Why Novak’s Defense Doesn’t Cut It
Why Novak’s Defense Doesn’t Cut It
Last week, former CIA spokesman Bill Harlow told the Washington Post that he had cautioned Robert Novak about some claims in the July 2003 column that outed CIA operative Valerie Plame:
[Harlow] said he warned Novak, in the strongest terms he was permitted to use without revealing classified information, that Wilson’s wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed.
Today, Novak responded with an emotional defense of his initial column:
[Harlow's remarks] gave the impression I ignored an official’s statement that I had the facts wrong but wrote it anyway for the sake of publishing the story. … The truth is otherwise, and that is why I feel compelled to write this column. …
There never was any question of me talking about Mrs. Wilson “authorizing.” I was told she “suggested” the mission, and that is what I asked Harlow. His denial was contradicted in July 2004 by a unanimous Senate Intelligence Committee report. The report said Wilson’s wife “suggested his name for the trip.”
Now, remember what Novak wrote about Plame’s role in Joseph Wilson’s trip back in ‘03. Pay particular attention to the vague second sentence, from which two very different meanings can be gleaned:
Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction. Two senior administration officials told me that Wilson’s wife suggested sending him to Niger to investigate the Italian report. The CIA (Harlow) says its counter-proliferation officials selected Wilson and asked his wife to contact him.
The sentence could mean:
1) Valerie Wilson initiated the very idea of a mission to Niger, and proposed additionally that her husband be the one to take the trip; or
2) The idea of a trip was not initially conceived by Plame, and that Plame merely suggested her husband as a possible candidate for the trip, a suggestion that more senior agency officials accepted.
Which version did Novak intend to communicate? If it was the first (as most believe), it means that Novak did contradict Bill Harlow, who specifically said that Plame did not “authorize” Wilson’s trip to Niger.
But today, in an attempt to defend his irresponsible ‘03 column, Novak says that he actually meant to communicate the second scenario.
Even if this is true, it makes his actions no less damnable. It means that Novak decided to out a CIA operative for what is unquestionably a non-story. After all, the fact that Plame suggested Wilson’s name is basically irrelevant if in fact she had no role in either 1) deciding to launch the Niger trip or 2) choosing who would lead it. When told by the CIA that “exposure of her name might cause ‘difficulties’ if she travels abroad,” any responsible journalist would have treated the matter with far more sensitivity. Novak did not.
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Novakula is smart for not talking all this time. This way, he can spin his own actions any which way the revelations take the story...in other words, he is attempting a cynical, self-serving 20-20 hindsight. Wriggle, fat man, wriggle...it won't help you now!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
August 1st, 2005 at 2:53 pmNovak is parsing here -- he is whining and crying foul when he is the most foul in the room.
August 1st, 2005 at 2:56 pmLarry Johnson has already mopped the floor with Novak today in response to Novak's additional lies, and misinformation. Johnson is my favorite republican of the week! He's way too smart and articulate to be a republican, I don't understand how he remains a member of that party of lying, cheating thieves - but thank god someone with a conscience is still a republican!
http://noquarter.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/08/lame_bob_novak.html
August 1st, 2005 at 3:18 pmI only wish that Bob could actually use my advice.
Hey Bob, don't drop the saop....
August 1st, 2005 at 3:36 pmduh- soap. sorry all.
August 1st, 2005 at 3:36 pmMaybe Novak is beginning to think he may not have that many articles left to write.
August 1st, 2005 at 3:43 pmI stopped watching CNN and started INTERNETSing the day they kept his sorry ass on.
August 1st, 2005 at 3:51 pmEven if he is guilty of something? And made a deal? It pales compared to that treasonous c*nt Miller. She needs to be placed in a room and forced to watch torture footage of children in Iraq.
Who cares about the Authorized vs. Suggested argument ?
Bob "douchebag-of-liberty" Novak doesn't have anything new in this column to defend the key point: Why did he print the column even after the CIA warned him that it will cause "difficulties"? He goes back to his old defennse that he wouldn't have printed anything if he had known it would have "endangered anybody".
Obviously the CIA couldn't confirm that the revelation would endanger anyone, because that would be confirming that she was under cover, which would be a violation in itself. Once Novak knew about her CIA job, there was nothing Harlow could really say to stop him from revealing her name.
August 1st, 2005 at 3:55 pmThe Novak and Pincus pieces can be found in the Karl Rove Scandal Documents Center.
August 1st, 2005 at 3:58 pmI don't see your point on this. Even if Plame "originated the idea" of the Niger trip, that is NOT the same as authorization. Originating an idea is still consistent with "suggesting". See http://www.dailyhowler.com on this dispute. It doesn't excuse the leaker, and Novak is still an appalling hack for agreeing to serve as the vehicle for what was clearly an abuse of power in attacking Wilson, but this dispute is a red herring.
August 1st, 2005 at 4:27 pmObscure case? Novak your an idiot. Boo frickity hoo
August 1st, 2005 at 4:29 pmWhile I do not necessarily want an old man like Novack to go to prison I do hope he is charged and found guilty of outing a CIA operative, perhaps to serve his sentence under house arrest.
What I would like is for CNN to take this man off the air. Rather went for far, far less, and certainly for no crime. I look forward to the day when this disgraced coward (just listen to, and read, his whining!)will no longer clack his mean, arrogant, and hateful, overdentured mouth at the world. CNN will be a much cleaner place on that day.
John Lucas
August 1st, 2005 at 5:19 pmI wonder what part of do not print her name, novak doesnt understand...He seems to think if he just says wilsons CIA wife , no one would know her name..He outed an CIA agent, he was told not to and he did it for spite..He needs to retire before he endangers any of our other agents out of hate..That was a traitorous thing to do and he knows it..
August 1st, 2005 at 5:35 pmMy fervent wish is that Novak is given hard time and his cellmate is a senior biker that finds him attractive.
August 1st, 2005 at 5:40 pmWhy on earth is Novak still all over the news after what he's done and mess he's made, but Dan Rather was quickly scuttled off for what - a mistake, set-up a la Rove, or bad source? What was that all about again? Nothing even close to seriousness of outing a CIA Op. working for our safety & National Security!! The fact Novak is still there at all is one more sign that politics has taken over the so-called free press! Don't trust corporate media!!
August 1st, 2005 at 5:44 pmThis is a fly on the wall seeing Bob in his new home:
OOO Bobby, I just love the way the bars frame that cute butt of yours. C'mere and let me show you exactly how much I love you....
I just want to see the column he writes AFTER this. Maybe then he can pitch Preparation H or something.
August 1st, 2005 at 5:55 pmNovak seems to be confirming that the only point the article ever had was to expose Ms. Wilson. At least Armstrong Williams had to sense to get some serious $$$ to do the Republican's dirty work. Novak's just evil.
August 1st, 2005 at 6:02 pmLet's call him what he is---a TRAITOR. In this case it's the truth, unlike the way Rush, Dildo Bill, and the wingnuts throw it at everyone who doesn't goosestep.
August 1st, 2005 at 6:14 pmSunny,
The reason is because the press is now a CONservative outlet run by ultra CONservative corporations. They 'myth' of the liberal media is just an excuse to make it ever more right wing...
August 1st, 2005 at 6:25 pmI have believed for some time now the cons would eventually self-destruct. What we are all now witnessing, is the beginning of that process.
August 1st, 2005 at 7:26 pmAside from all of this Novak is a traitor talk, which is true by the way. Valerie Plame has an open and shut case against Novak in civil court. I hope Traitor Bob's relatives don't have there hearts set on receiving any inheritance after he croaks. After Plame gets through with him, he will be lucky just to end up in the poor house before he gets called back to hell.
August 1st, 2005 at 7:35 pmI wonder if Larry Johnson is still a Republican today -- I doubt it. He and his CIA were just sold down the river by his party. Although, McCain also suffered a comparable fate at the hands of the Republithugs and he remains a loyal member. So I like to think Johnson would swear off his party forever, but I may be wishfully thinking.
August 1st, 2005 at 7:41 pmThank you for all that you do, I wish I could help more.
August 1st, 2005 at 7:49 pmValerie Plame is a National hero. She graduated from an Ivy League college and went to work for the CIA. She volunteered to be a covert operative, which means that she would have no diplomatic immunity, and if she were found out and arrested in another country, she could be tried and imprisoned or put to death for being a spy. She did this for many years, risking her life overseas working against nuclear proliferation. What is her reward? To be outed and put at risk, her career now ruined, the subject of gossip and victim of the revenge of the Bush administration. Does this sound familiar to you? Isn't this like the smear campaigns against war heroes - Max Cleland, John McCain, John Kerry - but worse, since Ms. Plame is still working for the CIA and other covert operatives have been put at risk. I am shocked that Novak wasn't arrested in 2003 when he published that snide and so obviously vengeful article. Novak is nothing but a malicious gossip and rumor monger.
August 1st, 2005 at 7:54 pmNovak has a good system. You can't question him about what he heard or said because he can't talk about it. Unless, like today, he wants to make some sort of self-serving pronouncement. But then you can't question him about that pronouncement because he can't talk about it, remember? Pretty slick...
August 1st, 2005 at 7:55 pmYou folks can torture the language to your heart's content. The bottom line is that Mr.Harlow denied something that Novak never charged. "Authorized" and "Suggested" mean two different things, at least on my planet.
Stanley Jackson
August 1st, 2005 at 8:58 pmYou idiots are still working the Rove thing, ehh? Its fun watching you morans self destruct. Rove must have an evil master plan to make most Lefties look like fools.
August 1st, 2005 at 9:06 pmBoy is it working. Keep it going, its fun watching Libs
rant and cry.
Novak clears the air…only to make it unclear again
Bob Novak took the pages of America’s op-ed sections today to try and clear his name on the issue of who leaked Valerie Plame’s name and why he was a part of it (sorry, Bob Novak doesn’t get links here). Claiming to appear somewhat...
August 1st, 2005 at 9:31 pmNovak slimes Wilson by suggesting that he, "Wilson, a critic of Bush,". This is patently false, as Wilson contributed to the Bush Campaign in 2000, and was appointed by Bush 41. I don't think he's too old for hard time...
August 1st, 2005 at 9:57 pmgive these thugs a few more years and see what our country and the world looks like. ok? if its mostly rosy and fine i will kiss their butts on fox. but if not, see who they blame.
August 1st, 2005 at 10:45 pmI think Novak should practice dressing in orange with IDOC printed on his back for the big day
August 2nd, 2005 at 12:39 amThe Douch'ebag(novack) certainly might have corrected all the wing-nutjobs who pushed the She-set-the-whole-thing-up "authorized" BS. Heck, he probably just sat there on crossfire and let his "partner" lie left-and-right for a full half-hour about the deep-meaning of novach's words. While he sat there!
August 2nd, 2005 at 5:16 amThey lied. He did it, lock 'im up! Next!!!
Peace, Cheech.
It doesn't matter in any event. In spite of all we now know the President - incredibly ! - has stated that he has "...full confidence in Rove..."; why ? Because the fix is already in but out of sight.
Fitzgerald's term as a special prosecutor is set to expire in Oct; he serves at the pleasure of the President. If he doesn't bring indictments by then how much you weant to bet he'll be put out to pasture so that a more compliant attorney can quietly sweep the whole mess under the rug.
August 2nd, 2005 at 7:42 amI like the beginning statement of Novak in his column so much better than the one used at the beginning of this topic.
"...the allegation against me is so patently incorrect and so abuses my integrity as a journalist that I feel constrained to reply."
"CONSTRAINED" ??? Does anyone else sense Novak's panic in hastily writing his little screed?
August 2nd, 2005 at 8:23 amAre you "f-ing" kidding me? This is the sad state of your party.
Trust me, when you have to use statements like this
"Pay particular attention to the vague second sentence, from which two very different meanings can be gleaned:"
You have no point, no evidence and your a stuck splitting hairs on grammer. Honestly, take a step back and look at yourselves! THE WORLD IS LAUGHING AT YOU!
August 2nd, 2005 at 8:36 amI have often wondered why Bob Novak wasn't put on a specimen slide and placed under a microscope before now. It seems that this "waterboy" for the "administration" has been given a free pass for entirely too long. But then from what I've seen and heard from all these neo-con hacks for the last five years has just solidified my opinion of the Republican Party in general. Their agenda has never been about how to solve America's problems, it's been about making people afraid, pointing the finger of blame at the "liberal/gay agenda/anti-Christian/welfare state" Democrats. The Republican agenda, from as far back as those halcyon days of Reagans' "trickle down" theory to todays sorry assed excuse for foreign and domestic policy is about one thing and one thing only, serving the corporate masters who really run this country. I've said in past posts that people like Novak and others of his ilk are a symptom of a larger sickness that has systematically infected this country since the good old days of "Tricky Dick" and his 40 thieves to Dubya's "all hat and no cattle" crew of corrupt self-serving thugs. I've never seen such hypocrisy as those "compassionate conservatives" who claim to love America and yet clearly hate the average working class and poor American and do their utmost to undermine the very foundation that this country was built on. Yet nothing will change as long as we still give people like Novak and Limbaugh and the rest of the neo-con shouters a soapbox to rant from. When we stop calling these people "journalists" (which is a complete perversion of the job title) and start calling them what they truly are (how about "ideological propagandists")we will continue to see the rapid decline of "our" country. Here's to hoping that 2006 and 2008 bring a much needed anti-biotic for what ails us.
August 2nd, 2005 at 8:45 amWho cares who the hell ask Wilson to go...It makes no difference. The fact is that Novak leaked the name of an agent that was undercover, and was warned no to. I hope he dies in jail.
August 2nd, 2005 at 9:39 amThe CIA told Novac twice NOT to write about Plame or it would cause "difficulties." Therefore Novac ignores the warnings, writes about Plame, naming her, because CIA didn't tell Novac what KIND of difficulties. That's my take on this. It's reminding me of Condi Rice before the 9/11 Commission hearings explaining how a memo pointing to al Qaeda planning to use aircraft to attack targets within the US wasn't acted on because NO-ONE TOLD HER IT WAS IMPORTANT!
Time to change channels or turn off the television whenever Novac is on, quit reading his articles and let editors know you're not reading them, time to quit being an audience for him. Time to make his an empty voice in the wind.
August 2nd, 2005 at 9:58 amWhen the douche (Novack) speaks, he foams at the mouth. It is a disgusting display.......just like his columns.
August 2nd, 2005 at 10:14 amI CANT STAND r. novac
HE IS A LITTLE MAN WITH A LITTLE MIND
CNN SHOULD FIRE HIM!!!!!
August 2nd, 2005 at 10:18 amExactly right Gerlad. It should make no difference, but the Repubs are very good at picking an obscure point such as Wilson's wife involved in some way in the decision to send him to Niger and then sending up a huge smokescreen to cover the real issue. I would bet no one goes to jail on this one, the Bushies are still too powerful. They still seem to get everything they desire. Case in point: John Bolton in now the ambassador to the United Nations.
August 2nd, 2005 at 10:28 amthere is A reason why robert novak, is known as the (the prince of darkness). Just ask the Wilson's. Novak and judith miller, are traitors. know wonder miller's husband is cruising the caribbean by him self.He'll have some tall tails to tell judy, when he returns about the big one that got away.
August 2nd, 2005 at 11:52 amI think that maybe there's another spin to this whole Plame game...
The Plame Travel Agency!
http://indigolake.blogspot.com/2005/08/plame-travel-agencyyeah-thats-ticket.html
Just wanted to give you all a good laugh for a moment or two! This Bush Administration spin has yet to come out.
August 2nd, 2005 at 3:01 pmRobert Novak drinks baby's blood in his sparetime.
August 2nd, 2005 at 3:29 pm[...] That’s exactly the point! Despite specifically being asked by the CIA not to divulge Plame’s identity, Novak did so anyways. The WSJ has led the right-wing establishment’s defense of Novak’s reprehensible behavior. And that is why Novak has to return the favor by, as Carville suggested, showing “he’s got a backbone.â€? WSJ: “Mr. Novak has since appropriately apologized for losing his cool, but Mr. Carville is lucky he didn’t get punched in the nose.” [...]
August 8th, 2005 at 11:18 amringtone
ringtone Our insulaires will await with silkiness and strait-jacket the nest-holes to flow from so auspicious a meeting of allied and in
October 5th, 2005 at 7:30 am