Julian Assange And Bob Novak

Dec 7th, 2010

by F. Grey Parker
UPDATE: In the following essay, I took a really cheap shot at Novak for his infamous hit and run incident. I apologize. That said, it would be disingenuous to remove it without making this note.

In light of the venom and vitriol directed at the now-in-custody Julian Assange, I just can't help but turn my thoughts to Bob Novak.

The late Robert Novak was a celebrated partisan hack and pseudo-journalist who ended his inside-the-beltway career by participating in a traitorous smear against those who warned against the invasion of Iraq. He was a Neo-Con stooge. 

What? Too soon? Perhaps you are of the opinion that it's unseemly to speak ill of the dead. Let it be said that one can find a positive in almost any figure. Now, may we talk truth?



Robert Novak was a Washington insider who framed every fact to cross his desk as archly as possible to benefit the conservative cabal that bought him drinks. His wit may have been strong. But his devotion was to propelling the interests of rich, country club bigots and framing it as American Exceptionalism. It was not to truth. He was a documented liar.

It was through Novak's column that Valerie Plame was outed as a covert operative of the CIA. Contrary to the spin doctors who rushed to his defense, this release dealt a devastating blow to our Middle Eastern intelligence efforts as can be seen here, here, here, here, and here.
 
I find very interesting that the same collection of bloviating conservatives that once acted as apologists for Novak's intentionally deceptive mischief are now the very same group calling for the imprisonment, injury or outright assassination of Julian Assange. 

So much for our country's tradition of not prosecuting journalists who leak secrets. I guess that now only applies to those whose work bolsters needless wars for profit and ensures the deaths of hundreds of thousands men, women and children non-combatants.

Rush Limbaugh on Novak: "I always wanted to know what he knew and thought about things because he was the best"

Limbaugh on Assange: "He's a little wuss, Julian Assange.  Need to find this guy and string him up."
 
Karl Rove on Novak: "He was a remarkable journalist and a principled person"
 
Rove on Assange: "He is, to my mind, a criminal and he ought to be hunted down and grabbed and put on trial for what he has done here." (This is especially rich considering Rove's role in the Plame affair)
 
Sean Hannity on Novak: "Bob Novak was one of the greatest reporters of all time."
 
Hannity on Assange: "He should be prosecuted under the Espionage Act of 1917."

John Bolton on Novak: "He was fair, honest and he was a great writer."

Bolton on Assange: "He is supporting the terrorists."

Bill O'Reilly on Novak: "A great writer and friend."

O'Reilly on Assange: He "should be executed or put in prison for life."

Newt Gingrich on Novak: He was "a great man."

Gingrich on Assange: He is an "enemy combatant."

It goes on and on. An American citizen who's career in "journalism" was capped by allowing his byline to permanently cripple our Middle Eastern intelligence gathering to protect a partisan lie on the eve of war was treated to a hero's requiem. But, a foreigner, who's sole mission is to print the unvarnished truth and has exposed war crimes, foreign liars bleeding us dry and "allies" with motives slightly less honorable than our "enemies" is declared a terrorist for exposing the horrors done in our name.