Half a century spent as 'The Prince of Darkness'

Robert Novak writes of 50 bruising years on the political beat in Washington, D.C.

By John Ettorre

from the July 10, 2007 edition

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For many Americans under the age of 40, (and particularly those without a weakness for cable-TV news), the name Bob Novak might have seemed quite obscure before the summer of 2003.

That was before the veteran syndicated columnist burst back to the forefront of the political and journalistic world with an infamous column outing CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame Wilson, which recently culminated in the conviction of vice presidential aide Scooter Libby for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Novak's byline has appeared so many times over the years that older readers – like him or not – were unlikely to forget it. But in recent years, he'd become better known as a scowling, almost cartoonishly dark presence on political food-fight TV shows, where he seemed almost a caricature of a right-wing pundit.

However, in The Prince of Darkness, his restrained new memoir about his half century of reporting from the nation's capital, the man who proudly answers to the nickname "The Prince of Darkness" reveals much of what has made him one of the most polarizing figures in Beltway journalism. It also provides plenty of fodder to satisfy most political and media junkies.

A native of working-class Joliet, Ill., Novak began life as a political centrist, an admirer of John F. Kennedy. He once turned down a job writing editorials for the Wall Street Journal because he didn't think he was conservative enough. But he charts his progressive alienation from mainstream journalism and a related journey to the political right.

There is much of the generational throwback about Novak. A proud cold warrior during most of his career, he was shaped by Whittaker Chambers's memoir "Witness," a book over which he recalls bonding with many fellow conservatives.

A self-described hunt-and-peck typist to this day, he proudly recounts the days of drinking to excess and his onetime four-pack-a-day smoking habit. He even breaks some news about himself, admitting he once had a $1,000-a-day gambling habit. "I suppose I had a gambling problem to accompany my drinking problem," he writes.

As a leading participant in the Washington reporting scene for two generations and a key figure in both the print world and its subsequent migration to TV (he appeared regularly on CNN from its inception in 1980, later jumping to Fox), he's in a position to dish up lots of backstage dirt, and he does.

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