Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Bob Novak 1931-2009


Legendary columnist and journalist Robert Novak died today. I will miss him. I knew this was coming but it is sad that he is gone. As a political junkie since I was a kid I never missed a Novak column. He was a voice of sanity on CNN in the days before FOX NEWS. I sometimes didn't agree with him but I always respected him and his sources. He was a columnist who actually did real reporting rather than just relying on opinion. Rest in Peace Bob. The Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois lost a big fan today.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following statement Tuesday regarding the passing of Robert Novak:

"For more than half a century, Robert Novak explained the politics and the personalities of Washington to readers across the country through a mix of tireless shoe leather reporting and the kind of keen insight that can only be gained through years and years of dedication to a craft. He was a Washington institution who could turn an idea into the most discussed story around kitchen tables, Congressional offices, the White House, and everywhere in between. Elaine and I extend our deepest sympathies to the entire Novak family.”

The following from an editorial today in the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper the flagship newspaper of his column:

Bob saw America as the inheritor, greatest manifestation and guardian of the best of Western civilization. He was introduced to those values at the University of Illinois through a freshman course on the history of Western civilization. Recalling that time in his 2007 memoir The Prince of Darkness: 50 Years Reporting in Washington, Bob wrote, “It was a golden moment for a 17-year-old boy from Joliet, leading to four years of exploration in the riches of our heritage: Plato, Aristotle, Chaucer, Castiglione, Machiavelli, Shakespeare, Milton, John Donne, Hawthorne, Melville, T.S. Eliot — dead white men all. How barren would be my life without that background?”
(To read more click on the title for a link)