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Robert David Sanders Novak (born February 26, 1931) is a conservative American political commentator. Over his lengthy career, Bob Novak has become well-known as a columnist (writing "Inside Report" since 1963) and as a television personality (appearing on many shows for CNN, most notably The Capital Gang, Crossfire, and Evans, Novak, Hunt, and Shields).
Novak was born into a Jewish family in Joliet, Illinois. He attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1948 to 1952, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree. While there, he became a Brother of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity. Novak's journalism career began when he wrote for the Joliet Herald-News, The Daily Illini, and The Champaign-Urbana Courier while in college..
During the Korean War, Novak served in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of lieutenant. After the war, he joined the Associated Press and became a political correspondent in Indianapolis. In 1957, Novak was transferred to Washington, D.C. where he reported on Congress; he left the AP to join the D.C. bureau of The Wall Street Journal in 1958, covering the Senate, and in 1961 becoming their chief congressional correspondent.
In 1963, he teamed up with Rowland Evans to create the "Evans-Novak Political Report" until Evans lost his battle with cancer in 2001. Novak's column is syndicated by the Chicago Sun-Times. His columns often contain original reporting in addition to analysis and opinion.
Novak is one of many reporters mentioned in Timothy Crouse's seminal non-fiction book about reporters covering the 1972 U.S. presidential campaign, The Boys on the Bus.
Novak is a registered Democrat despite his right-leaning views, principally so he can vote in the District of Columbia Democratic primary. He held more centrist views in his early career; indeed, he supported the Democratic presidential candidacies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, with whom he was a friend.[1]
Today, Novak tends toward low-tax small-government conservative views, but his disagreements with mainstream Republicans and neoconservatives--specifically his opposition to the Iraq War--have earned him the label of being a "paleoconservative."
Born Jewish, Novak converted to Catholicism in 1998.
Main articles: CIA leak scandal, CIA leak scandal timeline
In 2003, he identified Valerie Plame as a CIA "operative" in his column. Novak reported the information was provided to him by two "senior administration officials." These were eventually revealed to be Richard Armitage and Karl Rove.[2] During 2005, there were questions in the press regarding the apparent absence of focus on Novak by the special prosecutor Fitzgerald and the grand jury, specifically questions suggesting he may have already testified about his sources despite insisting publicly that he would not do so. On July 12, 2006, Novak published a column at Human Events stating:
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. I have cooperated in the investigation while trying to protect journalistic privileges under the First Amendment and shield sources who have not revealed themselves. I have been subpoenaed by and testified to a federal grand jury. Published reports that I took the Fifth Amendment, made a plea bargain with the prosecutors or was a prosecutorial target were all untrue.[3]
When Richard Armitage admitted to being a source, Novak wrote an op-ed column describing Armitage's self-disclosure as "deceptive".[4]
Main articles: Killian documents, George W. Bush military service controversy
Critics complain that Novak has been inconsistent as he insists it would violate journalistic ethics to reveal the source of the Plame leak, but later called on CBS to reveal the source of the memos that were part of the larger news story dealing with the president's alleged evasion of National Guard service. Other journalists have insisted that the CBS sources lost their right to confidentiality when the memos were proven to be forgeries.
In August 2004, after other journalists had reported on it, Novak admitted that his son, Alex Novak, is the Director of Marketing for the Swift Boat Veterans' publisher, Regnery Publishing. At the time he said that he didn't "think it relevant." Two months later Salon.com reported that Regnery's owner is also the publisher of Novak's own US$297 (annual rate) newsletter and that Novak is on the board of a foundation whose chief holdings are the stock of Regnery's parent company.[5]
Novak has been accused of anti-Israel bias[6]. In his syndicated column, Novak has blamed Israel for the plight and mass exodus of Palestinian Christians. He has also met with Hamas Education Minister Naser al-Shaer. Based on this meeting, Novak claimed that Hamas supports a two-state solution, something which the Hamas Covenant explicitly forbids.
In 2002, Novak's attitudes towards animal welfare came under scrutiny when he stated in an interview that he attended a cockfight in Puerto Rico and "enjoyed it tremendously", adding that the United States has "too many" anti-cruelty statutes. He also expressed his support of dog fighting and bullfighting.[7]
On August 4, 2005, Novak walked off the set during a live broadcast of the CNN show Inside Politics, on which he appeared along with Democratic strategist and analyst James Carville (whom Novak had debated with for years on Crossfire), and moderator Ed Henry.
During a discussion of Republican Representative Katherine Harris's just-announced 2006 campaign for the U.S. Senate and her claim that newspapers tried to tarnish her image by manipulating photos of her, Novak claimed he had experienced the same thing leading to a skeptical response from Carville.
Novak responded by saying, "Don't be too sure she's going to lose... all the establishment's against her and I've seen these Republican – anti-establishment candidates who do pretty well." Novak mentioned Ronald Reagan and Tom Coburn before seeing Carville preparing to talk. Novak cut into his comments and said "Just let me finish what I'm going to say, James. Please, I know you hate to hear me, but you have..." Carville cut in and said that Novak "got to show these right-wingers that he's got backbone, you know. It's why The Wall Street Journal editorial page is watching you. Show 'em you're tough."
Novak responded "Well, I think that's bullshit. And I hate that." Novak then removed his microphone and walked off the set. After the segment ended, host Ed Henry apologized to viewers for Novak's leaving the set "a little early,". "I had told him in advance that we were going to ask him about the CIA leak case. He was not here for me to be able to ask him about that. Hopefully, we'll be able to ask him about that in the future."
They were never able to ask Novak about the CIA leak case. This was the last time he would be seen on CNN. In response to the incident, CNN indefinitely suspended Novak calling the outburst "inexcusable and unacceptable," and apologized to its viewers. August 4th proved to be the last time Novak would appear on CNN, which was seen as monumental because Novak was the last surviving person to have appeared on the network's first weekend back in 1980.
Novak later denied that the CIA leak case was the reason for his walkout. However, Novak had avoided comment on the Plame affair in previous interviews by claiming that his lawyers had advised him not to speak. Reporters interviewing Novak were warned that any attempt to raise his role in the Plame affair would cause the interview to be immediately terminated [3]. On August 1st however, Novak wrote a column on the affair in his Chicago Sun-Times column (“Ex-CIA official’s remark is wrong”). The fact that Novak had addressed the affair in print meant that CNN could not allow his previous "legal advice" excuse to stand without comment.
On December 16, 2005, FOX News spokesman Brian Lewis confirmed that Novak had signed a contract to do unspecified work for the network. Novak stated that he still would have left CNN even if he had not been kicked off in the August incident and, despite arguments stating otherwise, did not go to FOX NEWS due to the fact that the network was more friendly to his point of view. "In 25 years I was never censored by CNN and I said some fairly outrageous things and some very conservative things. I don't want to give the impression that they were muzzling me and I had to go to a place that wouldn't muzzle me," Novak said.
On December 23, 2005 Novak retired from CNN after 25 years, stating that his relationship with the network lasted "longer than most marriages." Novak also said he had "no complaints" about CNN.
Novak is third in the most amount of appearances on NBC's Meet the Press behind (in order) David Broder of the Washington Post and the late May Craig of the Portland Times Herald. He was invited on the Meet the Press 50th anniversary show although he had not been on the show in some years due to being on CNN.
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