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Novak Tries to Hit-and-Run After Knocking into Pedestrian

thinkprogress.org — Conservative pundit Robert Novak “was cited by police after he hit a pedestrian with his black Corvette in downtown Washington, D.C. Novak initially “drove away from the scene,” but turned around when “a bicyclist stopped him and said, ‘You hit someone.’” Novak claimed: “I didn’t know I hit anybody.” But this is completely contrary to what happened

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 23, 2008

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  • More4, on 07/23/2008, -2/+94"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," - Robert Novak, quoted in the Washington Post in 2001.
    http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_di ...
  • sluggoo, on 07/23/2008, -7/+91Maybe it's time someone took away grampa's keys to his douchemobile.


  • More4, on 07/23/2008, -5/+61Rumor Cheney was riding shotgun.
  • thatspsychotic, on 07/23/2008, -3/+48Alternate headline: "Novak swerves too far to the right, hits pedestrian"
  • Kitakaze, on 07/23/2008, -3/+36What an absolute, utter lowlife. He hit a old man who was crossing the street perfectly legally — pedestrian crossing with "WALK" sign lit up — and the victim was actually up on his hood and windshield. He tries to run, and when caught, claims he DIDN'T KNOW HE'D HIT SOMEONE?
    The scumbuckets think they can get away with anything. And most of the time of course, they do.
  • Djerrid, on 07/23/2008, -5/+31Bono said that the pedestrian, who was crossing the street on a "Walk" signal and was in the crosswalk, rolled off the windshield and that Novak then made a right into the service lane of K Street. “This car is speeding away. What’s going through my mind is, you just can’t hit a pedestrian and drive away,” Bono said.
    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708//11985.h ...

    Leave it to Bono to stop the Prince of Darkness from getting away with a hit-and-run.
  • sharternarter, on 07/23/2008, -1/+27He's 77. It's not a midlife crisis, it's coming to terms with death.
  • browwiw, on 07/23/2008, -2/+28Oh, that is goddam comedic gold. Good eye, More4. That is Daily Show worthy!
  • WraTH017, on 07/23/2008, -3/+24The classic "I wasn't aware of it" response from a neo conservative. A variation of the "I don't recall" strategy.
  • vatosplace, on 07/23/2008, -9/+28Black corvette for a mid-life crisis car is pretty weak.
  • hawkeye17, on 07/23/2008, -2/+21LOL. I'm shocked that Novak didn't get out of the car and drink the man's blood. Musta been the sunlight he was afraid of.
  • browwiw, on 07/23/2008, -4/+22Wooh. I was getting worried. It's almost the end of the month and not a single high profile Republican politician or pundit hadn't been caught doing something incredibly illegal or sexually embarrassing. The only way to make this story truly perfect is if it turns out Novak hit the pedestrian because he was distracted having gay phone sex on his cell phone.
  • NelsonR, on 07/23/2008, -3/+19No surprises here. Another Republican conservative who thinks they are both above the law and in charge of the little guy. JERK, ALL OF THEM, well at least the 5% with 95% of the money.
    Egotistical giants who think their bowl movements smell aromatic and they have a clear path to their God with open arms.
  • inactive, on 07/23/2008, -1/+12wat
  • migshark, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10Talk about coming back to bite you in the arse!
  • mCanada, on 07/23/2008, -2/+11So it's not just his journalism style anymore?
  • hydroplane, on 07/23/2008, -8/+17You have to be a major asshat to have a car accident in downtown DC. They have the best traffic system anywhere with timers that tell you when the light is going to change.
  • kenedamick, on 07/23/2008, -3/+12What a douche.
  • Razster, on 07/23/2008, -3/+11You mean Old man Novakula hit his next meal? And then is allowed to get away with Hit and Run for only $50.00? Well ***** I'm living in the wrong State, seems I need to leave Cali and go to D.C. and start running over some Rep.
  • Cybermaul, on 07/23/2008, -2/+10Unfortunately, it wasn't the singer Bono from U2, nor was it Cheney, the Black Prince himself, but kudos to him anyways.
  • terrya64, on 07/23/2008, -1/+9Being a conservative, he was just going to go home and pray for forgiveness.
  • funkyloki, on 07/23/2008, -2/+9No, you are not correct about that. If he left the scene at all, which he did, coming back does not cancel out his leaving. If your RTFA, you would have seen that he did leave, but was chased down by a bicyclist, and then claimed he did not even know he hit the person, all though the victim was splayed out on his hood.
    I don't care who you are or what your political affiliations might be, you hit someone with your car, and you leave without exchanging info, then it is a hit-and-run, and he deserves anything they do to him as a result.
    BTW, the only reason he came back is because a witness told him he saw him. And it is a story because it happens to be a guy who said in 2001 he hates all jaywalkers (which the victim was not) and would run them all down if he could.
  • Badandy127, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8lol
  • SuperJay, on 07/23/2008, -2/+9Compassionate conservatism in practice.
  • jackspade, on 07/23/2008, -0/+7You're joking right? Driving in DC is a freakin nightmare. Dupont Circle and Georgetown is a total mess. .
  • tbranham, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7Uh, not really. Yes, the walk signals have timers on them, which is a nice touch, but it's the pedestrians themselves you have to worry about in DC. Seriously, these people have a death wish. It's worse than the usual problem where they don't seem to realize that the cars are coming -- they KNOW the cars are coming and they walk out in front of you anyway. Slowly. Just the instant that your car reaches the point where it cannot stop in time.
  • inactive, on 07/23/2008, -2/+8Check out this link. It may help you.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance
  • Alphabet, on 07/23/2008, -1/+7oh come on, if someone like Obama did this, you'd be having an orgasm jerk-fest over it.
  • totorototoro, on 07/23/2008, -2/+8The body was splayed over the hood of his convertible, and he didn't notice? wtf?
  • PartyLess, on 07/23/2008, -5/+10Only if it had been Novak on the bike, then the world might be that much better.
  • Razster, on 07/23/2008, -2/+7Whoa, oddly enough this is what I told my friends as a joke during the news... Scary!
  • LunaticFringe, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5When you hit someone and try to keep driving, it's automatically a felony. The law is the law. There is no 'smearing' about it.
  • PopcornDave, on 07/23/2008, -1/+6Well Tom Lantos did a similar thing back in 2000, but he drove off and was later issued a $25 ticket. http://www.commondreams.org/views/050500-104.htm

    FTA: Lantos said he had no idea the boy had been hurt.

    ''I was driving to my office. ... There was a typical spring mob of tourists and kids and so on,'' Lantos said yesterday in an interview. ''One of the kids, horsing around, not looking or something, jumped in front of the car, stumbled, then got up and walked away.''

    Maybe it's time to institute a driving test for people over a certain age to make sure their reactions are still up to speed.
  • tidu, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4He just talked about it. And he commented on an "end-life crisis"... I think the writers read Digg.
  • beesaretasty, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4Where the hell do you live that DC's that much better? The countdown is for pedestrians. The green, yellow, red lights are for cars.
  • snockhockster, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5Is this not more evidence that the law is not applied equally to everyone based on their perceived status? Had Novak been an average Joe or Jane, he would have been charged with hit and run.
  • Hrodrik, on 07/23/2008, -2/+6He's a conservative, he has no heart.
  • EarthernJar, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4It's all those damned red-stater tourists
  • IIAmusedII, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Novak better watch his step the next time he tries to cross a street.
  • inactive, on 07/23/2008, -2/+6If you don't like it, go away. However, I don't think you're gonna fare much better anywhere else pretty soon. Conservative is over. Condolences. Enjoy your last few months of ideological relevance.
  • sfgeek, on 07/23/2008, -0/+4The worst is the combo of tourists and the endless one way streets. Once I went almost a whole block down a one way by accident when I first moved here.

    Locals know how to drive (Except the ones with MD plates.) But the tourists wreak havoc and destroy my sanity.
  • billygreen23, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Hahaha! DC has the "best traffic system anywhere"?!? Man, you just made my day.
  • DCesque, on 07/23/2008, -2/+6So this guy A) Jeopardized national security by outing a CIA operative and B) Hit a pedestrian and then tried to flee the scene?!

    Its times like this that make me say, "***** shades of gray. Republicans are clearly the bad guys and we are clearly the good guys!"

  • hawkeye17, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5They shoulda checked his trunk for dead bodies.
  • Deficienze, on 07/23/2008, -2/+5Phew. I thought this was about BJ Novak from the headline.
  • alleged, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Please explain why Novak ran, without spin please.

    Either he didn't notice the pedestrian, and is therefore an inattentive and dangerous driver, or he deliberately escaped to avoid responsibility.

    Either way, it doesn't speak well of Novak's integrity.
  • alleged, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3We are about to find out about the vaunted conservative "personal accountability." If Novak has any integrity, he will offer full restitution to the victim without being asked, and voluntarily surrender his driver's license.
  • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3superkendall, I had a lady hit the back left quarter panel of my car when she illegally crossed a solid white line into my lane at K st and 25th st. If you're familiar with that intersection, by chance, you'd know that it is common for idiots to drive down the left lane on the surface street portion of K street, but when they merge onto the main K street portion (the part that goes under the traffic circle at PA ave.) they drive into the right lane, instead of the left lane. So I was driving in the right lane, and she hit me when she didn't go into the left lane and instead tried to defy physics by veering into the lane I was in.

    Since that is a very busy road with no shoulders, and it opens up to 5 or 6 lanes about 120 yards up the road, I turned back to her and waved to follow me, which she did. When the road opened up, I pulled over to the far right, onto a very narrow shoulder, got out, and started talking to her to exchange insurance information. She was an illegal with no insurance. So I called the police.

    The first thing the cop did when I told him that she hit me back at the last intersection was accuse me of hit and run. I had to laugh. "She hit me, officer, and this is a busy road. I pulled over at the first safe place I could find. Wouldn't that make me the hittee and runner? Is that a crime?"

    He was serious. I bet if it was my fault, he would have charged me with hit and run.
  • gregdogum, on 07/23/2008, -2/+5There is no way he didn't "know" .... what a giant douchebag
  • sfgeek, on 07/23/2008, -1/+4Well they really egregious thing isn't that he ran over an old man, or was having gay phone sex...

    Talking on the phone in your car in DC is Illegal! Evil bastard!
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