Free Republic

Of Scowls & Scribes by: Malcolm A. Kline, August 25, 2009 The acknowledgements of the passing of reporter Robert D. Novak last week were appropriately respectful, for the most part, albeit with an occasional backhand. For example, in his column in The Washington Post, Howard Kurtz, in the main, tried to give him his due. Nevertheless, Kurtz offers a personal observation that, though rather superficial, I feel compelled to respond to. “I bumped into Novak occasionally at CNN where I host a weekly media program,” Kurtz remembered in the August 19, 2009 edition of The Post. “And although I’d like...

Bipartisan send-off for insider columnist It's a safe bet that Robert D. Novak would have loved the service for him on a steamy Friday morning at St. Patrick's Church in the heart of the city he loved. ...political consultant Jeff Bell - the late Mr. Novak's godfather and friend - and National Review Editor Kate O'Beirne delivered readings of the Mass... After the Mass came the kind of spontaneous political gabfest that Mr. Novak also would have loved... "Novak cost me an ambassadorship after Nixon had resigned and Ford took over," recalled Pat Buchanan, conservative political commentator and former top...

I met him years later after he had been diagnosed with the cancer which would cause his death. That was also after he had made the most important decision in his life, the one which will always be primary in my personal memories of this man of convictions, he entered into full communion with the Catholic Church. I remember that last encounter like it was yesterday. I was filled with the joy of the Lord after serving as a Deacon at the Mass presided over by Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, DC. With my alb and stole in my arms,...

Reporter, patriot, skeptic of the powerful. One irony of Robert Novak's long and admirable career as a journalist is that he wasn't a curmudgeon, though he played one on TV. In person, he was warm, loyal to friends and especially generous to young writers, even if he was fearless and unsparing toward the public officials he devoted his life to covering—or, to put it more accurately, uncovering. Novak, who died yesterday at age 78, was among America's greatest political reporters.

Goodnight Prince by: Malcolm A. Kline, August 18, 2009 It contains more useful information than any journalism textbook we have seen but don’t expect legendary reporter Robert Novak’s memoirs to become required reading in communications classes anytime soon. “I was too much of a right winger for most of America’s institutions,” Novak wrote in said memoir, The Prince of Darkness. “Always love your country—but never trust your government!” Novak used to tell college students. “That should not be misunderstood,” he explained. “I am not advocating civil disobedience, much less insurrection or rebellion.” “What I am [italics in original] advocating is...

Bob Novak hired me away from HUMAN EVENTS in late 2001. “Poaching,” HE Editor-in-Chief Tom Winter called it. I was not the first early-20s reporter Novak would pluck from HE’s newsroom. Nor would I be the last.

Whether you like him or hate him, Robert Novak’s combination of insider dope, political pronouncements, and glowering TV presence have made him a Washington institution. So the announcement in July that he was suspending his newspaper column because of a brain tumor came as a jolt. What other journalist has been tearing up the town with so much relish for the past 51 years? I spent some time with Novak five years ago for The Washingtonian, chronicling his journey from secular Jew to devout Catholic. Somewhat to my surprise, the scowling, sardonic columnist turned out to be a peach of...

In serious conversations among Republicans since their election debacle Tuesday, what name is mentioned most often as the Moses, or Reagan, who could lead them out of the wilderness before 40 years? To the consternation of many Republicans, it is none other than Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House. Gingrich is far from a unanimous or even a consensus choice to run for president in 2012, but there is a strong feeling in Republican ranks that he is the only leader of their party who has shown the skill and energy to attempt a comeback quickly. Even one...

The main reason I am writing this column is that many people have asked me how I first realized I was suffering from a brain tumor and what I have done about it. But I also want to relate the reaction to my disease, mostly compassionate, that belies Washington's reputation. The first sign that I was in trouble came on Wednesday, July 23, when my 2004 black Corvette struck a pedestrian on 18th Street in downtown Washington while I was on my way to my office. I did not realize I had hit anyone until a shirt-sleeved young man on...

While conservatives inside the administration are unhappy about intervention in markets, President Bush seems content with how the Federal Reserve and Treasury cooked up the deal with erstwhile colleagues in Wall Street. There is little conservative or Republican about the administration's approach to the fiscal crisis, as reflected in Room G-50. Uncritical Democratic senators were not even inquisitive. The closest a senator came to asking who set the price for JPMorgan was this apologetic question from Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd: "There's just reports -- I want to share them with you -- that JPMorgan Chase would make an offer of...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Barack Obama's speech last week, hastily prepared to extinguish the firestorm over the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, won critical praise for style and substance but failed politically. By elevating the question of race in America, the front-running Democratic presidential candidate has deepened the dilemma created by his campaign's success against the party establishment's anointed choice, Hillary Clinton. In rejecting the racist views of his longtime spiritual mentor but not disowning him, Obama has unwittingly enhanced his image as the African-American candidate -- not just a remarkable candidate who happens to be black. That poses a racial dilemma for...

Robert Novak reports that President Bush won’t support Mitt Romney because he changed his mind about shamnesty (hat tip - reader Rosebud). While President George W. Bush has maintained neutrality among contenders for the Republican presidential nomination, he privately expresses to friends his exasperation with Mitt Romney’s hard-line stance on immigration. Bush is upset that Romney changed his position on the issue, compared to what it had been when he was governor of Massachusetts, at the expense of the president’s immigration reform. Bush and Sen. John McCain are not close, but the president is grateful for McCain’s support on Iraq...

Donor Intent Endangered by: Malcolm A. Kline, November 06, 2007 Usually, when you donate to a charity you have some say in what happens to the donation, at least if you’re still around when the transfer payment takes place. “If ye’ be living when you’re giving, you be knowing where it’s going,” noted philanthropist John Templeton notably said. The problem of donor intent has become so acute in the charity world that it has spawned a cottage industry that focuses attention on it and, to some degree, has made charities more meticulous in adhering to their mission statements. Conversely, in...

Every now and then a book comes along that everyone interested in politics should read. The new memoir by veteran journalist Robert D. Novak, I think, is one of those books. Most people, even those who live there, wonder what Washington politics is really like behind the scenes. There is no one in political journalism better equipped to tell that story than Bob Novak. In The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington he tells it with an honesty and wit worthy of Balzac — he spares no one, including himself. Bob Novak has been a political reporter in...

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...

SlimeyJoe himself giving a talk at the Univ. of Baltimore.

Karl Rove Gets No Apology From Me September 14, 2006 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. We remember...

WASHINGTON -- When Richard Armitage finally acknowledged last week he was my source three years ago in revealing Valerie Plame Wilson as a CIA employee, the former deputy secretary of state's interviews obscured what he really did. I want to set the record straight based on firsthand knowledge. First, Armitage did not, as he now indicates, merely pass on something he had heard and that he "thought" might be so. Rather, he identified to me the CIA division where Mrs. Wilson worked, and said flatly that she recommended the mission to Niger by her husband, former Amb. Joseph Wilson. Second,...

Joe Wilson to be interviewed on Keith Olberman's show on MSNBC in a few minutes. This despite saying the other day during his press conference he wouldn't be giving interviews.

<p>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.</p>