I disliked Bob Novak immensely, especially after he outed Valerie Plame in retribution for her husbands article identifying that the Bush administration knew that Hussein had not tried to purchase uranium form Nigeria.
He famously stormed off of the "Inside Politics" set when James Carville said: "He's gotta show these right-wingers that he's got backbone, you know. The Wall Street Journal editorial page is watching you. Show 'em you're tough."
Novak may have at one time been a good reporter, but he sold his soul to the Right Wing and continued to carry water for them right up to the end of his career. He put out every lie and bullshit story that they asked him to, and did not seem to be bothered by it in the least.
What a waste of what could have been a valuable reporter.
His life story whould be a lesson to the likes of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, and Glenn "Sob sister" Beck.
Sad for his family...but I cannot say I'm too sad over his passing.
ReplyDeleteGotta' tell you something. While I am no fan of Bob Novak, I think there needs to be a period of time immediately following someone's death where the things written about them are less harsh. I am part of a public family and I will never forget the awful things some members of the press wrote within hours of my loved one's death. It is impolite and bad form.
ReplyDeleteNAH, I don't agree with you. I believe in telling the truth about them when they die!
DeleteIf you want kind things said about you when you die, don't be and evil ASS while you are alive.
Live your life that people will have nothing but good things to say about you when you die. PERIOD!
Gryphen: Agree with your summary of how he wasted his life.
ReplyDeleteHe actually used to be a good writer. Then he decided to become the news, rather than cover it.
What a sad pathetic man he became.
Novak should have done jail time for outing a covert CIA agent. Think of all the follow on damage to all of her contacts and sources.
ReplyDeletePeople may have been killed... all for partisan political purposes.
A real American and a real patriot would never out an agent.
The law needs to be changed. Identifying an agent in the press should carry a 5 to 10 year sentence.
When he outed Valerie, and jeopardized her life, and the lives of her husband and young children, I knew then, he was evil. NO good and decent person would have done what he did. And it should be a crime, he should have been arrested for that.
DeleteBob Novak hit a pedestrian in his corvette, then ran (hit and run) then was diagnosed with brain cancer a week later. God works in strange ways....just sayin.
ReplyDeletePlain and simple, Robert Novak was nasty human being.
ReplyDeleteTear?......No!
ReplyDeleteI will not miss him. That said, condolences to his family.
ReplyDeleteA sad day for his family as he is a husband, a father.
ReplyDeleteBut through his choice of profession and more specifically, his actions, I can't say I was upset when he was diagnosed. Many people call it karma and that was his. For all the decades that I would see him, I can't remember when I ever liked him, actually it would be better said - that I ever trusted him.
The one thing that has always struck me as highly hypocritical is how people who despise a public figure in life suddenly find ways to praise them upon passing, as if the time to be charitable is when they're no longer around to appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem saying good riddance to someone like Robert Novak. What he did to the Plames was disgusting. It just seemed ironic that he sold his soul to Dick Cheney before he could give it to God.
Gryphen, Well put.
ReplyDeleteJust because someone is a husband and a father doesn't give him a right not to be called out for what he was. If my husband or father behaved like Novak I'd punch him where it hurt until he got some sense. Just remember Palin is a mother and a wife and she'll never get respect from me dead or alive.
Gotta stand with (nearly) everyone else here. Novak cheerled the invasion of a country whose head might not have liked us much, but certainly had not the capacity to materially damage us. He, along with many other members of the Fifth Estate, could have actively promoted the fact that UN inspectors were finding nothing and that Saddam Hussein was actively cooperating- instead they underplayed it and caused the invasion and deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. It will take us years, possibly decades, to rebuild our armed forces to the point where we can protect ourselves effectively after the damage the Iraq war has done. He outed a covert CIA officer, and we don't have any way to evaluate how much damage that did to our national security, or how many foreign lives were lost because they'd associated with Valerie Plame. (Yeah, they said none. What do you expect them to say?) He drove off after striking down an innocent person. Now he's dead of brain cancer, and frankly his space is more welcome than his presence. Thank the gods that few of us have such a poor memory to leave behind.
ReplyDeleteNo bleeding heart here for a guy who threw away his life for a bunch of crooks,liars an traitors. You is what you is dead or alive.
ReplyDeleteHe should have died in prison and GW Bush and Cheney should have witnessed his death from the cell next door.
ReplyDeleteI don't wish bad karma on people. I thought of him as a criminal and I would have preferred he go to court and to jail.
ReplyDeleteI do think the body should be in the ground before the dead get piled on. That said I don't think you must completely hold back, honest respect for the dead is acceptable. Novak had to know he was a prick. Didn't he become Catholic after guilt caught up with him? He was a public person in life. No one held back when Saddam Hussein was killed, people were vicious.
May he now pay for his sins since he got away with so much death and destruction in life!!
ReplyDelete