Let us all join in posthumously slaying the messenger!
The Bob Novaks and William F. Buckeys of the world are just representatives of something far more evil than they -- or any single person -- could ever be. Don't give him too much credit. Unlike his brain tumor, Novak was a symptom of the disease, not the cause. At the end of it, he died an old man who devoted his life to being good at shmoozing the right people and sniffing the right thrones inside the Beltway. (They say doing that for too long can cause cancer.)
I keep reading on some conservative and liberal Web sites that he was the "last, great journalists."
I'd like those people to say that to the face of Christiane Amanpour, Bob Woodward, and hundreds of anonymous local reporters who are trying their damnedest to be great journalists.
Robert Novak was a sour man. He had a fixation on three-piece suits and capital gains tax cuts. Novak often spat when he talked. He must have been thoroughly unpleasant company if you did not agree with him philosophically. These factors made him ripe for satire. Robert Novak looked and acted like a Dickensian villain come to life.
I'm a liberal Democrat, but I always liked that Novak didn't hide the fact, it was all bullshit. Throughout his television career, he had his talking points in order, he'd deliver his lines and then go home.
Perhaps a lot of what he said infuriated me, but you could tell that he didn't necessarily believe, half of what he said; I've always kind of respected that.
@Magister: I kinda see what you're saying. But the problem is, he helped usher in an era of TV in which **everyone** talking about politics talks like that. We're way worse off as a result, no?
@The Tipping Pint: I don't really have much of a problem with the old "point/counterpoint" kind of discussions. At the end of the day, you kind of got the idea that nobody really believed everything they were saying, the participants would sometimes go out for a drink afterwards and there was plenty of evidence of them socializing at the same functions.
Personally, what I think has been more "damaging" to our political discourse are the "all-knowing" folks; Those who think they're smarter than everyone else and all other opinions be damned.
This reminds me of a hilarious passage from Chip Kidd's book "The Learners," 'cept it features a Great Dane. Anyone who has ever worked in advertising should read it immediately.
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The Bob Novaks and William F. Buckeys of the world are just representatives of something far more evil than they -- or any single person -- could ever be. Don't give him too much credit. Unlike his brain tumor, Novak was a symptom of the disease, not the cause. At the end of it, he died an old man who devoted his life to being good at shmoozing the right people and sniffing the right thrones inside the Beltway. (They say doing that for too long can cause cancer.)
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I'd like those people to say that to the face of Christiane Amanpour, Bob Woodward, and hundreds of anonymous local reporters who are trying their damnedest to be great journalists.
Journalism is dead, long live better journalism.
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Perhaps a lot of what he said infuriated me, but you could tell that he didn't necessarily believe, half of what he said; I've always kind of respected that.
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Personally, what I think has been more "damaging" to our political discourse are the "all-knowing" folks; Those who think they're smarter than everyone else and all other opinions be damned.
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He was a longtime registered Democrat who was an early and vocal opponent of the Iraq war, and supported Ron Paul for President.
More of a paleocon than an actual conservative.
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05/26/09
That is all.
05/26/09