield ground on the Plame story. Starting to sound a lot like a crazy guy shouting about aliens, Press creates a unified conspiracy theory of Plame. That's a little difficult given recent news events, so Press has to resort to distorting the words of columnist Robert Novak:

So where's my apology to Karl Rove?

That's what many readers want to know: Having accused Karl Rove of leading a conspiracy within the Bush White House to reveal the identity of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, don't I owe Rove an apology now that former Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage has admitted that he, not Rove, was Novak's primary source?

Well, here's my answer: Hell, no! Armitage's involvement doesn't disprove the Rove conspiracy. It only proves it was a lot wider than we originally thought. [...]