Novak retires because of poor prognosis of his brain cancer.

Not good news for Bob Novak. The Washington Post just announced his retirement.

He's a public figure so his private personal battles tend to become public events, but it looks like his political reporting days are over and he is now entering a very private period. I'd pray for an improved prognosis, or failing that, a good death. But that's presumptuous of me. He's now, at the end of a long life, entering the period we all face sooner or later, the end of his life. It's a period most Americans avoid thinking about. Perhaps we should all just pray for him.

I will.

Robert Novak diagosed with brain tumor

The Chicago Sun-Times, Robert Novak's home newspaper, published Novak's statement today that he has been hospitalized with a brain tumor.

“On Sunday, July 27, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I have been admitted to Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where doctors will soon begin appropriate treatment. “I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period."

Novak is alert and talking — he wrote the statement announcing his illness — but in intensive care, where the hospital does not allow phone calls or flowers, according to his assistant, Kathleen Connolly.

"He's talking,'' Connolly said. "He seemed fine."

The diagnosis was sudden. Novak became ill Sunday during a family outing near Cape Cod, Mass. A family member called 911, and he was brought by ambulance to Brigham and Women's Hospital, where the diagnosis was made.

It’s too early to know whether the tumor is malignant or benign, his assistant said.[Snip]

Novak, 77, struck a pedestrian last Wednesday [July 23] while driving his Chevrolet Corvette in Washington, D.C. The man he struck suffered minor injuries, according to the Associated Press. Novak was issued a $50 citation.

Asked whether the accident might have been linked to the columnist's medical condition, Novak's reporter, Charlie Spiering, said today, "It's really too early to tell."

Novak said he didn't realize what happened and continued driving until a bicyclist stopped him, the Associated Press reported. David Bono, the bicyclist, said the pedestrian was hit in a crosswalk and was splayed across Novak's windshield.

The report last week that Novak had struck a pedestrian in a cross-walk and appeared unaware that he had done so was strange at the time. This appears likely to provide an explanation for that event.

As much as I dislike Novak's politics, I really hope this is not cancerous. No one deserves that. It is hard not to compare Novak's condition to that of Senator Ted Kennedy who was diagnosed with malignant brain cancer and has been getting treatment at Massachusetts General Hospital, also located in Boston.

We should all wish Bob Novak the best possible outcome.

Novak - Republicans knew about and concealed Larry Craig's behavior

According to Bloomberg, (see Think Progress for the TV clip.) Bob Novak has stated that the Senate Republicans have known that Larry Craig is gay and that he has long practiced his toilet-stall behavior.

It amazes me how blatantly those Republicans hide and support their closeted gay politicians and still run on an anti-gay platform to satisfy their social conservative base. The level of hypocrisy demonstrated by the leaders of the social conservative so-called 'values voters' is the flip side of the same coin.

It probably shouldn't surprise me, though. Those politicians and social conservative leaders are themselves particularly nasty pieces of work. Our society no longer reacts viscerally in fear of an uprising of Blacks, so they have had to find new enemies to pretend were existential threats to America so that they could hang onto power. What have they found? Gays, Muslims, and immigrants. Oh, and they have never stopped being afraid of poor and sick people.

If there really were an interventionist God performing miracles, every time they called themselves 'Christians' their tongues would burst into fire.

The failed Reich-wing talking point of no underlying crime

Media Matters for America provides the truth to counter the lie expressed once again by the traitor to America, Robert Novak. Bob tries hard to make people believe that Libby was convicted for lying, perjury and obstruction of justice in a case that had no underlying crime. Novak is merely attempting to escape blame for his own treason in publishing the identity of a covert agent of the CIA. [This is providing aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States - nothing less.]

[The traitor] syndicated columnist Robert D. Novak claimed that although former deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage was the original source for Novak's July 16, 2003, column revealing Valerie Plame Wilson's CIA employment, special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald "plowed ahead with an inquiry that produced obstruction of justice and perjury charges against Libby, though there was no underlying crime." He added: "Why did Fitzgerald pursue the investigation when [First misleading point] he knew Armitage was the leaker and [Second point, this time an out and out lie.]had determined there was no evidence of a crime?" But as Media Matters for America has repeatedly noted, [First point]while Libby did not leak Plame's identity to Novak, he was reportedly the original source of the information for at least two other reporters during the summer of 2003. And as Fitzgerald clarified in a May 25 memorandum regarding Libby's sentencing: "The investigation was never limited to disclosure of Ms. Wilson's CIA affiliation to Mr. Novak; rather, from the outset the investigation sought to determine who disclosed information about Ms. Wilson to various reporters, including -- but not limited to -- Mr. Novak." Novak's suggestion that, legally, Armitage's leak of Plame's identity was the only disclosure that mattered also ignores that the statutes in question do not specify that the identity of a covert operative has to be published for a crime to have been committed.

Further, contrary to Novak's assertion that Fitzgerald "had determined there was no evidence of a crime," during an October 2005 press conference announcing Libby's indictment, [Second point] Fitzgerald said that Libby's obstruction of justice had prevented the special counsel's office from determining if an underlying crime had been committed.

The term "Obstruction of Justice" means that Libby interfered with the investigation into a crime (the crime - Valerie Plame Wison's identity as a covert agent of the CIA) was clearly leaked to numerous reporters, including Novak, and Libby's lies and perjury prevented Fitzgerald's investigation from determining who directed the leaks and what the circumstances were. Without that information no one could be charged with a crime that was provable in court, even though it is perfectly clear that the crime was committed.

Besides Libby, Novak is a traitor because he set out to damage the U.S. by publishing information that should have been protected. The fact that Valerie Plame's cover organization was forced to shut down, as were her networks of agents, demonstrates that treason was committed. It is unfortunate that an appropriate law cannot be found to prosecute Novak.

Good News for America! Rep. Jerry Lewis will NOT run for reelection in 2008!

America and California have been given some good news by the American traitor [*] Bob Novak! California Rep. Jerry Lewis will not run for reelection for a 16th term.

Lewis is one of at least six Republican House members from California who have faced ethical scrutiny, beginning when Duke Cunningham was sent to prison. Most recently, Rep. Ken Calvert, who was sponsored by Lewis for a coveted Appropriations Committee seat, is under attack. He replaced Rep. John Doolittle, another Californian who resigned from the committee because the Justice Department was investigating him.

Rep. Jerry Lewis was under investigation in the Abramoff scandal when the U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles who was investigating Rep. Lewis decided that the private sector paid better than working for the government. Ms. Yang received a really good offer from the Law Firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher in their Los Angeles office.

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher is the law firm defending Rep. Jerry Lewis, the very Congressman Debra Yang was investigating for corruption. The job offer came with an upfront signing bonus of $1.5 million for Ms. Yang, who otherwise was on the Department of Justice firing list. Ms. Yang took the job in late November of 2004, somehow missing being fired during the Pearl Harbor Day U.S. Attorney mass firing which happened three weeks later.

---

[*] Bob Novak is the treasonous reporter who published CIA officer Valerie Plame's name and CIA affiliation in order to punish her husband Joe Wilson for daring to make George W. Bush admit that he was lying in the 2003 State of the Union Address when he stated that Iraq was attempting to purchase yellow cake Uranium ore from Niger. [Bush's statement that he "should not have included that incident in the speech.] is political-speak for "I was lying and you caught me. Shame on you."

Even the Republicans recognize it. Bush is not competent to run the government.

It's not that the government can't get anything done. It's that Bush, Cheney and Rove are so utterly incompetent that the government can't get anything done while they are in charge. That's not just my opinion. It is the opinion of arch-right-winger Robert "Prince of Darkness" Novak. Novak is speaking for the Republicans in Congress, too.

I am, as you probably know, no fan of Novakula. He provided aid and comfort to the enemies of America when he published the fact that Valerie Plame Wilson was an agent of the CIA. But his sources inside the top levels of the Republcan Party can't be matched. When he says that all the Republicans in Congress agree that the Bush administration is characterized by the "I" word, incompetence, you can take that to the bank.

From the Washington Post editorial by Novakula himself we get this statement:

The I-word (incompetence) is also used by Republicans in describing the Bush administration generally. Several of them I talked to cited a trifecta of incompetence: the Walter Reed hospital scandal, the FBI's misuse of the USA Patriot Act and the U.S. attorneys firing fiasco. "We always have claimed that we were the party of better management," one House leader told me. "How can we claim that anymore?"

America will take decades to dig out from under the debris resulting from the recent reign of "Prince George the Incompetent", who should have been a court jester but didn't even have the talent for that.

[h/t to Kevin Drum.]

Seen any proof Bush wants out of Iraq? I haven't.

Or perhaps Bob Novak overestimates the power of his column to cause a Republican administration to do what he considers is important for Republicans to do.

In any case, DavidNYC at dKos has five quotes from the Evans-Novak Political Report over the period beginning Jan. 10 2007 and ending Feb 21, 2007. Go look at them (they're short) and see if you can determine why Novak keeps repeating the same message.

Think he might be feeling desperate? With a Democratic Presidency and both Houses under Democratic control, maybe he's afraid that all his sources will dry up and the Democrats won't even talk to a has-been Republican report who commited an act of Treason by publishing the name of an active CIA officer.

[H/T to Atrios.]

Guide to the Monday (Feb 12) Libby Trial Live-blog

This is an index of links to the Firedoglake Libby Trial Liveblogging. I am trying to make it as easy as possible to go read the details of the trial as recorded by Jane Hamsher of Firedog lake. Do not refresh any more than necessary, as Firedoglake's server is being hit very frequently. That's why it is so slow to load or sometimes comes back reporting "Unable to Connect."

As before the links are in time sequence with the oldest at the bottom and the newest at the top. The numbered links are the actual (paraphrased, not verbatum) live-blogged trial reports by EmptyWheel.

To see all my posts indexing the Liveblog of the Libby trial from Firedoglake, click on the Label "Liveblog" (below.)

• Jeralyn Merritt (of www.Talkleft.com) discusses the trial at Huffington Post.
• Jane Hamsher discusses today at the trial over at Huffington Post.
• Politics TV of the day, further discussion of case.
• Glenn Kessler (GK) questioned by unknown Defense Atty (D), Fitz crosses - Evan Thomas (ET) questioned by Jeffress (J), no cross - Carl Ford (CF) previously at DoS questioned by new unk defense atty (D is reused), short cross by Zeidenberg (Z) - legal wranglng on memory defense.
• Robert Novak (RN) cross examined by Fitzgerald (F) - Part two.
• Robert Novak (RN) questioned by Wells (W) - Part one.
• David Sanger (DS) questioned by Jeffress (J), cross examined by Fitzgerald (F) - Part one.
• Bob Woodward (BW) questioned by Jeffress (J), cross examined by Fitzgerald (F) - Part one.
• Walter Pincus (WP) questioned by Jeffress (J) for the defense, cross-examined by Fitzgerald (F) for the prosecution - Part one.
• Early morning legal wrangling.
  The prosecution rested last Thursday, so these are defense witnesses.