Bob Novak diagnosed with brain tumour

[Saddle Bronc 124]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...ml?hpid=topnews

Robert Novak Diagnosed With Brain Tumor

By Howard Kurtz

Washington Post Staff Writer

Monday, July 28, 2008; 2:12 PM

Robert Novak, one of Washington's best-known columnists for nearly half a century, announced today that he has a brain tumour.

Novak, 77, said the diagnosis was made yesterday and that he was admitted to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, where he will soon begin treatment. "I will be suspending my journalistic work for an indefinite but, God willing, not too lengthy period," he said in a statement.

"He is talking," Novak's assistant, Amanda Carey, said today. "Everyone's optimistic right now. He's in good spirits."

Novak became ill yesterday when he and his wife went to visit their daughter near Cape Cod.

Last week, while driving his black Corvette, Novak hit a homeless pedestrian at a downtown Washington intersection. He said he did not realize he had struck anyone until a passing bicyclist stopped him. The pedestrian sustained minor injuries and Novak received a $50 ticket.

The conservative commentator launched a syndicated column in 1963 with his longtime partner, Rowland Evans, and continued it after Evans retired from the column in 1993. Evans died in 2001. The column is carried by The Washington Post.

Novak was a CNN commentator and co-host of the program "Crossfire" for 25 years, but left the network three years ago after uttering a curse word and walking off the set. He is now an analyst for Fox News.

Novak became embroiled in the biggest controversy of his career in 2003 when he identified Valerie Plame, the wife of administration critic Joseph Wilson, as a covert CIA operative. Novak obtained the information from Richard Armitage, then a State Department official, and Karl Rove, then a senior White House aide to President Bush, without identifying them. The column triggered a lengthy investigation that led to the perjury conviction of Vice President Cheney's former top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, whose sentence was commuted by the president.

Novak has often been a conduit for information from Republicans. Last week, he reported that presidential candidate John McCain was expected to announce his running mate within days but later concluded that he had been used to float a phony rumour.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I guess this casts the hit and run in a new light.

[Peikko 1,575]

Another brain tumour - sad and yes, that would make the accident a very different story than was related Friday.

[almaty 19]

i agree...

[Nagishkaw 510]

How sad.