so why does anyone give a big rats ass about what Novak has to say? He's widely known as an administration shill who is very good at riling up the Dems by pouring out metered units of Republican bile at just the right time to piss everyone off! Can't we just ignore an out of date, old columnist who has out lived his time, and values?

Novakula still has some credibility? What do you have to do to be descredited in journo-land?

I think it is Mr Obama's operatives who might have planted the story. That is why there is no substance to it. In fact the quickness with which Mr Obama jumped on the story and his eagerness to blame Clintons and not Novak is strange. I think some one should really investigate and find out. In fact it is Hillary that is being swift boated.

Novak is a political hack, so who cares what he says? He's a bum.

In my estimation those of you attempting to frame this flap as a matter of "experience" have bought the Rove/Bush/Clinton bamboozal hook line and sinker.

"Part" of the change Obama is running to address has to do with this kind of "swift boat" politics; politics of distraction; politics based on manipulation and gamesmanship as opposed to the merit of a candidates ideas or character. Rather than challenge the Rove/Bush model of political discourse, it seems to me Hillary wants to perfect and perpetuate it. And none of this has anything to do with being an effective leader in my judgment. To the contrary -- in my opinion a real leader would challenge us to stop this this kind of BS in selecting the next leader of the free world.

The fact that Hillary did not come out and flatly deny the accusation that her campaign had anything to do with this rumor, and straight-up denounce Novak for making a false accusation against her campaign, but instead pounced on Obama, says it all for me.

Just as a Clinton presidency represents status quo government policies in my view, a Clinton campaign will likewise represent what has unfortunately become status quo in political discourse thanks to 8 years of Rove/Bush.

It is indeed time to turn the page on this kind of BS and engage in open, honest, intelligent and real discussion of the issues.

I think you people are being played by Hillary and Novak in trying to tie this story to a question of experience. I wouldn't be surprised if Hillary's camp and Novak aren't working together as I'm sure both would like to see Hillary as the Democratic Party nominee.

It was a slam on Clinton but she did not respond...only conclusion.. it was true ..and Novak caught the clinton campaign doing nasty tricks.. so now the clintons attack obama and novak to divert attention from their dirty tactics.. if america wants a female Nixon..Hillary is your girl.

What really surprised me about this whole thing is that Obama didn't call up Hillary so they could have a good yuck together about how scared the neocons are running? They could have then put out a joint press release exposing these tactics for anyone who doesn't already get it.

Novak should just take his douche bag of freedom award and retire to a nice cool cave.

Awesome! Repo Man gets namedropped. Pulp Fiction sucked, but you forgot to mention the film that inspired both uses of the glowing briefcase: Kiss Me Deadly. Now that was a serious classic. Wait, what was this column about?

I don't know much about the subject of this entry, but I must ask: Jason, what is your educational background? I just wondered where the blunders in your writing came from, or are your entries commonly prone to errors of this kind?

What does "dessicated" mean? Oh, you must mean "desiccated".

Or "no more tangible that whatever"; did you, by any chance, mean THAN whatever?

There are other errors, of course. It's bad enough to see folks who have graduated high-school and even college mangle the english language, but to see someone who gets paid for writing make the same type of errors, it's unforgivable.

Lest we forget. Thomas Eagleton didn't mention his shock therapies. Bill did have sex with that woman. Obama may have filled in some blank.
It might be a Rovian whispering campaign, but there might be something, so we have to do more than simply wishfully imagine it's some vast, right-wing conspiracy.

Obama had no choice but to act swiftly; real or imagined-- even though she may be ahead nationally-- Obama has to anticipate the worst from the opposing camps-- oh, and a word of advice to all Obama voters in Iowa-- keep a sharp eye on the folks running the voting process....

Is DIRT news? Is unsubstantiated inuendo about possible dirt news? Is it the duty of a journalist to *report* on unsubstantiated inuendo about possible dirt, OR to out U.S. intelligence sothat foreign agencies can unravel all contacts? And what is Novak? A jewish apostate who became a Jesuit? Is he a highly regarded person? Or, would some countries find such a man a traitor?

We want some real news, such as: "Bush's top terrorism adviser steps down", "fraudulent FBI agent married State Dept. worker & passed on US intel about Hizbullah to Hizbullah", "Benazir Bhutto says that Musharraf's government coalition includes Taliban and Al Qaeda" - we support Musharraf with billions -, "The dollar is tanking and OPEC is considering alternatives to the dollar, such as the Euro", We support and hold up Palestinian terrorists with our dollars, as well as Egypt, and Lebanon. What news is, to me, is getting a comprehensive picture, and a journalist should possibly be a person who reports on the important news in context, and should find and expose that context.

What is important to us? Dirt about people's private business that is alleged and probably does not exist in any case? OR, is it how we all live, how much taxes we pay to those who come to destroy us, in outsourced industry, in faulty and poisoned products, in outsourced jobs, the tanking dollar, loss of homes through foreclosures, and not being able to afford a home, or healthcare? Or, how much taxes we pay to support foreigners in their lands, who live off of shooting off guns and murdering their own children and others' and who do not wish to work for a living. Do we really owe them a living?

And another question: why is everything we see and hear, if we even do see and hear it, voiced over, or eliminated. What are we, uneducated stupid people who can not read a foreign language or understand it? Except, of course Spanish?

Obama's reaction to an obvious Republican attack makes this story significant.
Hillary is at about 50% in the National polls. She is doing fine and has every reason not to rock the boat. Just keep working, meeting and talking to as many voters as she can.
The idea that Clinton staff contacted a Republican flack with this story, with some naive assumption that this contact would be kept confidential, is absurd. Reaching this conclusion using reason is not difficult. Obama acted emotionally and irrationally. A president should have the reasoning ability to figure out what an adversary is thinking, how he will react to our actions and so on. This is a MAJOR mistake.

That Novak is such a washed-up loser is why Karl Rove was able to play him like a ventriloquist dummy in the Valerie Plame affair.

Repeat: Novak is a washed up loser! Just look at how he dresses! People haven't dressed like that in over 15 years.

He's a pathetic has-been...