The 78-year-old conservative television/print host, journalist and columnist, with a long collaboration with partner Rowland Evans, last week passed away from complications of brain cancer. Novak headed a short list of conservative columnists I have considered a must-read, including the late William F. Buckley, George Will, and Charles Krauthammer; Novak's regular straight-talk political analyses of upcoming Congressional swing races always made for fascinating reading.
Unfortunately, many people will remember Bob for his controversial column in 2003 noting that the wife of former Ambassador Wilson, a prominent Bush Administration critic, worked in the CIA department making the request for Wilson's trip to Niger to investigate unconfirmed rumors of Saddam Hussein's attempted procurement of yellowcake (uranium). Wilson, in a preemptive attempt to counter any Administration attempt to question his credibility, dubiously claimed that Vice President Cheney himself had requested Wilson's 2002 week-long junket to Niger. Novak's column, in response, raised the issue of nepotism. Wilson angrily accused the Administration of dirty tricks, attacking him through his wife Valerie Plame and illegally exposing her covert operative status. (Novak did not identify Plame by name or her prior assignments at the CIA. Furthermore, it should be noted that it had been years since Plame's last overseas assignment, and she had been pulled from the field because of a belief that she had been exposed.) It was later exposed that US Attorney Fitzgerald became aware of the fact Richard Armitage, a deputy to then Secretary of State Colin Powell, was Novak's source when he expanded his investigation as the special prosecutor, eventually putting former Cheney chief of staff Scooter Libby's faulty memory (of whom said what about Plame to whom and when) on trial and winning a conviction. (Armitage, who reportedly had his own doubts about Bush's policy on Iraq, was not aware of Plame's former covert status, and Fitzgerald did not charge anyone of violating the law with respect to Plame's revelation. In fact, there are stories that Wilson had previously introduced Plame socially as his "CIA wife." Novak claimed that Wilson's concern before publication of the column was not the revelation about his wife but with his own characterization chiefly as an Iraq policy opponent and that Plame went by her married name. (Plame's marriage to Wilson occurred after she was recalled to Washington. This further undermines the credibility of the allegation of an intent to expose her covert status.))
Don Hewitt: RIP
I tend to be ambivalent about the national news networks which are notoriously unbalanced and clearly biased with a liberal/progressive perspective; I do have a certain fondness for ABC-TV's token libertarian John Stossel featured on 20/20. Producer Hewitt's 60 Minutes news magazine concept was innovative in a number of respects: crisply produced 13-minute news segments with anchor correspondents, with a distinctive emphasis on hidden-camera, ambush reporting on private and public sector corrupt officials and public safety issues; there are also celebrity interviews, which often include a biographical element and go beyond shilling the celebrity's latest project (movie, CD, book, etc.); and at various periods, there have been liberal/conservative commentaries on current topics.
What I particularly like about Hewitt's television legacy is the fact that he proved that there is a prime-time audience for intelligent, well-produced, newsworthy stories, as 60 Minutes went from winning their time slot by the mid-70's to becoming the highest-rated program overall by the end of the decade. In fact, some of the show's segments became newsworthy on their own merits. In a medium characterized by sitcoms, law-and-order series, soap operas and other drama series, and game shows, 60 Minutes is a refreshing alternative.
Ted Kennedy: Resign Now!
Ted Kennedy, afraid that Republican Governor Mitt Romney might appoint a Republican to fill 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee John Kerry's Senate seat if Kerry was elected President, pushed the Massachusetts state legislature to strip the governor of that function. It has become increasingly obvious that Kennedy, in the advanced stages of brain cancer, will likely not survive the remainder of his term. Given a Democratic governor (Deval Patrick) in power, Kennedy has suddenly rediscovered the virtues of the governor being able to appoint a replacement Democrat given a Kennedy resignation or his death (no doubt this would be to given an appointee the advantage of incumbency in defending the seat in a subsequent election).
Mr. Kennedy, the Senate seat belongs to the people of Massachusetts, not you! The idea that Democratic governors are "more equal" than Republicans ones when it comes to selecting Senate successors is blatantly partisan and unworthy of a principled public servant whom put the people first. I'm empathetic towards your personal fight against cancer, a ruthless killer, but the people of Massachusetts deserve a full-time senator. It's time to resign your seat, Senator!
