Novak Flips Out On CNN
Hahaha
It's a bit anti-climactic since it happened during an inconsequential conversation about Katherine Harris's Florida Senate run, but Novak stormed off the set of CNN's Inside Politics today in response to some baiting by a snarky James Carville muttering "this is bullshit" and pulling free his microphone.
Novak has been under pressure lately, to be sure, what with his role in the Plame/Rove affair, but hey, he finally broke his silence to defend himself, so you'd think he'd be less on edge. (For those that missed his rousing defense, Novak announced that he was merely told "Joseph Wilson's wife" worked at the CIA and he looked her name up in a Who's Who reference book prior to outing her in his column.)
Anyway, this tantrum of his proves what's been clear for a long time, that he's a whiny little rightwing baby and his subsequent suspension from CNN is long overdue (although they don't seem to have a problem promoting the tantrum on the front page of their website!)
From a CNN spokesman:
It's a bit anti-climactic since it happened during an inconsequential conversation about Katherine Harris's Florida Senate run, but Novak stormed off the set of CNN's Inside Politics today in response to some baiting by a snarky James Carville muttering "this is bullshit" and pulling free his microphone.
Novak has been under pressure lately, to be sure, what with his role in the Plame/Rove affair, but hey, he finally broke his silence to defend himself, so you'd think he'd be less on edge. (For those that missed his rousing defense, Novak announced that he was merely told "Joseph Wilson's wife" worked at the CIA and he looked her name up in a Who's Who reference book prior to outing her in his column.)
Anyway, this tantrum of his proves what's been clear for a long time, that he's a whiny little rightwing baby and his subsequent suspension from CNN is long overdue (although they don't seem to have a problem promoting the tantrum on the front page of their website!)
From a CNN spokesman:
Bob Novak's behavior on CNN today was inexcusable and unacceptable. Mr. Novak has apologized to CNN, and CNN apologizes to its viewers for his language and actions. We've asked Mr. Novak to take some time off.
posted by Todd at 5:06 PM
4 Comments:
I guess everything is relative ... I mean, he could have put a trash can over his head, or slapped a raw egg into his face on live TV (like Carville has done).
But probably the best analogy is between Novak walking off and disgraced/discredited Liberal CBS anchor Dan Rather doing the same in the late 1980s (for which he was rightly b*tchslapped, on live TV, by George HW Bush).
Hmmm ... wonder if TB would be willing to describe the following meltdown in similar terms to the ones he used regarding Novak:
CNN commentator Robert Novak's decision to storm off the set of "Inside Politics" yesterday has already received four times as much news coverage as a similar meltdown by ex-President Clinton.
Clinton walked out in the midst of a 1994 interview with NBC in Prague.
A Lexis-Nexis search conducted midday Friday turned up 39 stories on the Novak tantrum, detailing how the conservative columnist exploded during a debate with fellow CNN'er James Carville, yanked off his microphone and walked away.
Novak's actions were almost a mirror image of Clinton's, who pulled the plug on a Jan. 14, 1994 interview with NBC reporter Jim Miklaszewski after becoming angry that the NBC'er had dared to ask him about Whitewater.
"You've had your two questions, Jim," Clinton snarled. "I'm sorry you're not interested in the trip." The president then leaped to his feet, tore off his microphone and stormed off the set.
The next day, Clinton was asked about his tantrum during an interview on ABC's "Nightline."
"There's no point in going into it now," he insisted. "I don't have to talk about it anymore."
Despite the fact that the presidential meltdown came in the midst of a network television interview, the episode attracted surprisingly little media attention.
A Lexis-Nexis search turned up just 9 reports on Clinton's tantrum for the entire week after it happened.
umm, a lot has happened since 1994 that would cause the discrepancy, not the least of which is the Internet and advent of blogs and the fact that the video is able to be seen by millions who didn't see it originally. but no I probably wouldn't have the same contempt for Clinton's comparable actions since I like Clinton and I don't like Novak for several reasons, but I wouldn't have a problem saying Clinton acted like a baby. It's just that acting like a whiny little baby is not a primary characteristic of Clinton, while it is a primary characteristic of Novak as anyone who watched The Capital Gang over the years can attest to.
no I probably wouldn't have the same contempt for Clinton's comparable actions since I like Clinton and I don't like Novak ...
Nice admission of hypocrisy and double standards ...
Oh, and if you didn't notice Clinton "acting like a whiny little baby" during his eight years in the White House, you weren't paying attention.
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