Free Republic

Two things stand out in this new ad from Valerie Plame, who is running for Congress as a Democrat in New Mexico. She declares, “Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff took revenge against my husband and leaked my identity. His name? Scooter Libby.” This is false. Former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage acknowledged in 2006 that he was the source who first revealed the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame to syndicated columnist Robert Novak back in 2003.(snip) Plame then declares, “I come from Ukrainian Jewish immigrants.” This is no doubt meant to be a shield against those who would...

Could We Have Prevented the Attacks? by William Norman Grigg During the 1990s, the FBI uncovered clues indicating that bin Laden was planning to attack America with hijacked airliners. This information was never shared with local police. On April 19th, police arrested 30-year-old Leo V. Felton and 21-year-old Erica Chase after they had tried to pass counterfeit $20 bills at a Dunkin’ Donuts in East Boston. After the pair was booked and processed into the Nashua Street Jail, police turned the investigation over to the Secret Service. Seven days later, Felton was free on bail, despite the fact that federal ...

Robert Novak wrote Prince of Darkness (according to his publicity materials) to vindicate himself and to settle scores. Among those scores are one with former diplomat Joe Wilson, and another with me. Even from Novak’s own point of view, however, it would have been better if he had left those scores unsettled and this book unpublished. I am not sure I have ever read a memoir that so artlessly presents so damning a self-portrait. The title is unintentionally unironic: The man revealed in these pages is indeed a dark soul. I’ll leave my own part in this story to the...

CIA official's John Rizzo's revelations in new book, Company Man: Thirty Years of Controversy and Crisis in the CIA, establish beyond peradventure of doubt that the Plame case was a hoax, stirred up by her husband and Patrick Fitzgerald. See these excerpts from the book:

Newsweek is reporting that the Valerie Plame affair thickened last week after Bob Woodward admitted that he "had been told about Plame and her role before Novak had, but that in order to protect his source and avoid a subpoena from the grand jury, he had told no one, not even his editor, Leonard Downie." Woodward did not reveal his source, but insists that when the leaker's identity is made known, it will be seen as "much ado about very little." That's pretty much the same thing that Robert Novak says.The article suggests that former deputy secretary of state Richard...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Bob Woodward's version of when and where he learned the identity of a CIA operative contradicts a special prosecutor's contention that Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide was the first to make the disclosure to reporters. Attorneys for the aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, described Wednesday's statement by the Washington Post's assistant managing editor as helpful for their defense, although Libby is charged with lying to a grand jury and the FBI, not with disclosing the CIA official's name. "Hopefully, as information is obtained from reporters like Bob Woodward, the real facts will come out," lawyer Ted...

Media blackout: CIA director accused of links to Communist spy contact -- scandal ignored Wes Vernon June 13, 2011 If you have been depending on the mainstream media for your news the past few days, you are probably learning here for the first time that CIA Director Leon Panetta has been called out for his links to an important open member of the Communist Party. Some background When this writer first arrived in Washington, D.C., as a reporter in 1968, one of my assignments was to cover the congressional delegation from Washington State. Occasionally, both Democrat and Republican members of...

Push to blame the Iraq war on "Jewish influence" sounds a familiar theme http://www.jewishworldreview.com | A few months ago, a great deal of tut-tutting and dignified outrage emanated from much of the civilized world over the broadcast of a series on Egyptian television which sought to dramatize the "truth" of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. But, as the debate over President Bush's rightful determination to pursue war against the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein heats up, it looks like the dimwitted propagandists who write scripts for Egyptian potboilers have been sharing sources with prominent Washington pundits, leftist anti-war...

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...

Family, Journalists Pay Tribute To Columnist Novak By ANN SANNER, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON – Political columnist Robert Novak was remembered Friday as a man committed to faith, family and craft. Friends, family, fellow journalists and political strategists squeezed into St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington to pay tribute to the proud owner of the "Prince of Darkness" moniker. Attendees at his funeral Mass included Karl Rove, a top strategist for former President George W. Bush and a key figure in the 2003 Valerie Plame-CIA leak case that became part of Novak's legacy. Monsignor Salvatore Criscuolo told Novak's wife, children...

Today the Conservative Movement lost one of its toughest streetfighters. Veteran columnist, reporter, and pundit Robert Novak died at the age of 78. Greg Gutfield gives him a blog-style obituary over at Big Hollywood: Men like Novak normally don’t have a cult following, but he did. Because he was cool. While others would carry around dog-eared copies of old Hunter S. Thompson paperbacks, and believe nonconformity means acting like a nonconformist, fans of Novak knew that true rebellion meant rebelling against vacant rebellion. Novak, after all, wore a three-piece suit every moment of his life making him more of a...

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...

It was during this time that I was given a book called ‘The Reagan Revolution’, which not only helped shape my opinion of The Gipper as one of the greatest presidents ever, but the work also introduced me to someone who would become one of my idols in the world of punditry: Robert Novak.

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...

Here is CNN Video today remembering the life of legendary conservative journalist Robert Novak, known as the "Prince of Darkness," and who also spent 25 years on CNN. The report is very well done. . . . . (Watch Video)

The family of legendary conservative journalist Robert Novak has announced that he passed away earlier today at his home after a long battle with brain cancer. Novak was 78. I have long admired Robert Novak. He was conservative, but he was not afraid to report the truth about Democrats and Republicans alike. I did not always agree with him, but I greatly respect him. Novak wrote the story of his life as a reporter in Washington in the outstanding book, Prince of Darkness. I wrote a review of that book after reading it and posted it here back in November...

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, one of the nation’s most influential journalists, who relished his “Prince of Darkness” public persona, died at home here early Tuesday morning after a battle with brain cancer. “He was someone who loved being a journalist, love journalism and loved his country and loved his family, Novak’s wife, Geraldine, told the Sun-Times on Tuesday. Novak’s remarkable and long-running career made him a powerful presence in newspaper columns, newsletters, books and on television. On May 15, 1963, Novak teamed up with the late Rowland Evans Jr. to create the “Inside Report” political column, which became the...

...Bob was Illinois and early in life was most at home in sports bars and, throughout his years in Washington, at unfashionable University of Maryland basketball games.... By day, however, Novak worked political sources like no other reporter. That is why so many people would be astonished when his political sources would become known. It was stunning when Novak revealed that the Democratic senator who dismissed the McGovern for President campaign as being about little more than “amnesty, abortion and acid” was none other than Thomas Eagleton, who McGovern would later (albeit briefly) choose as his vice presidential nominee. Who...

Here is video of longtime Washington journalist Robert Novak talking with Charlie Rose in August 2007 about his book, "Prince of Darkness," which chronicles his 50 years of covering politics in Washington, D.C. Novak's nickname is "Prince of Darkness," and his book by the same name is a masterpiece. I am reading it right now, and it is truly a difficult-to-put-down page-turner. Novak arrived in Washington in 1957 as a writer for Associated Press. He moved to the Wall Street Journal a few years later, and then joined with Rowland Evans in writing a syndicated column six-days a week in...

Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to withdraw his name from vice-presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation. Lieberman dismissed the request, these sources agreed. Lieberman “laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details. “Rove called Lieberman,” recounted a second source. “Lieberman told him he would NOT make that call.” Rove did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rove, President Bush’s former top campaign adviser and arguably the most...