Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, who earlier gave Robert Novak the title 'Douchebag of Liberty' (video), last night gave Novak a new award: the Congressional Medal of Douchebag. The award was for Novak's statements this weekend that CBS should, of course, reveal the source of the disputed Bush National Guard memos. This would be the same Robert Novak who for months has steadfastly refused to identify the Bush administration official who told him that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative. Well, sure.
From Crossfire:
ROBERT NOVAK: CBS, which broke the story, should reveal where it got the documents, to be blunt, who forged these documents. ... All I say is, all CBS has to say is where do these documents come from.
From Capital Gang:
NOVAK: I'd like CBS, at this point, to say where they got these documents from. They didn't get them from a CIA agent. I don't believe there was any laws involved. I don't think we'll have a special prosecutor, if they tell. I think they should say where they got these documents because I thought it was a very poor job of reporting by CBS. Why did CBS not go to the -- to Killian's family and get -- and ask them about it, as ABC did, and got these quotes, and they said they think they're phony documents -- I thought -- I thought that the "60 Minutes" thing by Dan Rather was a -- was a campaign operation, rather than an attempt to get to the bottom of the truth.
HUNT: Robert Novak, you're saying CBS should reveal its source?
NOVAK: Yes.
HUNT: You do? You think reports ought to reveal sources?
NOVAK: No, no. Wait a minute.
HUNT: I'm just asking.
NOVAK: I'm just saying in that case.
HUNT: Oh.
NOVAK: I think -- I think it's very important. If this is a phony document, the American -- the people should know about it.
HUNT: So in some cases, reporters ought to reveal sources.
NOVAK: Yes.
HUNT: But not in all cases.
NOVAK: That's right.
At some level, you have to admire someone who can say such things without his head exploding. It's really a skill.
Posted by Mike at September 14, 2004 09:56 PM