Robert Novak

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Robert David Sanders Novak (born February 26, 1931) is a conservative political commentator and political figure. 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). After walking off the CNN set during a performance Novak was suspended by CNN for four months and has since joined Fox News.

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Early years

Novak was born in Joliet, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1948 to 1952, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. 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 1966, he teamed up with Rowland Evans to create the "Evans-Novak Political Report" until Evans lost his battle with 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.

Political and religious views

Novak is a registered Democrat despite his right-leaning views, principally so he can vote in the District of Columbia Democratic primary, often more decisive than the general election. 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 friends.

Today, Novak tends toward low-tax small-government right-wing views, but his disagreements with mainstream Republicans have earned him the label of being a "paleoconservative." He is an avid supporter of a Palestinian state, a critic of Israel and has offered only tepid support for the War in Iraq.

Born Jewish, Novak lost his faith in college and converted to Catholicism in 1998. It is alleged by some, including Andrew Sullivan (see[link]), that he is a member of the Catholic group Opus Dei; the high-profile priest responsible for Novak's conversion, Father John McCloskey, is a member of the organization (see[link]).

Novak is referred to by some Washington insiders as "The Prince of Darkness", a title he has encouraged use of.

Notable reporting

Novak has been frequently criticized as acting as a political operative of the Republican Party while posing as a journalist; his controversial public comments and actions both on and off the air have provoked critics from many groups. Novak also has been implicated in a number of political scandals and violations of journalistic ethics and standards, the most recent of which is the Plame affair. Also see CIA leak grand jury investigation.

Vincent Foster

The sum of reporting on Vincent Foster's death by Robert Novak were two columns in which he publicized the witness, known as "CW" (confidential witness) who was purported to have discovered the body of Mr. Foster at Fort Marcy Park. CW's real name is Kermit Dale Kyle and [the evidence] shows he did not discover the body.

Vincent Foster: Robert Novak publicized the confidential witness known as "CW".

More recently Robert Novak endorsed the controversial nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals. This is a contradiction since Robert Novak wrote a favorable review of Ambrose Evans-Pritchard's book detailing the harassment of Whitewater grand jury witness Patrick Knowlton while Mr. Kavanaugh was the Associate Independent Counsel for Kenneth Starr investigating the death of White House Counsel Vincent Foster.

The review of Evans Pritchard's book by Robert Novak in the January 1998, American Spectator included this passage:

"Authorities rearranged the 'crime scene' at Fort Marcy Park to move White House aide Vincent Foster’s body and place a gun in his hand. Evidence was hidden and destroyed, and testimony by witnesses altered by the FBI to fit the suicide theory. Witnesses, in fact, were harassed. Foster’s 'suicide' note appears to be a planted forgery. The career Justice Department prosecutor [Miquel Rodriguez] assigned by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr found himself blocked as he probed for the truth, and he returned to his former duties with his mouth shut tight...Evans-Pritchard holds out hope for the 'the ordinary citizens' who will 'cleanse the institutions of this country before they become irretrievably corrupt.' Patrick Knowlton, a harassed witness in the Vince Foster case, last year filed a federal tort claim naming FBI agents as defendants."

Associate Independent counsel [Miquel Rodriguez] was replaced by Brett Kavanaugh.

Karl Rove

Twice Novak was reportedly involved in situations leading to Karl Rove being fired from political campaigns: first in 1980 from George H.W. Bush's vice-presidential campaign, and second in 1992, while working for Bush's reelection campaign. Both times Rove was fired from the staff for leaking campaign information to Novak. Rove and Novak both deny that Rove was the source.[link] Novak has also publicly stated that Rove was one of his sources for his article about Valerie Plame. [link]

Robert Hanssen

Novak's famously ironclad loyalty to his sources was called into question after he revealed Robert Hanssen as the confidential source for some of his articles. Hanssen had served as the source for a column which attacked Janet Reno's role in an alleged cover-up of a campaign finance scandal in 1996.(New York Observer, August 6 2001) Novak indicated at the time that he felt justified in 'burning' his source because Hanssen was a traitor — he had been found guilty of selling state secrets, including the identities of covert operatives, to the Soviet Union. Novak also wondered whether he had been "set up" by Hanssen.

Plame Affair

In 2003, he identified Valerie Plame as a CIA operative in his column. Novak reported the information was provided to him by "senior administration officials." The leak and allegations of a possible cover-up are currently being investigated. During 2005, there have been 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. Alternatively, it has been speculated, Fitzgerald is ultimately planning to target Novak for possibly colluding with his White House sources to tell the same story regarding the leak, which if true would constitute obstruction of justice. However, on July 12, 2006, Novak published a column at [Human Events Online] 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.

*Main articles at: Plame affair, Plame scandal timeline

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, however, that the CBS sources lost their right to confidentiality when the memos were later widely believed to be forgeries.

Race and Richard Clarke

In March 2004, Novak insinuated on CNN's Crossfire that Richard Clarke had revealed government mistakes in his book dealing with the war against terrorism because he resented Condoleezza Rice's position as a black woman on the cabinet.

During a dialogue with Democratic Congressman Rahm Emanuel Novak had this to say:

Novak: Congressman, do you believe, you're a sophisticated guy, do you believe watching these hearings that Dick Clarke has a problem with this African-American woman Condoleezza Rice?

Emanuel: Say that again?

Novak: Do you believe that Dick Clarke has a problem with this African-American woman Condoleezza Rice?

Emanuel: No, no. Bob, give me a break. No. No. [link]

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. [link]

Senate In May 2005, Novak raised a stir when he used a Holocaust analogy to attack the negotiations between several Democratic and Republican Senators to reach a compromise in an ongoing debate over the filibustering of judicial nominations. The compromise would reportedly involve several Democrats agreeing to support the confirmation of some, but not all, of the nominees that they had previously filibustered, in return for several Republicans agreeing to vote against a proposed rules change that would remove the filibuster entirely (the "nuclear option"). Novak said agreeing to confirm some of the judges but not others was "...like going to a concentration camp and picking out which people go to the death chamber", a comparison the Anti-Defamation League termed "abhorrent" in demanding an apology. [link]

Israel and Palestine

In 2006, Novak wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post [link]calling on Bush to do something about the plight of the Palestinian Christians. Citing the encircling of Christianity's Holy city, Bethlehem, by a tall cement barrier used as a security fence to deter terrorism by Israel, Novak appealed to Christians in the US to at least defend the small minority of Christians in Palestine. His remarks criticized the Israeli government for allowing the continuation of settlement expansion in the West Bank.

2005 Inside Politics incident

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. 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 [link]. 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.

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.

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 now a contributor for CNN's main competitor, Fox News Channel.

Reference

Joe Conason, New York Observer, August 6, 2001, "Was Hanssen a Spy for the Right Wing, Too?"

External links

Critical commentary

Jacoby, Mary. ["The Operative"] Salon.com, Oct. 1, 2004
Rich, Frank. ["All the President's Newsmen"] New York Times, January 16, 2005
Sullivan, Amy. ["Bob in Paradise: How Novak created his own ethics-free zone"] Washington Monthly, December 2004
[MediaMatters on Novak]
[Know Your Right-Wing Speakers: Robert Novak]

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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