Yup, Novak’s Still Up to His Old Ways
That is, doing Rove’s dirty work for him.
When you put Novak’s anti-Lieberman colum…
McCain backers, plus McCain himself, would pick the pro-choice liberal from Connecticut if they thought they could get away with it.
But they can’t get away with it — and this has been made clear to McCain by none other than Joe Lieberman himself.
Lieberman surely doesn’t know that much about Republican politics, but he has close Republican friends. One of them prevailed on Lieberman to tell McCain that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would be a disaster for all concerned, and especially for the GOP.
…Together with the Politico story on Rove’s involvement in the anti-Lieberman campaign…
Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact John McCain to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation.
Lieberman dismissed the request, these sources agreed.
Lieberman "laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it," said one source familiar with the details.
"Rove called Lieberman," recounted a second source. "Lieberman told him he would not make that call."
[snip]
The column said Lieberman had made that clear to McCain personally at the behest of a "close friend," but a Lieberman source called that "totally and absolutely false."
Reached by phone, Novak would say only: "I don’t talk about my sources."
…It becomes pretty clear that Rove’s the guy who told Novak Lieberman was told to tell McCain not to select him.
Or, in other words, Lieberman refused to do as Rove wanted (after all that help beating Ned Lamont, Joe? Where’s your gratitude?), so Rove just told Novak Lieberman had done so anyway.
Man, Novak’s getting abused by his sources over and over these days. Again, where’s the gratitude?
What I find interesting is that Novak’s column makes it pretty clear that Rove thought he had convinced Lieberman to take his name out of the hat. Whereas Lieberman’s response makes it VERY clear that Lieberman still thinks he’s in the running.
So, what female will McC pick? I think they will seriously consider a female because of McC’s terrible rep wrt women’s rights, equal pay, women’s health research funding…calling his second wife wonderful names and offering her up for Miss Buffalo Chip…leaving his first wife in her time of need…
A woman not tied to Bush too…So, Lynn’s off the list I guess…
I loved watching the NewsHour last night, only to hear 4 out of the 5 taking heads suggest McC will HAVE to pick Lieberman…Rove must of _____in his pants over that.
THe obvious choice is Carly Fiorini, but she’s also pro-choice and a real loose canon.
I think it’s Mitt.
I will have to agree with you on the pick being Mitt Marcy,sounds like everything out there is good.
I would put some money on that the Republicans have all ready picked a woman. This is the way to pick up Hillary’s base. Those blue collar white women who were working in factories in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s (until they started moving these jobs over seas) who feel that Obama jumped the line and went to the front without paying his dues the way they feel Hillary has.
going to be a woman vp for the Repubs
That’s what popped into my head when I read that line by Martin in Politico.
Seems like Novak sure takes a lot of calls and does a lot of writing for a guy so sick he couldn’t see a pedestrian on his windshield.
Hi Marcy. As I said at Tbogg’s yesterday, did you know that Bob Novak has been upgraded from “very grave” to “hazardous to pedestrians”? Cue Primus.
Seriously, there needs to be some serious pushback on this. He ran over a bicyclist and attempted to flee the scene. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s guilty but for God’s sake isn’t that kind of scumbag behavior out of bounds even by Washington’s shameless standards? It’s turning into nothing more than a couple minutes in the penalty box.
I think Karl wants to beat the odds and get a Mormon into one of the two top jobs. He’s proven he can pander to the evangelicals and win.
For his ego (and his legacy), I think Karl wants to prove conventional wisdom wrong. Plus Romney is flush with cash from his failed bids – stashed in all sorts of state funds – particularly Iowa.
FYI re: Novak and his car accident. There’a bit more information out there on this one.
Appparently it may be have been the result of his malignant brain tumor. If Novak had been injured, it would have been diagnosed at the ER. It’s SOP to look for cognitive impairment when drivers did not “see” the accident as it happened. He didn’t go to the hospital so that information was missing in the MSM’s followup of the accident.
I despise his politics and have always found him personally odious. However, in this case, I feel badly for him and his family and am just grateful the victim’s injuries weren’t worse.
Novak has just had the same tumor reduction surgery at Duke that Teddy Kennedy had. It’s aim is to lengthen his life a bit and improve its quality. He’ll return to DC for radiation and chemo.
diablesseblu, here’s how I look at it: If he truly does have cognitive impairment from a malignant brain tumor then how is he able to get back to writing columns so quickly? I would think that is a far more complex task than driving a car. It seems like he did something terrible, used the tumor to justify it, and then went right back to work after the story had died down for a couple weeks. That of course is the most ungenerous interpretation of events, but he should have to do some explaining about what happened before going back to his old tricks. And his friends & colleagues in the media refuse to look for more information about any of it. Talk about a cone of silence!
Yeah – but who decides that the brain tumor was a factor? I don’t believe the cops do when you get arrested. They should charge him and let the courts decide if the brain tumor is relevant.
KBR must be wishing for some special intervention and sympathetic journalism after KBR, Partner in Iraq Contract Sued in Human Trafficking Case.
Novak in default mode is not surprising.
Here’s hoping that a lot of other reporters are viewing Novak as a Cautionary Tale and discounting or laughing at whatever crap Rove tries to dish their way.
Something is odd here. Why didn’t Rove simply call McCain and offer his advice?
Taking dictations directly from the Mouth of Sauron is no way to recovery ones health.
-G
Hey, just reporting here. I personally think the courts should handle this like any other case.
There are all types, levels, and manifestations of cognitive impairments. Some are truly transient and all, in terms of a brain tumor, are dependent on multiple factors re: histology, location etc.
I originally read an interview with an ER doctor (can’t find the URL at the moment). She said that it is not unusual at all for this type of accident to be the first indicator of a brain tumor.
Re: his resumed writing. Maybe he’s like Ted Kennedy — wants to live as normal a life as possible while he can.
I don’t read Novak’s work — my blood pressure can’t take it.
Agree with all that. But considering the circumstances there should be a lot more information on what happened, and what is happening. He nearly killed someone with his car, and his abrupt “retirement” seemed at least to acknowledge that much. I don’t think it’s right for him to just show up writing columns again as though nothing happened. (God knows TK’s car accident has been retold and rehashed for decades.)
The one thing even Joe Lieberman knows about Karl Rove is that if his lips are moving, he’s lying.
Karl knows what the truth is; it’s just boring and without utility until it can be shaped and molded like a sculpture. He ends with the same materials he started with, facts of clay or marble, he just retools them beyond recognition. Exceptionally, the truth and his client’s needs intersect. But like the arch of a screwball on its way to the plate, the ball enters the strike zone, but never within the batter’s reach.
Karl Rove is all the bad jokes about defense lawyers wrapped up into one, unholy thing.
Eve Holy Joe would know that a call from Karl isn’t the same thing as a legitimate call from McCain. But if Joe were dumb enough to follow Rove’s advice, he’d be on record as withdrawing his name. Not a high percentage gambit from Rove, but then he’s no longer in absolute control. Odds are that Karl is working for Romney, and that all of McCain’s camp of consultants have a client vying for Veep. McSame will take whichever one emerges from their infighting.
McCain has crashed five times already; his sixth should make it a familiar routine. If I were him, I’d save some of his allowance from mommy and Uncle Sam. When he comes home with his tail between his legs in November, after all those “jokes” about her make-up, age and allure, her ability to win Miss Buffalo Chip, momma’s gonna send him to clean the kegs. How does a toy poodle bark, “Arf” in English?