Novak’s Secret Weapon: Integrity [Greg Pollowitz]
A good piece on Robert Novak by Investor's Business Daily's Thomas McArdle:
It was while schmoozing over cocktails for the umpteenth time, for instance, that Richard Perle in 1976 handed him a lengthy State Department cable revealing that official U.S. policy was "to strive for an evolution" toward permanent "organic" Soviet domination over Eastern Europe.
The resulting uproar directly led to President Gerald Ford's mega-gaffe that "there is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe," which assured Jimmy Carter's victory that November.
Four years later, Ronald Reagan picked up the pieces from the Ford defeat.
"Leak to me, baby! I don't bite the hand that feeds me," I once heard him gleefully say into the phone. Washington insiders leaked to Novak because they knew he didn't break trust with sources.
The whole wrenching Valerie Plame affair testifies to that integrity. For years he protected deputy secretary of state and Iraq War critic Richard Armitage.
In thanks, Armitage, who early on revealed himself as Novak's source to the Justice Department, pointlessly forced Novak to be prisoner to his own journalistic bond. Among the costs: $160,000 in legal fees.
08/19 08:30 AM
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