Valerie Plame-Wilson slams Bob Novak for hitting pedestrian

Syndicated columnist Bob Novak publicly revealed Valerie Plame-Wilson's identity as a covert CIA agent in 2003, setting in motion an investigation that brought down I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, and seriously damaged the reputation of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and White House political maestro Karl Rove for leaking her name to other journalists.

The Wilsons left Washington two years ago to live in Santa Fe, N.M., where, as Wonkette put it "terrorists and Bob Novak will never find them." Now, from the desert, they are weighing in on Novak's latest brush with the law in the nation's capital -- an incident that happened Wednesday in which the 77-year-old syndicated columnist, driving a black Corvette, hit a pedestrian and kept on driving.

In a statement to ThinkProgress, the Wilsons equated Novak's disregard for pedestrians with a similar disdain for covert CIA officers.

Our sympathies go out to the victim of Novak’s action. Once again Novak has demonstrated his callous disregard for the rights of others, as well as his chronic inability to accept responsibility for his actions.

We have long argued that responsible adults should take Novak’s typewriter away. The time has arrived for them to also take away the keys to his Corvette.

Meanwhile, details are emerging on other aspects of the case.

The victim, 66-year-old Don Likinquist, may be in worse shape than earlier reported. Or not. WJLA-TV is quoting an unnamed source who said the man has casts on his neck and back and is awaiting a surgical team evaluation.

The lawyer who stopped Novak half a block away -- and who does not believe the columnist's claim that he had no idea he'd hit anyone -- turns out to be an Obama Democrat. David Bono, a partner at Harkins Cunningham, contributed $2,000 to the Obama campaign in May during the frenzied primary run against Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

As for Novak, he's not talking, but he told WJLA-TV yesterday that he feels "terrible," adding of the victim, "He's not dead, that's the main thing."

But, as C2C (that's us, Countdown to Crawford) reported Wednesday, Novak has shown disdain for pedestrians before. In 2001, according to the Washington Post's Lloyd Grove, Novak yelled at a jaywalker, later explaining to Grove: "He was crossing on the red light. I really hate jaywalkers. I despise them. Since I don't run the country, all I can do is yell at 'em. The other option is to run 'em over, but as a compassionate conservative, I would never do that."

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Chip Somondevilla / Getty Images

Comments

[Jorge I. Gomez]

It's a fact that when George W. Bush was appointed president, the law and its consequences for violators became a "No brainer". Lawlessness has become the new democracy and the adage that no one is above the law, became just the opposite. All the king's men and his jesters are above the law, all others, proceed at your own risk, like the political victim of Karl Rove, the governor of Alabama where trumpeted charges with no basis or facts became the new judidical system. I think there is going to be decades ahead that might bring justice back to our judicial system. Today, we have criminals in charge of the judicial system and the Constitution. O tempora, o mores!

[Brian]

The word from here in Washington is the man Mr. Novak hit was an eldery homeless man.

[Paul in NJ]

What, if anything, did the Wilsons have to say following the revelation that Novak has brain cancer - and that it just might have contributed to the accident?

I'll bet that the answer is 'nothing.'