Robert Novak's Faulty Memory

Robert Novak is either a liar or an idiot. You be the judge.

Journalist Novak penned the now-infamous 2003 article criticizing Joe Wilson and outing his CIA wife, Valerie Plame.

When asked in 2003 by Newsweek about the source of his story and the identity of Plame, Novak replied:

“I didn’t dig it out, it was given to me. They thought it was significant, they gave me the name and I used it.”

Later that year on Meet The Press, Novak clarified his statement to Tim Russert:

“What I meant was that the senior official had given me her name.”

This scenario was supplemented by CIA employee Bill Harlow, whose Grand Jury testimony was summed up by the Washington Post:

“[Harlow] warned Novak ... that Wilson’s wife had not authorized the mission and that if he did write about it, her name should not be revealed. Harlow said that after Novak’s call, he checked Plame’s status and confirmed that she was an undercover operative. He said he called Novak back to repeat that story Novak had related to him was wrong and that Plame’s name should not be used. But he did not tell Novak directly that she was undercover because that was classified.”

Now, three years later, Novak is denying it all. On the 7/16/06 telecast of Meet The Press, Novak said of his earlier statement to Newsweek:

“That was a misstatement on my part.”

And of his clearheaded response to Russert in 2003:

“Well, that, that was just—that’s just a misstatement on my part.”

And of Harlow’s testimony to the Grand Jury about what he said to Novak:

“He didn’t say that. He never said that. Now he may—he may, he may think he said it, but he, he never—he never said that to me.”

Novak wants us to believe that his earlier, sober responses to direct, unambiguous questions were entirely incorrect despite the fact that he had just printed the story and the material was fresh in his mind. He also wants us to believe that testimony--consistent with and confirming his original statements--was just flat wrong.

So now, Novak is right and everybody else is wrong.

Journalists live and die by the veracity of their stories, by their ability to get the details of a story right. But three years after the fact, Novak’s story has mysteriously taken a 180 degree turn.

He’s either a crappy journalist, or a down-and-dirty liar. Or both.