Ya’ll remember Bob Novak, right? The conservative columnist who touched off a media feeding frenzy on his putative right-wing allies by naming Plame in a column? In the immortal words of Whitesnake: Here he goes again on his own (though without Tawny Kitain, it must be said) . . . .
In his latest indictment — erm, column — Novak describes the following attempts by House Leadership to convince Rep. Nick Smith (R-Michigan) to vote for prescription drugs coverage:
On the House floor, Nick Smith was told business interests would give his son $100,000 in return for his father’s vote. When he still declined, fellow Republican House members told him they would make sure Brad Smith never came to Congress. After Nick Smith voted no and the bill passed, Duke Cunningham of California and other Republicans taunted him that his son was dead meat.
As Timothy Noah points out in his Chatterbox column (via Slate), if true, Novak’s account amounts to an accusation of bribery. (It may also consitute extortion, depending on what was said.) That’s a frog-marching crime. You may commence your wild speculation, strange S&M fantasies, finger-ponting, and “this-ain’t-a-story-ism” in a moment, but, first, please explain to me why someone from the VRWC hasn’t taken good-ole Bob Novak out to the woodshed yet.
von
von, Novak is guilty of a little creative use of the language. “Give $100,00 to his son” should be read as “Give $100,000 in donations to son’s election bid.” Son is running to replace dad, who is not running anymore. To threaten son with targeted defeat isn’t outside the usual political games played at the city council level, let alone the national level.
Novak is outside of our control at the VRWC, since he isn’t a member of the VRWC. Bob be a proud paleocon. We are working hard at the VRWC to get them out. Ever since I started paying attention to Pat Buchanan, I’m pretty sure paleocon means “It’s all the Jews fault” in some language. Hope this helps with the fault lines that exist on the right.
In reverse order – the VRWC wouldn’t touch Novak with a ten foot pole (unless it could be electrified). He’s a hack with a low batting average and a slick way of using modifiers to keep from being called an outright liar.
That said, this is probably true and may require a wristslap. Bribery and extortion (you might add blackmail too) are just a few of the tools used to assure outcomes. If you head down that trail though, you need to be very cautious. Caro’s book on Johnson’s rise to power in the Senate is a good primer. He learned much from Sam Rayburn. My understanding is that Pelosi is also very forthright in her determination to maintain party solidarity.
Touring a sausage factory is not noted for whetting people’s appetite for sausage.