Robert D. Novak, 1931-2009
THE SCRAPBOOK pauses in its labors to mourn the death last week of legendary Washington reporter and columnist Bob Novak. Fred Barnes memorialized his longtime friend on THE WEEKLY STANDARD website last week:
"Robert Novak terrified Washington. Elected and appointed officials, Democrats and Republicans, lobbyists and self-styled defenders of the 'public interest'--few were comfortable when Novak had them in his sights. Nor should they have been. The reason was simple: Bob Novak didn't play political games. He wasn't partisan. If he came across useful information about anyone, it would appear in his syndicated column.
"It's not too much to call Novak journalism's last honest man in Washington. Ideologically, he was conservative, the more so the older he grew. He was quite up front about this. But he didn't cover for his allies or mistreat his adversaries. If a conservative Republican disappointed him, Novak would let you know.
"He was unique in another way: his reporting. His column, which he wrote for four decades with Rowland Evans, had a slant and plenty of analysis. Its strength, however, consisted of big scoops or nuggets of fresh reporting. No other columnist could match this. Appearing three days a week in the Washington Post, it was a column that couldn't be ignored.
"The relentless, remorseless reporter--the Prince of Darkness, as he fashioned himself publicly--was only one side of Bob Novak. The other was a kind man, a patriot, a doting grandfather, a pal of liberal and conservative journalists alike, and a mentor to many younger men in the media. . . ."
Novak was a frequent contributor to these pages over the years, usually on political topics. But THE SCRAPBOOK's favorite among the articles he wrote for us was probably his October 15, 2007, article on the demise of "Chief Illiniwek," mascot of the University of Illinois and victim of political correctness. It was a rare show of sentiment from the tough-guy reporter feared by the Washington elite. Wrote Novak:
*I had first been thrilled by the Chief's graceful and noble dance on October 10, 1942, when I was 11 years old and had finally talked my father, an Illinois grad ('22), into taking me to Champaign for a game. Since then I had seen him perform at dozens of games (I attended all of them in 1948-1951, when I was an undergraduate at the university). But liberal activists began to lobby against him around 1990 as an insult to Native Americans. Finally, the university capitulated to unbearable pressure from the NCAA and Illinois Democratic politicians. The Chief was really gone.
But only in body, it turned out, not in spirit. I was advised to watch closely at halftime, based on what had happened three weeks earlier in the season home opener against Western Illinois. In the past, the magnificent Marching Illini band would end its halftime performance playing the school's marching songs interspersed with the Chief's war hymn. The band would form ILLINI in block letters and march down the field. Hidden until then by the ranks of the marching band members, the Chief would suddenly appear and--cheered on by 70,000--would begin the stylized dance that had started in 1926.
And now the band was going through that time-honored routine, the same music and the same marching routine--without the Chief! From the capacity crowd and especially the student sections, came shouts of "Chief! Chief!" It was an eerie spectacle. Illiniwek without the Chief was a little like Hamlet without the prince. A chill went through my body, and tears came to my eyes. . . .*
Washington without Bob Novak makes us feel the same way.
Friends of Dodd
If readers have any questions about the validity of the Obama broom sweeping through Washington--clearing out the corruption and changing the way things have been done, putting the status quo and the special interests and the bad old ways on notice--THE SCRAPBOOK suspects the U.S. Senate has given them a definitive answer.
This month, after a yearlong "investigation," the Senate Select Committee on Ethics dismissed complaints against Senators Christopher Dodd and Kent Conrad. The two senior Democrats had been accused of using their positions to obtain sweetheart deals on home loans from Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation's largest purveyor of subprime mortgages, and whose ex-CEO Angelo Mozilo has been charged by the SEC with fraud and insider trading.
Dodd and Conrad had participated in a Countrywide program for prominent customers known as "Friends of Angelo," which furnished special deals on mortgage refinancing for their homes. Indeed, Dodd took advantage of his Countrywide deal to refinance his residences in both Washington, D.C., and Connecticut, which reduced his mortgage payments by some $75,000.
The ethics committee exercised some tough love here. To be sure, it saw nothing wrong with the connection between the Countrywide deals for specially selected customers and Dodd's status as chairman of the Senate Banking Committee or Conrad's position as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Finance Committee. No, it didn't. But it did criticize the senators for not exercising "more vigilance in your dealings with Countrywide in order to avoid the appearance that you were receiving preferential treatment based on your status as Senator."
More vigilance--or else! Then the ethics committee opened up both barrels--on itself, taking the blame for not providing better "guidance" to the chairman of the Banking Committee and the chairman of the Budget Committee "about issues surrounding mortgage negotiations."
The executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, which filed the original complaint against Dodd and Conrad, commented that the ethics committee's astonishing action was "like a battered woman who explains she brought the beating on herself." Which is certainly true, although THE SCRAPBOOK would add, with a touch of cynicism, that this latest Capitol Hill whitewash confirms the fraudulence of President Obama's calls for "change" in Washington.
THE SCRAPBOOK would also add that the silver lining in this particular cloud is that Senator Christopher Dodd is facing reelection in Connecticut. Forty years ago his father, the late Senator Thomas Dodd, was sent into early retirement by the voters of Connecticut after censure by the Senate for corrupt practices. May the family tradition continue!
Hammertime
Tom DeLay, the former Texas congressman and feared leader of the House Republicans--once known as both "The Exterminator" (because of his pest control business) and later "The Hammer"--may have yet another nickname: twinkle toes. Next month DeLay will join the likes of Kathy Ireland, Donny Osmond, and Michael Irvin as a contestant on ABC's ballroom competition Dancing with the Stars.
We had no idea things had gotten so bad for the former House majority leader, still under indictment on campaign-finance-related charges. But if DeLay makes it past the first few rounds with the help of his professional dance partner Cheryl Burke (who has taken two other celebrities to the finals and won), he could possibly net himself $200,000 or more--not to mention that mirror ball trophy! (THE SCRAPBOOK confesses it will be rooting for Chuck Liddell, ultimate fighting champion.)
Lisa DeMoraes of the Washington Post reports that "Conrad Green, the show's executive producer, said ABC had been trying for some time to get a politician to join the list of other celebrities who have competed. 'We very much wanted someone who was a household name, someone people had opinions about--someone who wasn't a wallflower,' he said."
And people certainly do have their opinions about Tom DeLay. In fact, there have been calls for a boycott from fans of the show. But THE SCRAPBOOK's main concern is the example it sets for our other public officials, past and present. If Tom DeLay does well, who will be next? Newt Gingrich and Madeleine Albright in matching sequins?
Help Wanted
Charles Krauthammer seeks a research assistant for a one- or two-year term. Send résumé to job@charleskrauthammer.com.