George Tenet conspired to falsify America’s reasons for going to war in Iraq so that years later when the investigation of the disclosure of CIA agent Valerie Plame was reignited in a Congressional Investigation ..

(an investigation thwarted a couple weeks ago by a Presidential claim of executive privilege)

.. a randomly selected Pulitzer Prize winning author could announce a new book about it the same week that Robert Novak ..

(a material witness in the Valerie Plame case, who could not be covered by a claim of executive privilege)

.. announced his totally unrelated dire medical condition driven retirement.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports on their web-site

Robert Novak has announced his immediate retirement following the diagnosis of a brain tumor, a prognosis the Sun-Times' political columnist describes as "dire."

Link here

As noted when news broke that he had a brain tumor, noone would wish this on anyone.  In the earlier news it was suggested that Novak was taking a leave of absence.  This is the first that I see here that he's retiring.

I searched for an earlier posting, will delete and/or update soon

Not exactly shocking, given last weeks news. But now it is official. From the Chicago Sun Times:

Breaking news.  Robert Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.

http://thinkprogress.org/...

Not a joke, but apparently true.
here

Novak issued a statement Monday saying the tumor was found Sunday after he had been rushed to Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital from Cape Cod, where he was visiting his daughter.

The Chicago Sun-Times columnist says he is suspending his journalistic work for an indefinite, "but God willing, not too lengthy period." His statement did not say if the tumor was malignant.

Updates as soon as possible.

CNN is reporting that Bob Novak has a brain tumor.  I cannot stand the guy, but shit has he had a bad week.  First he got played by the McCain campaign to float the rumor that McCain was about to name his VP choice.  Then Novak ran over a pedestrian with his 'vette and tried to flee the scene.  Now he's got a brain tumor?

Invective aside, I hope he recovers.  That's not a pleasant way to go.  Besides, the Prince of Darkness is a well-sourced journalist.  He does occasionally dish the dirt, though I have a laundry list of issues with the man.  I enjoy reading any good handicapper of the various races.

Still, the dude is remarkably offensive.  Even for all that, I'm sorry about the tumor.

I think someone may have spiked my Diet Coke with something extra special tonight because tonight's diary prep went to 2 pages - again. Goody for us all - I hope!

So, let's Countdown for the night before payday for me!

Next week's brief edition of Inspection arrives on your digital doorstep early... to keep current with the news cycle involving the Prince of Darkness.
   

Because I believe that its very hard to stay sane in the time we live without watching some of The Daily Show... I try to post a few diary entries about last night's episodes when I get the chance. I hope you enjoy the video recap and feel free to weigh in with comments.

Last night's show dealt with Robert Novak's accident as well as Obama's continued trip overseas, part of the ongoing "Obama Quest" series. But wait, Jon says, there is another Presidential candidate on a quest (you jerks!) - it's John McCain's quest for attention, touring backwater towns in Pennsylvania.

Also, the continuous Osama/Obama brain farts are montaged and Jon does a run down for how you can tell the difference between Osama bin Laden and Barack Obama.

Auntie Neo Kawn's diary from yesterday, Bob Novak Hits Pedestrian with 'Vette, Flees, on this incident, where columnist Bob Novak, driving a Corvette, hit a pedestrian crossing with the light in D.C. and then attempted to escape from the scene, drew a lot of attention.  

This morning's Washington Post has an article on the incident, Novak Cited for Hitting Pedestrian, which reveals that the pedestrian who was Novak's victim is a 66-year-old homeless man!  No wonder Novak thought he could ignore him.

Politico is reporting that Novak ran down a pedestrian (who was in the crosswalk and had the right of way) and then took off, only to be chased down by a cyclist. His bright, shiny Corvette was blockaded by the bicyclist until the cops showed up.

A Politico reporter saw Novak in the front of a police car with a citation in his hand; a WJLA-TV crew and reporter saw Novak as well. The pedestrian, a male in his 60s, was hospitalized at George Washington University Hospital with minor injuries according to the Metro Fire Department. Novak was later released by police and drove away from the scene.

This is classic stuff.

According to Halperin at Time, the Prince of Darkness was on Fox News (Ed. Note: Where Else, of Course??!!??) saying that he now believes that the McCain team deceived him, and that they were never really planning on launching their VP pick this week.

Furthermore, Novak gives us a compelling motive: Obama is getting boffo press for his overseas trip, and the McCain people needed a way to horn in on the coverage.

And Novak is mad. Very, very mad.

As Digby notes in a post from Austin tonight

I can't wrap my mind around the fact that the right wingers decided to hold a confab here in Austin at the same time as Netroots Nation.

They claim to be "confronting" us "head-on." Except we didn't know it existed.

Yes, it’s called Rightonline, sponsored by Americans for Prosperity and it somehow just happened to turn up in Austin exactly the same time as Netroots Nation.  What a coinky dink.  It has even got Barry Goldwater Jr., Robert Novak, pompom queen Michele Malkin and most of the editorial staff of the Wall Street Journal.  

And yet Attorney General Mukasey is still preventing us from learning what happened.

Five years ago today, on a Monday morning just like today, this happened:

Our bedroom was just beginning to show the first hints of morning light on July 14 when Joe marched in, dropped the newspaper on the bed, and said in a tight voice, "Well, the SOB did it." He set a steaming mug of coffee on my bedside table and left the room. What? I struggled to wake up. I sat up, switched on the lamp, and opened the Washington Post to the op-ed page; I didn't know what I would find, but I knew it wouldn't be good. Rovert Novak had written in his column that "Wilson never worked for the CIA, but his wife, Valerie Plame, is an Agency operative on weapons of mass destruction."

So much has been said and written about the outing of former CIA operative Valerie Plame -- and the cast of characters that swirled around it, from Judith Miller to Karl Rove -- that today, on the fifth anniversary of how it all began, it seems proper to quote the first lines of the fateful Joseph C. Wilson IV op-ed in the July 6, 2003 edition of The New York Times:

"Did the Bush administration manipulate intelligence about Saddam Hussein's weapons programs to justify an invasion of Iraq?  Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat."

Remember its title?  "What I Didn't Find in Africa."   People in high places paid attention: As we now know, Vice President Cheney marked up a copy of the op-ed from the paper, wondering if the trip to Africa was "ordinarily" done or "did his wife send him on a junket?"  

I'm writing today to pose a question to the community, and it's a question that I don't have an answer for myself. It's also a question that I think has a lot of meaning to the current battle for the White House going on between Barack Obama and John McCain.

The question is this: What happened in late 2007 and early 2008 that allowed John McCain to win the GOP primary?

Robert Novak's column from yesterday says that Speaker Pelosi is privately talking up Rahm Emanuel as the next U.S. Senator from Illinois should Barack Obama win the presidency.

The conservatives are looking for a way to rally their base for a candidate many of them do not like. To this end, they are floating out the trial balloon of many different possible wedge issues. The GOP is hitting all the old standbys with flag pins and patriotism as well as a brief flirtation with using the second amendment. None of these has really taken off in the way they had hoped. Now they are recycling some previous issues that went nowhere. On March 29, Barack Obama uttered the phrase "punished with a baby" in reference to a hypothetical about either of his daughters having a teenaged pregnancy.