UPDATE: The Washington Post, who carried his column for decades, editorializes Robert D. Novak: A Knack for Compelling Reporting and Provoking Critics. - washingtonpost.com
I never watched Robert Novak when he was on CNN, and rarely read his columns. But I did post about him a few times after he was diagnosed with brain cancer. This post is from Sept. 7, '08.Columnist Robert Novak writes about his brain cancer
I found it interesting that he became a Catholic later in his life, at the age of 67.
Conservative Columnist Robert D. Novak Dies at 78 - washingtonpost.com
His "Inside Report" syndicated column, shared for 30 years with the late Rowland Evans, was important reading for anyone who wanted to know what was happening in Washington. Their journalism, which reported leaks from the highest sources of government, often had embarrassing consequences for politicians.
Mr. Novak's strong anti-communism in his foreign policy views was reflected in his column. He also was a leading advocate of supply-side economics, a belief that tax cuts would lead to widespread financial prosperity.
David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union lobbying organization, said Mr. Novak helped transform supply-side economics from a fringe idea into a tenet of President Ronald Reagan's economic policy. Keene called Mr. Novak "a giant of the profession" who "gave respectability and visibility to conservative ideas and positions in the 1970s, when they were mostly dismissed."
Many followers of politics knew Mr. Novak from his television appearances on debate programs such as "The McLaughlin Group" and "Crossfire," which pitted liberals such as Bill Press and James Carville against conservatives such as Mr. Novak and Pat Buchanan and left them to spar on divisive social issues.
Mr. Novak said regular appearances on those shows heightened a more-combative aspect of his personality and helped define his reputation as a self-professed "right-wing ideologue."
"I found myself engaged on issues I seldom wrote about: capital punishment, gay rights, abortion and gun control," he once wrote. "I was never asked to take any position I opposed, but the process had the effect of hardening my positions."
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