'Robert David Sanders Novak' (born
February 26,
1931) is a
conservative American political commentator. Over his lengthy career, Bob Novak has become well-known as a
columnist (writing "Inside Report" since
1963) and as a
television personality (appearing on many shows for
CNN, most notably ''
The Capital Gang'', ''
Crossfire'', and ''
Evans, Novak, Hunt, and Shields''). His memoirs was published in July 2007 entitled 'Prince of Darkness, 50 years reporting in Washington' (Crown Forum, a division of Random House publishers New York & London). Prince of Darkness was the nickname given Novak by his "friend the reporter
John Lindsay because he thought for a young man [Novak] took a very dim view of the prospects for our civilization."
[1]
Early Years
Novak was born into a
Jewish family in
Joliet,
Illinois. He attended the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1948 to
1952, graduating with a
Bachelor of Arts degree. While there, he became a Brother of the
Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Novak's journalism career began when he wrote for the ''Joliet Herald-News,'' ''
The Daily Illini'', and ''The Champaign-Urbana Courier'' while in college.
During the
Korean War, Novak served in the
U.S. Army, attaining the
rank of
lieutenant. After the war, he joined the
Associated Press and became a political correspondent in
Indianapolis. In
1957, Novak was transferred to
Washington, D.C. where he reported on
Congress; he left the AP to join the D.C. bureau of ''
The Wall Street Journal'' in
1958, covering the
Senate, and in 1961 becoming their chief congressional correspondent.
In
1963, he teamed up with
Rowland Evans to create the "Evans-Novak Political Report" until Evans died of cancer in
2001. Novak's column is syndicated by the ''
Chicago Sun-Times''. His columns often contain original reporting in addition to analysis and opinion.
Novak is one of many reporters mentioned in
Timothy Crouse's seminal non-fiction book about reporters covering the 1972 U.S. presidential campaign, ''
The Boys on the Bus''.
Personal life & Family
Novak has a son, Alex, who works as an editor at
Regnery Publishing[1].
Political and religious views
Novak is a registered
Democrat despite his right-leaning views. He held more
centrist views in his early career; indeed, he supported the
Democratic presidential candidacies of
John F. Kennedy and
Lyndon B. Johnson, with whom he was a friend.
[2]
Today, Novak tends toward low-tax small-government
conservative views, but his disagreements with mainstream Republicans and neoconservatives — specifically his opposition to the Iraq War — have earned him the label of being a "
paleoconservative."
In July 2007 Novak expressed support for Ron Paul's bid for the presidency.
[3]
Born Jewish, Novak converted to
Catholicism in
1996, after meeting
Peter Vaghi, whom he had known before Fr. Vaghi switched from
politics to the
priesthood.
CIA leak scandal
Main articles: CIA leak scandal,
CIA leak scandal timeline
In
2003, he identified
Valerie Plame as a
CIA "operative" in his column. Novak reported the information was provided to him by two "senior administration officials." These were eventually revealed to be
Richard Armitage, with Novak assuming
Karl Rove's comments as confirmation..
[4] During
2005, there were questions in the press regarding the apparent absence of focus on Novak by the
special prosecutor Fitzgerald and the
grand jury, specifically questions suggesting he may have already testified about his sources despite insisting publicly that he would not do so. On July 12, 2006, Novak published a column at
Human Events stating:
:Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has informed my attorneys that, after two and one-half years, his investigation of the CIA leak case concerning matters directly relating to me has been concluded. That frees me to reveal my role in the federal inquiry that, at the request of Fitzgerald, I have kept secret. I have cooperated in the investigation while trying to protect journalistic privileges under the
First Amendment and shield sources who have not revealed themselves. I have been
subpoenaed by and testified to a federal grand jury. Published reports that I
took the Fifth Amendment, made a
plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue.
[5]
When Richard Armitage admitted to being a source, Novak wrote an op-ed column describing Armitage's self-disclosure as "deceptive".
[6]
Killian documents
:''Main articles:
Killian documents,
George W. Bush military service controversy''
Critics complain that Novak has been inconsistent as he insists it would violate journalistic ethics to reveal the source of the
Plame leak, but later called on
CBS to reveal the
source of the memos that were part of the larger news story dealing with the
president's alleged evasion of
National Guard service. Other journalists have insisted that the CBS sources lost their right to confidentiality when the memos were proven to be forgeries.
Swift Boat Veterans
In August
2004, after other journalists had reported on it, Novak admitted that his son, Alex Novak, is the Director of Marketing for the
Swift Boat Veterans' publisher,
Regnery Publishing. At the time he said that he didn't "think it relevant." Two months later
Salon.com reported that Regnery's owner is also the publisher of Novak's own US$297 (annual rate) newsletter and that Novak is on the board of a foundation whose chief holdings are the stock of Regnery's parent company.
[7]
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Novak has been accused of anti-Israel bias
[8]. In his syndicated column, Novak has blamed
Israel for the plight and mass exodus of
Palestinian Christians. He has also met with
Hamas Education Minister Naser al-Shaer. Based on this meeting, Novak claimed that Hamas supports a two-state solution, something which the explicitly forbids.
Animal fighting
In 2002, Novak's attitudes towards
animal welfare came under scrutiny when he stated in an interview that he attended a
cockfight in
Puerto Rico and "enjoyed it tremendously", adding that the United States has "too many" anti-cruelty statutes. He also expressed his support of
dog fighting and
bullfighting.
[9]
Amnesty, Abortion and Acid
On April 25, 1972,
George McGovern won the Massachusetts primary and journalist
Bob Novak phoned Democratic politicians around the country, who agreed with his assessment that blue-collar workers voting for McGovern did not understand what he really stood for. On April 27, 1972 Novak reported in a column that an unnamed democratic senator had said of McGovern: "The people don’t know McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot. Once middle America - Catholic middle America, in particular - finds this out, he’s dead." The label stuck and McGovern became known as the candidate of "amnesty, abortion and acid."
[10][11]
Novak was accused of manufacturing the quote and to rebut the criticism, Novak took the senator to lunch after the campaign and asked whether he could identify him as the source but the senator said he would not allow his identity to be revealed.
[12] "Oh, he had to run for re-election. The McGovernites would kill him if they knew he had said that," says Novak.
[10]
On July 15, 2007, Novak disclosed on ''
Meet the Press'' that the unnamed senator was Thomas Eagleton. Political analyst
Bob Shrum says that Eagleton would never have been selected as McGovern's running mate if it had been known at the time that Eagleton was the source of the quote, Eagleton's electroshock treatments would never have become an issue in the 1972 presidential campaign, and McGovern would have remained politcally viable carrying perhaps eight to ten states against Richard Nixon in 1972.
[10]
Eagleton died March 4, 2007, "relieving me of the need to conceal his identity," Novak wrote. Some of Eagleton’s former aides are livid angry Eagleton never authorized his name to be attached to a quote that makes Eagleton look duplicitous. Asked about the story, Novak acknowledged that disclosing Eagleton’s identity was "a judgment on my part." If there’s any disagreement, Eagleton could settle it with him in heaven "or wherever we end up," Novak added.
[12]
2005 ''Inside Politics'' incident and departure from CNN
On
August 4,
2005, Novak walked off the set during a live broadcast of the CNN show ''Inside Politics'', on which he appeared along with Democratic strategist and analyst
James Carville (whom Novak had debated with for years on ''Crossfire''), and moderator
Ed Henry.
During a discussion of Republican Representative
Katherine Harris's just-announced
2006 campaign for the U.S. Senate and her claim that newspapers tried to tarnish her image by manipulating photos of her, Novak claimed he had experienced the same thing leading to a skeptical response from Carville.
Novak responded by saying, "Don't be too sure she's going to lose... all the establishment's against her and I've seen these Republican – anti-establishment candidates who do pretty well." Novak mentioned
Ronald Reagan and
Tom Coburn before seeing Carville preparing to talk. Novak cut into his comments and said "Just let me finish what I'm going to say, James. Please, I know you hate to hear me, but you have..." Carville cut in and said that Novak "got to show these right-wingers that he's got backbone, you know. It's why ''The Wall Street Journal'' editorial page is watching you. Show 'em you're tough."
Novak responded "Well, I think that's
bullshit. And I hate that." Novak then removed his
microphone and walked off the set. After the segment ended, host Ed Henry apologized to viewers for Novak's leaving the set "a little early". "I had told him in advance that we were going to ask him about the CIA leak case. He was not here for me to be able to ask him about that. Hopefully, we'll be able to ask him about that in the future."
They were never able to ask Novak about the CIA leak case. This was the last time he would be seen on CNN. In response to the incident, CNN indefinitely suspended Novak calling the outburst "inexcusable and unacceptable," and apologized to its viewers. August 4th proved to be the last time Novak would appear on CNN, which was seen as monumental because Novak was the last surviving person to have appeared on the network's first weekend back in 1980.
Novak later denied that the CIA leak case was the reason for his walkout.
However, Novak had avoided comment on the Plame affair in previous interviews by claiming that his lawyers had advised him not to speak. Reporters interviewing Novak were warned that any attempt to raise his role in the Plame affair would cause the interview to be immediately terminated.
[16] On August 1st however, Novak wrote a column on the affair in his Chicago Sun-Times column (“Ex-CIA official’s remark is wrong”). The fact that Novak had addressed the affair in print meant that CNN could not allow his previous "legal advice" excuse to stand without comment.
On
December 16,
2005, FOX News spokesman Brian Lewis confirmed that Novak had signed a contract to do unspecified work for the network. Novak stated that he still would have left CNN even if he had not been kicked off in the August incident and, despite arguments stating otherwise, did not go to FOX NEWS due to the fact that the network was more friendly to his point of view. "In 25 years I was never censored by CNN and I said some fairly outrageous things and some very conservative things. I don't want to give the impression that they were muzzling me and I had to go to a place that wouldn't muzzle me," Novak said.
On
December 23,
2005 Novak retired from CNN after 25 years, stating that his relationship with the network lasted "longer than most marriages." Novak also said he had "no complaints" about
CNN.
Novak is third in the most amount of appearances on NBC's ''
Meet the Press'' behind (in order) David Broder of the Washington Post and the late May Craig of the Portland Times Herald. He was invited on the Meet the Press 50th anniversary show although he had not been on the show in some years due to being on CNN. He currently writes a column for the
Chicago Sun-Times.
[17]
See also
★
Joseph C. Wilson
★
CIA leak scandal
★
CIA leak scandal timeline
★
Valerie Plame Wilson
References
1. Questions for Robert Novak: The Plame Game Solomon, Deborah
2. Illinois Hall of Fame: Robert Novak Rhoads, Mark
3. Novak likes the idea of President Paul Pfieffer, Eric
4. Ex-CIA Official Testifies About Libby's Calls Carol D. Leonnig and Amy Goldstein
5. My Role in the Valerie Plame Leak Story Novak, Robert
6. Armitage's Leak Novak, Robert
7. The Operative Jacoby, Mary
8. Why Won’t Prominent Republicans Criticize Novak for Anti-Israel Writings? ''National Jewish Democratic Council''
9. Should cockfighting be outlawed in Oklahoma?
10. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19694666/page/7/
11. http://www.columbiatribune.com/2007/Aug/20070819Feat004.asp
12. http://www.kansascity.com/news/columnists/steve_kraske/story/209499.html
13. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19694666/page/7/
14. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19694666/page/7/
15. http://www.kansascity.com/news/columnists/steve_kraske/story/209499.html
16. http://washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0412.sullivan.html
17. [2] Index of his columns from www.suntimes.com. - Accessed July, 4 2007.
★
Joe Conason, ''
New York Observer'', August 6, 2001, "Was Hanssen a Spy for the Right Wing, Too?"
External links
★
Novak's column in the ''
Chicago Sun Times''
★
The Evans-Novak Political Report at ''
Human Events''
★ "Mission to Niger,"
the article, first published in the ''Chicago Sun Times'' that publicly identified covert agent Valerie Plame of the Central Intelligence Agency.
★
CNN Crossfire Transcripts
★ '
★
David Margolick,
"What About Novak", ''
Vanity Fair'', April 2005.
★ Jacoby, Mary.
"The Operative",
Salon.com, Oct. 1, 2004
★ Sullivan, Amy.
"Bob in Paradise: How Novak created his own ethics-free zone" ''
Washington Monthly'', December 2004
★
Know Your Right-Wing Speakers: Robert Novak
★
Video of Novak commenting on the book America Alone: The Neo-Conservatives and the Global Order
Notes
★ Bauder, David, "CNN suspends Novak after he walks off set." Associated Press. August 5, 2005.
★ Steinberg, Jacques. "Novak walks off live CNN program." ''New York Times''. August 5, 2005.
★
"Robert Novak apologizes for outburst." CNN. August 6, 2005.
★ A full transcript of the broadcast can be viewed
here
★ A video of the incident can be seen
here.
★ The
Democratic National Committee issued a press release, viewable
here.
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