RIP Robert Novak

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. But there was more to him. Robert Novak, despite the high quotient of funny that he brought to any conversation, was not evil. He was, I believe, a good, if misguided man.

The Prince of Darkness lacked a natural empathy at the outset for the poor, the weakest members of the human society. It is not inconceivable that the virtues that make a good Republican -- that go-go competitive edge, the high productiveness, the aggression -- they come at the expense of human empathy and compassion. Could that be why George W. Bush -- a born-again Christian -- touted, often, a "compassionate conservatism" on the campaign trail and throughout his Presidency? Did he intuit that robust libertarianism is as imbalanced, philosophically, as the liberty crushing, ultra-egalitarianism of the left? I believe so. Novak, aware of that natural weakness in his personality, never tired of seeking a more harmonious sense of being. That, I think, is what made Novak ultimately a good man. He was aware of his deficiencies, and he worked to correct them. How many people at that age work to change their lives? Late in his life, Novak became a Roman Catholic. That, I think, is in itself an heroic gesture. Most people stop growing -- or stop giving a damn about growing -- after middle age. The sour, disharmonious souls who scream -- pink faced -- at Town Hall meetings are a testament to that sad truism.

But Robert Novak was different. Through his discovery of Roman Catholicism, Robert Novak tried to offset his natural sourness towards the weak and society's less fortunate. This from CatholicOnline, on his conversion process:

"A friend gave Novak Catholic literature after he came close to dying from spinal meningitis in the early 1980s. About a decade later, the columnist's wife, Geraldine, also not a Catholic, persuaded him to join her at Mass at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Washington. The celebrant was a former source of Novak's.

"Father Peter Vaghi, now Msgr. Vaghi and pastor of the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda, Md., was a former Republican lawyer and adviser to Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. He had been a source for the Evans and Novak column that Novak wrote with Rowland Evans.

"Novak started to go to Mass regularly, but it wasn't until a few years later that he decided to convert to Catholicism. The turning point, as he recounts in his book, happened when he went to Syracuse University in New York to give a lecture. Before he spoke, he was seated at a dinner table near a young woman who was wearing a necklace with a cross. Novak asked her if she was Catholic, and she posed the same question to him.

"Novak replied that he had been going to Mass each Sunday for the last four years, but that he had not converted.

"Her response -- 'Mr. Novak, life is short, but eternity is forever' -- motivated him to start the process of becoming a Catholic through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. He was baptized at St. Patrick's Church in 1998. His wife was also baptized a Catholic."

Catholicism added a missing dimension to Novak's personality. It lifted him beyond a hard materialism that, in his case, made him an almost comically cruel political commentator. That sense of metaphysics led him to work with fellow "bleeding heart conservative" Jack Kemp on a rather strange -- but politically interesting -- collaboration to bring Louis Farrakhan's fringe group of disenfranchised Americans into the Republican party. Catholicism clearly worked a miracle in making Bob Novak care about poor African-Americans.

One cannot memorialize the life of Robert Novak without noting that he was a tremendous reporter. His scoops were legendary. Especially during Republican administrations -- Reagan's, in particular -- his inside information and contacts were second to none. To be sure, Novak's column was used by Republican administration officials with an agenda. But like any good journalist, Novak tried to provide context. This blog quoted his column often and we will miss the extremely inside information that he brought to light.

I am not a religious man, so I will not attempt to predict the future of Novak. But here, on this planet, his legacy will be that of a solid journalist, an interesting human being, a searcher after the Truth, a man who tried to be compassionate -- even though it was not a natural component of his personality -- and an advocate for growth and wealth.

May he rest in peace.

Follow Ron Mwangaguhunga on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RonMwangaguhung

Comments

[superstition]

Maybe his estate gave part of the $100,000 the Catholic Church has given to the anti-marriage crusade in Maine? The Church won't reveal where the money came from. Many are assuming it's from the Mormons.

As someone who was raised Catholic and who has many family and friends who are still Catholic, I feel I have the right to be particularly critical. Instead of focusing on the good, the Vatican and other politicians has been long focused on using gays as fodder/scapegoats (as the Mormons do), to raise money and get more power. The services always talk about how loving God is, but the Church isn't. I am happy, though, to see the Episcopalians, Quakers, and Lutherans making progress. The fetishism of anachronism that attracts so many to Catholicism is self-defeating.

That self-centered people like Novak choose Roman Catholicism doesn't surprise me. Right now, churches are closing due to lack of funding and yet a ton of money is being put toward taking way the right for gay people to marry in Maine. Anyone who cares about people should choose another type, like the Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved. Their missions is about helping the poor and so forth, not about persecuting gays. They treat women as equals as well and have no inhumane celibacy requirement.

"'Catholic Misuse' or 'Misuse of Catholic' Money in Maine?"
http://www.pamshouseblend.com/diary/12105/catholic-misuse-or-misuse-of-catholic-money-in-maine

[BobHanssen]

Robert Novak was also a member of Opus Dei. 'Nuff said.

[VA Lady2008]

Novak was for a good many years an excellent reporter, with "sources" all of the rest could barely imagine. His writing was clear and understandable. Perhaps that is why he lasted as long as he did.

HIs job, as is the job of ANY reporter, was to GET and PUBLISH the story, and when I write "story" I'm not referring to fairy tales. He broke a major scandal, something about the former Soviet Union, in the Ford administration. He pursued, like a terrior, the repulsive H.R. Haldeman, in part, I've read, because Haldeman refused to become a "source" in the Nixon Administration. He published Valerie Plame (and others) names after they were leaked to him by someone in the Bush II administration.

The late reporter long ago crossed the line from straight reporting to commentary, and in the end to shilling--quite possibly without ever realizing it, or admitting it, even to himself-- for a thoroughly unworthy President Bush II and his administration.

The bottom line is that they used him, and he let himself be used. Whether he colluded knowingly in lies and treason is for someone higher up the intellectual chain to decide. There is a huge difference between old fashioned reporter, one of the best of which he was, and "commentator" which he became, and paid shill, such as we might see raving on Fox or MSNBC.

Novak's biggest mistake was that he either didn't recognize or more likely appreciate the difference.

[Hiphopcrates]

RIH Bob!

[Pema]

Novak outted Valerie Plame, he put this country at risk and he also was responsible for the loss of life by people who were working undercover. he basically shot down any intel we had on nuke weapons fron rouge nations. you think of him as you wish but to ask me or anyone to think of him as a good man is bizarre, and he did this after his conversion.

[guajiro]

I've never given too much credit to speaking well of someone just because they have departed. Novak was well aware of the harms his ideology visited on the poor in a capitalist system well before he got ill. It matters not if this capitalist system is another country, the results are the same. I've read that some of the Nazi guards at the extermination camps were just as self-deprecating. I'm sure the prisoners took no relief from knowing such a thing. I prefer to put myself in the shoes of those who suffered the consequences of the ideals of men such as Novak, before I pass judgement on the man. It clears my mind a little better that way.

[maxwells]

Novak's role, which he understood and embraced, was to act as a proxy for political attacks by conservative politicians.

Succinct enough for an epitaph.

[BaggyPantsDevil]

I have to admit that I am impressed by the sensitive and gentle nature of this column. You, Mr. Mwangaguhunga, are clearly a decent human being. I still have my doubts about Robert Novak and your observation that he was a searcher for the truth.

His outing of Valerie Plame shows his subservience to ideology instead of truth. I have personally been engaged in operations reported on by Mr. Novak and even then, he served an ideology rather than truth.

As someone whose job it is to indeed search out facts—a less slippery word than truth—I’d hate to lose my livelihood and have the work I’ve done for my country be ruined because some “journalist” has a political axe to grind. So, yeah, I’m still a little irritated with Robert Novak.

Still, nicely written.

[Ellis Weiner - Huffpost Blogger]

"It is not inconceivable that the virtues that make a good Republican -- that go-go competitive edge, the high productiveness, the aggression -- they come at the expense of human empathy and compassion."

Nice humor piece. Since it can't be serious. "High productiveness" (if that's a phrase) makes a good Republican? You betcha.

And Novak's attempting to bring the vile anti-Semite Farrakhan into the GOP is proof that Catholicism "worked a miracle"? Comedy gold.

Novak helped out a CIA agent to advance the political fortunes of his (lying, corrupt) pals on the right. How do you think he'd have reacted if, say, Bob Herbert had done the same?

Just because Novak was aware that he was vile, and made sport of it, doesn't mean he wasn't vile. Any moment now he should be arriving at the Hell in which he so absurdly seemed to believe.

[motoGpifupleez]

Out a CIA agent. It's the Catholic thing to do.

[lilphucker]

That's really funny, Ron. In an awkward and baffling, head-scratching kind of WTF?, Really? Serious? You're joking, right?, kind of way.

[charlesV]

Ron, you must be new to HuffPost. You have broken the first Commandment: Thou shall not speak well of the Catholic Church. Cue the usual suspects...

[Hollywooddeed]

Well, the Catholic Church certainly is responsible for a lot of the world's misery.

[BlueFloyd]

nice piece, but, in my opinion, you give both him, and the catholic church, too much credit....probably because the man is dead. i cannot muster much at all nice to say about the man. he was smart. real smart. ok there. now i will respect the dead far more than novak ever respected the living in many societies and cultures on earth, and say nothing more.

[maryloo]

I was born into a Roman Catholic family, raised as a practising Catholic, confirmed, educated at Catholic schools, attended mass every week and had my children baptised etc. Then I stood by and watched as allegations of child abuse by priests were proved and the extent of the coverup of this abuse by the Church was revealed.
I have renounced my Catholicism and now attend an Episcopal Church.

What does it say about an obviously well educated man that would embrace the Catholic Church late in life in light of all that has been revealed?

I'll let you draw your own conclusions.

[BlueFloyd]

interesting thoughts. (and yes, i am drawing them)

[gotborked]

The Catholic Church, like all religious organizations, is an institution made up of humans. People in the Church have faltered throughout history, and surely there will be more problems to come in the future. But the imperfect people and their sins do not make any of the Church's truths less true.

"What does it say about an obviously well educated man that would embrace the Catholic Church late in life in light of all that has been revealed?"
I'm sure he, like you, and like pretty much all other Catholics, was troubled by it and dealt with it in one way or another.

[Huffingbrownbag]

Pedophilia (the sexual abuse of a prepubescent child) among priests is extremely rare, affecting only 0.3% of the entire population of clergy. There's absolutely no evidence that priests are more likely to abuse children than are other groups of men." See 10 Myths about Priestly Pedophilia http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/facts/fm0011.html

Since 1982, 400 Catholic clergy (out of a total of 50,000 American priests) have been accused of sexual misconduct with minors.
Source:
Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis (Paperback)
by Philip Jenkinshttp://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195145976/qid=1018031507/sr=8-2/ref=sr_8_67_2/102-6224020-8904105

I agree with the author of this article, "Robert Novak, despite the high quotient of funny that he brought to any conversation, was not evil. He was, I believe, a good, if misguided man." Thank you Ron Mwangaguhunga and RIP Robert Novak.

[maryloo]

I personally never cared about how prevalent it was amongst priests. I cared that the church covered it up, protected the offenders and acted to discredit and ruin the lives of the victims.
That's why i left.

[FoShizle]

I never liked Robert Novak as a pundit. I never once saw him admit he was wrong. Which is a major flaw in my opinion. I always used him a measuring stick for Conservative thinking and for that he will be missed. He seemed to me like someone you could respectfully disagree with. which by the way leaves out the entire Fox News group. So who will take up his torch?