http://www.vanityfair.com/commentary/content/articles/050321roco02?page=1What About Novak?
For more than 40 years, Beltway pundit Robert Novak has been a scowling bundle of contradictions. Now the high-decibel conservative who exposed Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. agent is at the silent center of a Justice Department probe—and as unrepentant as ever
By DAVID MARGOLICK
Novak's amazing longevity and range were apparent one night nearly two years ago at the Army and Navy Club, in Washington, when he marked the 40th anniversary of his column. Given his fiercely conservative views, it was a surprisingly bipartisan affair. Karl Rove was there, but so was Rahm Emanuel, formerly a key Clinton aide and soon to lead the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Ken Mehlman, now head of the Republican National Committee, was there, but so was Bill Daley, who ran Al Gore's presidential campaign, and Bob Shrum, who would soon run John Kerry's. Long ago, Novak had trashed George McGovern, for whom Shrum once wrote speeches. And last year—and without acknowledging that his son was marketing it—Novak was pushing Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, the book that helped sink the Democratic candidate. Novak's attack on Kerry led comedian Jon Stewart to label him "a douche bag of liberty," and his failure to disclose his son's role in the book led the Washington Monthly to accuse him of operating in a "Cayman Islands–like ethics-free zone." But Shrum, like many liberals, still calls Novak his friend.
Some glad-hand Novak out of fear or calculation more than affection. At the Army and Navy Club celebration, people wore buttons reading
"I'm a source, not a target"—a nod to Novak's statement that for him people fall into one category or the other. Even those who find him crude feel elevated in his aura; hanging around him, appearing in his column, are signs you've arrived, even when he whacks you. Always, though, there is the debate over what is at the man's core. "Underneath the asshole is a nice guy, but underneath the nice guy is another asshole," Michael Kinsley, a Crossfire veteran, has said.
(end snip) emphasis mine.
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