Bob Novak Died

Oh, I was just wondering the other day why we haven't heard anything more about Bob Novak. He had that problem with his car a few months ago and that's the last I heard.

Now today we learn he died. All the best to his family and loved ones.

Lynn Sweet says Bob relished his “Prince of Darkness” public persona. I believe we saw that, over and over, on CNN's "Crossfire" and "Capital Gang" shows.

I used to watch "Capital Gang" very faithfully, and Bob was a good foil for the more level headed (from my point of view) Mark Shields and Al Hunt. Then there was Margaret Carlson and my arch nemesis Kate O'Beirne. I quit watching it toward the end, the last year or so, because I couldn't stand the terrible opinions of Kate. Blech!

But the terrible opinions of Bob Novak I could stomach a lot more for some reason, which is weird, since they were pretty terrible. I don't know. Maybe he looked like he half didn't really believe it. And was playing a part. He definitely seemed to smile a lot more when he said something incendiary and was rebutted.

I also remember seeing him on "Evans and Novak," and he seemed less like a guy playing a part there.

Somewhere I have a book that Evans and Novak wrote on Nixon, which I recall reading some of several years ago. There's some interesting anecdotes in there about Nixon. One I recall is the story of Nixon going out late one night and talking to some antiwar guys at one of the memorials. Seemed like a good book.

When I saw Bob Novak on TV I usually had that book in the back of my mind, so maybe that's another reason I didn't dislike him very much.