In Praise of Robert Novak

North Star Writers Group ^ | August 11, 2008 | Llewellyn King

[Dukes Travels]

The op-ed page of The Washington Post is full of type, but not enough to fill the gaping hole where Robert “Bob” Novak's column used to appear. Novak's column nominally originated from The Chicago Sun-Times, but he was the first to say that much of his success was the result of appearing in The Washington Post. If you write about politics it helps to do it where the politicians will read you. In Washington the best place for that is The Post, with its dominant circulation among the three newspapers published in the nation's capital.

Now that Novak, 77, has had to retire to fight a brain tumor, it is clear that he has no successor. Some of his colleagues on The Post are more articulate than Novak. His fellow conservatives Charles Krauthammer, George Will and Michael Gerson all are great stylists. The liberals Ruth Marcus and Harold Meyerson turn a beautiful phrase, and Richard Cohen has remained fresh and funny for three decades.

But none of them sets out to do what Novak did for 45 years – break news. He believed the old adage that “there is nothing so good as news in the newspaper.” First with his late partner Rowland Evans, and in recent years by himself, Novak broke news. He understood that opinion alone grows tired, especially when everyone knows the sympathies of the columnist, but news is always self-refreshing.

[romanesq]

Novak has been doing for decades what almost all the LSM has refused to do.
That’s work on getting a story.

Reading his book a little while back gave me a great appreciation for his service.
The guy provides a great amount of insight on American politics and politicians going back decades.

And many of us will always remember how he stood up to the liberal media in singular fashion speaking our thoughts that were not worthy of CNN and the other liberals.

His last book on his career is not only a great read but an inside view of history. The Plame game being the most recent which he clearly outlines in detail. Many people still have an entirely incorrect picture of that.

I wish Mr. Novak the best. And I really feel indebted to him for those occasions when his voice was the closest to mine.

[Thebaddog]

Novak is one of us. Google that bad boy up and see what his kids are doing for their livings. And look at Moynihan's quote when he was baptized.

God bless him and his family. He's got problems, but he's a fighter. Whatever happens, Novak has lived life fully.