Novak sends pedestrian to hospital after hit-and-run

July 23, 2008

Ordinarily, traffic citations aren’t exactly important political news, but for Bob Novak, let’s make an exception.

I worked in D.C. for several years, and saw Novak driving his Corvette convertible like a lunatic many, many times. I can think of plenty of instances in which I’d see him and think, “One of these days, that guy is going to hurt someone.”

And sure, today, he did.

Novak reportedly received a citation for failing to yield the right of way. The person he hit, a 66-year-old man, was taken to the hospital “with minor injuries.”

“I didn’t know I hit him. I feel terrible,” Novak told reporters who happen to be there while Novak received the citation. He added, “He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.”

Novak also said he didn’t even realize he’s struck the man with his car, but was told by a bicyclist, a block away, that he’d hit someone. The bicyclist, who called 911 and blocked Novak from driving away, suggested it would have been difficult for Novak to miss the pedestrian — who was reportedly “splayed onto the windshield.”

The Politico also noted Novak’s legendary reputation.

Novak, 77, has earned a reputation around the capital as an aggressive driver, easily identified in his convertible sports car.

In 2001, he cursed at a pedestrian on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 13th Street N.W., for allegedly jaywalking.

“‘Learn to read the signs, [bodily orifice]!’ Novak snapped before speeding away,” according to an item in The Washington Post’s Reliable Source column.

Novak explained to the paper: “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.”

If there’s a lawsuit, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were, Novak will probably have to hear that “run ’em over” quote quite a bit.

Novak did a hit-and-run against a pedestrian? Hmm, several years ago, he did a hit-and-run by exposing the secret identity of a covert CIA agent, Valerie Plame, and her consulting firm. Heck of a treason, Mr. Novak.

  • So much for the compassionate part, can’t wait to see the “contrite conservate” in the courtroom. Maybe the litigation will be on TruTV.

  • The quote the bicyclist provided from Novak was much more ambiguous. “I didn’t see him there.” That sounds like he might have known he hit him.

    Novak is irresponsible hit and run like his column. I don’t want a 77 year old driving a corvette or a 72 year old running a country.

    If Novak had gotten away it would have been a Bonfire of the Vanities. I would have liked to see Dracula sweating out the search for his black corvette.

  • Novakula: “He’s not dead, that’s the main thing.”

    Now that’s what I call compassionate.

    Maybe Novakula wanted to get the limelight off of McCain’s fuckup and the media’s covering it up.

  • One more pardon for the presnit to grant. Laws and consequences are for the rest of us peasants.

  • 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.”

    Never say never Novakula. Hey there’s an angle McCain hasn’t tried. Go after the jaywalkers!

  • how could you not know you hit someone when the splay across your windshield. What a lying corpse Novak is. What a D-Bag. Add hit and run to his list of crimes to humanity.

  • Of course he didn’t see him. Republicans never see the tragedies or f*ck ups that are right in front of their faces.

  • If Cheney had been driving, the pedestrian would have later apologized for getting in his way and mussing up his windshield.

  • Why is 77-year old Novak driving a Corvette? Shouldn’t he be over his mid-life crisis by now?

    Why does it not surprise me that Novak is an aggressive driver? Is this guy getting senile, or is he just a bodily orifice?

  • Such a Worm.
    Now that I know the pedestrian is going to be okay, I can say this couldn’t have been more perfect, unless it was McCain driving.
    Wait – Is he allowed to drive? And by the way, why is Novak allowed to drive? Maybe this little incident will take care of that.
    If I was an Insurance Co. I wouldn’t touch him with a 10 ft. pole.

  • Steve:
    I don’t think I have ever criticized you for a particular post before, and don’t think I will again, but this one was a mistake. Yes, Novak is a bad driver. Yes he is a bad reporter. But the two things have nothing to do with each other, and the story is about as relevant as Obama’s skill at basketball or lack of skill at bowling. Again, imagine the reverse, that it had been Keith, or Jack Cafferty, or Kos, or some other progressive blogger, and a conservative blogger had tried to use this as a reason for blasting them. We’d be — rightfully — screaming to high heaven about the post.

    Again, we ain’t Republicans. Let them waste time with irrelevancies when we have so many valid points to make.

    You knew damn well the responses it would get. Okay, so we all have bad days, but again, this one was a mistake, by someone who makes so few of them that this stands out.

  • As a defense attorney I can tell you that in Massachusetts, leaving the scene of an accident with physical injury includes mandatory jail time. I think he could still write from jail though.

  • How did he not see a pedestrian when he’s sitting in his convertible Corvette, which is all of 7 inches off the ground? At least he wasn’t driving a Hummer. The pedestrian and the cyclist that stopped him would be dead.

  • Don’t Republicans expect their victims to apologize to them for being in the way? Like the guy Cheney shot? Novak probably expects a call from the guy he hit apologizing for being in the cross walk when Bob was speeding.

  • Jim – (Re #13)
    My impression is that Republicans talk a lot about responsibility, but try to weasel their way out any time that they are caught.
    Novak is a major Republican name. IMHO, he’s a traitor to the country for his role in the Plame affair. Now, he’s caught in a serious crime (hit and run), but as always, he’s taking no personal responsibility.
    It’s symbolic of the modern Republican, that’s why I feel that this is a legitamite subject for a politcal blog post.

  • All I want to know is… was the pedestrian a CIA operative or not. Perhaps Novak isfinding more creative ways to “out” them. Purp, you don’t “act like republicans” when you show what assholes these comp. consevatives are are because it’s always based on facts that fit the right interpretations of their actions…when repubs do it to liberals it’s always based on lies and smears.

    Novak should have gotten arrested for leaving the scene but yes it is far less important than the occupation and the economy or the media beginning to see through McCain’s lies.

  • Prup @ 13: … the story is about as relevant as Obama’s skill at basketball or lack of skill at bowling.

    I read this blog because Steve does a nice job of summarizing and analyzing political news. I don’t have the time to comb the dailies for all that might be of interest.

    He also offers timely commentary on the state of the media. Now, if Steve were commenting on Novak’s golf game, I might agree with you. But, a hit and run accident is not a small indiscretion and the facts of the case may well speak volumes regarding Mr. Novak’s character. I hardly consider it irrelavent, given Novak’s stature as a media figure.

  • taritac said: “Why is 77-year old Novak driving a Corvette?

    Why is the Prince of Darkness driving a convertable? Doesn’t he shrivel up in the Sun or something?

    BuzzMon said: “Jim – (Re #13)
    My impression is that Republicans talk a lot about responsibility, but try to weasel their way out any time that they are caught.”

    Like all the appologists for Larry Craig who demanded that the Police not stake out airport mens rooms and focus on ‘serious crime’ while at the same time touting Rudy Ghouliani’s graffiti crackdown in New York City? Two faced is a good description of a Republican’t.

  • Novak’s probably waiting for his elderly victim to apologize to him, like Dick Cheney’s did.

  • Actually this helps illustrate a growing problem in America today. An aging population combined with a lack of public transportation option is leading to more and more of these kinds of accidents, often with far more tragic results.

  • Old drivers are the scariest kind of drivers. As far as I’m concerned, you shouldn’t be allowed to drive after you turn 70. My 72 year old neighbor just put a hole in her garage because she mistook the gas pedal for the brake pedal. Anyway, I hope the pedestrian sues Novak. What a jerk.

  • Prup: disagree. Hit and run is serious. Were he named JimBob or LaShaw’n or al Bubba he would have been carted down to the station immediately.

  • “You knew damn well the responses it would get. Okay, so we all have bad days, but again, this one was a mistake, by someone who makes so few of them that this stands out.”

    What? He doesn’t do Hit-and-Runs on a regular basis, so why give him grief for hitting _this_ particular pedestrian and then driving away, until he was stopped by a witness who had to cycle after him and block his getaway? Because, y’know, we all have bad days when we just can’t help commiting a felony.

    Odd argument. Never heard that one before.

    Needless to say, I know you can’t be talking about his reporting, because that would be just silly.

  • What about Obama saying he was on the senate banking committee when he isn’t on the committee.

    Obama lied in Israel trying to kiss up to israelis about saying he was on the senate banking committee

  • This is an outrageous double standard considering Congressman Patrick Kennedy had to do jail time for drunk driving when he crashed his car in the middle of the night even though it was clear he was suffering a side-effect of Ambien.

  • An aging population combined with a lack of public transportation option is leading to more and more of these kinds of accidents, often with far more tragic results.

    DC has one of the best public transit systems in the country. But it may have an arcane rule against incompetent, three-piece-suited blowhards riding it and bugging the daylights out of the other passengers. I can’t say for sure.

  • Wow that bicyclist is a hero and a hell of an athlete too. This guy chased down a speeding corvette on a bicycle, got in front of it, then cut him off, and blocked the car with his bike all the while knowing that the driver is willing to run over someone.

  • DC does have great public transit…and the shittiest drivers I have ever seen. I think I was almost hit by a black Corvette a couple weeks ago. If I had know it was that asshole, I would have taken one for the team.

  • Paul—I think the 66 year old pedestrian is quite the physical specimen too. The old timer was plowed into by that SOB and spread out on the windshield and was able to leave the hospital in a couple of hours.

  • It’s a good thing it wasn’t Obama’s Cadillac Escalade with the 26 inch rims and a 5000 watt stereo that hit him. He would never have heard Bono over the hip hop music rattling the license plates.

  • On July 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm, Decline to State said:
    jeff, get the fuck off this thread.

    rinse & repeat

  • considering the fact of how novak was played earlier this week by the mccain campaign (getting him to leak the incorrect rumor that mccain was gonig to announce his veep), and of how the guy he hit was an old guy, maybe novak just thought it was mccain and was after revenge.

    off topic: hey steve, why don’t you change your anti-spam measure to “what color is a plum?” just a suggestion….

  • Just as OJ refuses to sleep until he finds Nichole’s real killer, I am not going to sleep until I find the truth about this hit and run.

    If someone stopped you a block from an accident and said you had hit a guy, wouldn’t you say something like “What the fuck? I hit a guy?”

    “I didn’t see him” sounds like he knows what he did and was justifying why it happened.

    If anybody knows OJ’s number, I could use some advice on how to pursue this case.

  • I really think “I didn’t see him” just means “I didn’t see him before I ran over him. Then I did, so I decamped hastily.”

  • If I struck a pedestrian and left the scene, I wouldn’t have been allowed to walk away with a $50 ticket.

  • Novacula’s victim was reportedly “splayed onto the windshield.” Mmmm…

    Sounds like FELONY HIT & RUN !!

    WTF is up with the citation?

  • Novak is just another old fart who may be too far along for his “aspirational goals” of being a race car driver. If you can hit a pedestrian and not know it, then you shouldn’t have a driver’s license, much less a turbo-charged Corvette.

    Just as McCain shouldn’t have his hand on the Button, Novak shouldn’t be driving anything more powerful that a golf cart … and for the same reason.

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