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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

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  • werthog, on 07/23/2008, -19/+4Ground floor on this *****.
  • 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.
    • OffPiste, on 07/23/2008, -8/+1MIxing bowl???????
      • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1That's not in downtown DC. That is in Springfield VA.
    • trackerbishop, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1woops, i made an illegal Uee downtown and almost got slammed into:)
    • 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.
      • DCesque, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2You must be from Maryland
      • EarthernJar, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4It's all those damned red-stater tourists
      • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3And to solve that problem, sometime in 2000 or 2001, DC put big yellow signs in the middle of the road at crosswalks, warning cars to yield to pedestrians.

        Granted, pedestrians always have the right of way, technically. But if the signal says DO NOT WALK (or I guess because there's a lot of dee dee dees who can't read, the orange hand), DC cops will give you a jaywalking ticket if you try to cross.

        But, I do know that most people are not doing it intentionally. They are just worker drones and they aren't paying attention.

        Since my parking garage is on PA avenue between 17th and 18th St (the same garage novak parks his ratty, beat up corvette convertible in, coincidentally), and PA is closed at 17th (because of the white house) there's usually very little traffic at that block.

        So, I often look both ways and then cross, regardless of the signal. Every few weeks, one or two office drones will see me step out, and they will proceed to cross without looking. I've had to turn around and ask people if they think they can make it across before that car halfway down the block gets here, and they look up and see the car coming, and jump back onto the sidewalk.



      • toetagger, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Read the witnesses statement. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11985.ht ... The pedestrian had the right of way, a green walk sign. Don't be an apologist. Novak should be in jail.
    • PopcornDave, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2Or maybe someone who's perhaps a little too old to still be driving?
    • 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.
      • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Tourists, MD drivers, DC drivers, and even a lot of VA drivers. Drive around here long enough (all my life) and you begin to wonder what the requirement must really be to get a license. Is it just $15 bucks and proof of a pulse?

        What's funny is that DC is really the easiest city to drive in (well, at least once you take all the cars off the road, like say at 3 am on a Tuesday). It's a grid. You can't make a left turn onto most numbered streets on K st. The state name streets are diagonal to the grid, two way, and end up crossing traffic circles.

        15th street is two way up to H st. 17th is two way all the way up to connecticut. 18th street goes north, 19th st. goes south, and so on, alternating all the way to Wisconsin Ave. (actually pretty much all the way to Western Ave., but the grid begins to fall apart in upper northwest).

        lettered streets follow the same logic -- alternating directions, K being a 2 way street. H st goes east, I street goes west, there is no J street (someone hated John Jay), K is two way, L goes east, M goes west, and so on and so on.

        Yes, the streets with state names can confuse people, but the trick is to not panic, just get yourself back on the grid as soon as you can, and re-coordinate yourself.
    • 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.
      • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1The countdown is meant for pedestrians, but if you are a driver who actually pays attention, and you're coming up on a green light and you're halfway down the block, and it is on 15 seconds, you can either speed up to make the light, or begin to slow down to stop for a soon-to-be red light.

        And when you're sitting at a red light, you can look to your left or right to know that you are about to get a green light in ... 5 ... 4 ... 3 ... take foot off brake ... 2 ... 1 ... hit gas.....
    • billygreen23, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Hahaha! DC has the "best traffic system anywhere"?!? Man, you just made my day.
    • tbrand86, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2I'm from DC and I can't believe anyone would say that DC traffic system is well done. It's almost as bad as the road conditions.
      • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2The roads suck. I've hit potholes that shattered the upper and lower control arms on one side and the upper control arm on the other side of my rear end.

        But, if you're talking about the traffic light system, yes, they have the timing of lights down pretty well.

        Turn left off of Constitution, onto 18th street. If you get a green arrow from Constitution, and you drive around 30 mph (the speed limit is 25 mph), you will actually hit every traffic light just as it changes to green. Novices brake, because they aren't sure, but if you just stay at a constant 30 mph, you can drive down 18th street all the way to M St. without ever touching your brakes. You can just cruise for 7 blocks, brake free.

        What sucks is that you will always get stuck at M st, and then once you get a green at M st., you also have a guaranteed red light onto Connecticut.
    • toetagger, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Goddammit, the issue isn't the traffic system or how crazy pedestrians are. The man had a green walk sign, was in a painted cross walk, Novak hit him, the man went up on Novak's windshield then slid off, Novak sped off.
      http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/11985.ht ... The witness on the bike is a partner - lawyer - there and gives great details.
  • sluggoo, on 07/23/2008, -7/+91Maybe it's time someone took away grampa's keys to his douchemobile.


    • 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.
    • richmomz, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1I can't believe they will still allow him to drive (to say nothing about letting him continue to pollute the airwaves with his nonsense about "compassionate conservatism").
    • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2You wanna know how much of a douchemobile it is?

      It's a 80's black corvette convertible with tinted windows and all kinds of dents, and it looks like it hasn't been washed since the day he drove it off the dealership lot.

      He parks in my parking garage on PA ave between 17th and 18th.
  • vatosplace, on 07/23/2008, -9/+28Black corvette for a mid-life crisis car is pretty weak.
    • sharternarter, on 07/23/2008, -1/+27He's 77. It's not a midlife crisis, it's coming to terms with death.
      • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Yeah, but he bought it 20+ years ago, so when he bought it, it was a midlife crisis.
      • peaceninja, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1more like a 5/8ths life crisis
    • chase001, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1He's spending his spawn's inheritance should he ever get someone to let him bite their neck.
  • PartyLess, on 07/23/2008, -5/+10Only if it had been Novak on the bike, then the world might be that much better.
  • 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.
    • 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.
      • Djerrid, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2The Prince of Darkness is what he calls himself. It is even the title of his memoirs:
        http://www.amazon.com/Prince-Darkness-Years-Report ...

        As for the Bono bit, I apologize for not adding directly underneath:
        *TONGUE FIRMLY PLANTED IN CHEEK. DELIBERATELY MISREPRESENTED IDENTITY OF "BONO" FOR COMEDIC EFFECT*
    • hawkeye17, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1Sonny must be proud.
  • More4, on 07/23/2008, -5/+61Rumor Cheney was riding shotgun.
    • vat0r, on 07/23/2008, -6/+4I heard Rove was sitting bitch too.
    • caramba420, on 07/23/2008, -4/+1I heard Rove was sticking his jaggon into Cheney's narflar.
  • 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 ...
    • Badandy127, on 07/23/2008, -1/+8lol
    • browwiw, on 07/23/2008, -2/+28Oh, that is goddam comedic gold. Good eye, More4. That is Daily Show worthy!
      • 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.
    • migshark, on 07/23/2008, -1/+10Talk about coming back to bite you in the arse!
    • doremon313, on 07/23/2008, -4/+5well at least he did it with compassion so shut it!
    • VitriolAndAngst, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Well this guy wasn't jaywalking -- but he was thinking about it.

      If Novak were higher up in the chain of corruption, there'd be a dozen bloggers on here talking about how pedestrian laws are insane, and making this a debate about jaywalking and not hit-and-run. I'm sure they are tempted, but their handler is "Hold back, Novak isn't protected anymore."

      I'd bet ten bucks that this will get on the daily show -- it's a long-shot if they dig up that Novak quote about jaywalkers. Does that jerk know what it's like to have to walk a mile to a cross-walk when you have no car? What a pious elitist he is.
  • computerusr, on 07/23/2008, -23/+4Who the hell is Robert Novak?
  • foolfoolz, on 07/23/2008, -25/+5A pundit's hit and run is front page news? digg has taken a turn for the worst
    • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1All of novaks street altercations make it to the newspapers.

      He's a notorious road rager around DC.
  • Hax0rJimDuggan, on 07/23/2008, -23/+7Who the ***** is Novak and why should I care?
  • 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.
    • 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.
      • Kitakaze, on 07/24/2008, -1/+0You sure you didn't mean to say, "But, but Clinton..." ?
      • PopcornDave, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1No I didn't mean to use the tired old Clinton line. Or was one of the Clinton clan involved in a hit and run that I'm unaware of? That's why I put the link in to the article - so there was a citation of source.

        My point simply was that it's not the first time a Washington talking head or power broker has done something like this, which some of the posters seemed to be implying.

        I still think it's a case of someone who's maybe too old to be driving, given the limited information that I've seen at this point. Especially if the pedestrian careened off the windshield according to one witness. I would think that something of that magnitude would leave a mark.
  • thatspsychotic, on 07/23/2008, -3/+48Alternate headline: "Novak swerves too far to the right, hits pedestrian"
    • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Officer, the guy must have been drunk. He was all over the place. I had to swerve 3 times before I hit him.
  • 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.
    • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Well, to be fair, all 19 different agencies with police powers in DC are busy doing other more important things than worrying about traffic.

      I routinely go 60 mph in downtown DC where most speed limits are 25 mph. I've even had cops drive right past me, and one time a motorcycle cop drove up next to me and yelled at me "You're going way too fast! Slow down!" and then he sped off ahead of me. Another time, a cop got on his loudspeaker and said "white mustang convertible! Slow down!!" and then gunned it and passed me.

      You really have to try to get a speeding ticket or any other driving infraction in DC. in 22 years of driving around here, I've had about 4 tickets in DC. I've probably had 15 or 20 in VA.

      When I lived on the DC/MD line on Western Ave. (the house I was renting actually had the DC border somewhere in it's front yard), since I work downtown, and had a VA driver's license, my driving record started accumulating good points. DC tickets don't transfer to VA licenses for points, and even park police and other federal agency tickets in MD don't transfer to VA) (but MD tickets do transfer to VA for points.)

  • 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.
    • Razster, on 07/23/2008, -2/+7Whoa, oddly enough this is what I told my friends as a joke during the news... Scary!
      • 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!
    • PhilLesh69, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Or that it turns out the guy he hit is an Obama campaign official.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • jstancom, on 07/23/2008, -4/+3Novak just wants attention.
  • superkendall, on 07/23/2008, -12/+7So in other words it wasn't a hit and run since he returned. Thanks for... nothing.
    • 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.
    • 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.
      • bitbytebit, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1More proof that cops are idiots and assholes. As if we needed any more?
  • kenedamick, on 07/23/2008, -3/+12What a douche.
  • vexingmodstwo, on 07/23/2008, -20/+7Holy *****. Is there anything that won't make the frontpage here from thinkprogress, huffpost, rawstory, insert more blogspam here?
    • halfdirt, on 07/23/2008, -3/+5Agreed.

      You find cowards, blowhards, assholes on BOTH sides of the American political system. But you would never see it if you stayed within one click of digg.
  • mCanada, on 07/23/2008, -2/+11So it's not just his journalism style anymore?
  • perrym, on 07/23/2008, -10/+4whats with all the thinkprogress spam on here? there are 3 stories on the front page alone.

    jesus, can we get a little less biased source please.
  • Deficienze, on 07/23/2008, -2/+5Phew. I thought this was about BJ Novak from the headline.
  • crackberri, on 07/23/2008, -11/+1Sorry Hitler lovers, buried as spam….
  • Hrodrik, on 07/23/2008, -2/+6He's a conservative, he has no heart.
    • kayala, on 07/24/2008, -3/+3Don't soil the name of conservatism by lumping in trash like Novak.
      • Hrodrik, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1And who wouldn't you consider trash, apart from Ron Paul? Tell me the name of a conservative that believes and practices what he preaches.
      • kayala, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Conservatism in theory is not the same as conservatism in practice.
      • Hrodrik, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Thank you for acknowledging the point of real socialists.
      • kayala, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1I have deep respect for real political theories; the best people our world has yet given us spent their entire lives dedicated to finding ways to better make our societies work. Of course, the worst people our world has yet given us have always been right behind them, ready to snatch up those pure ideas and corrupt them for their own benefit.
  • ps3udov3ctor, on 07/23/2008, -3/+3what I found most interesting is that an old Pleistocene fossil like Novak drives a corvette.
    • caramba420, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1He would have preferred something a little slower, but it was the only way he could make it through DC traffic while still wasting as much gasoline as possible.
  • sockpuppets, on 07/23/2008, -1/+3Was he on his way back from Country Kitchen Buffet?
  • weedweasel, on 07/23/2008, -4/+2I'm suprised Cheny wasn't riding "shotgun". At least it wasn't V. Plame on the hood.
  • darneveryone, on 07/23/2008, -2/+3Was the pedestrian's name Valerie Plame?
  • SickMonkey, on 07/23/2008, -4/+1Buried as inaccurate.

    Everybody knows Robert Novak would never drive a Corvette. He much prefers to be chauffeured around lying down in the back compartment of a black Hearst Limosine.
  • caramba420, on 07/23/2008, -4/+4This came from ThinkProgress.
    Therefore, Novak did not run over anyone.
    /sarc
  • LemonChicken, on 07/23/2008, -1/+2"[Nov]ack! Why am I not surprised you piece of *****!"
  • JakeyG14, on 07/23/2008, -5/+1Did anyone else think the headline was about Novak Djokovic..?
    • kelt65, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1no but he is certainly nicer to look at than Robert Novak
  • hawkeye17, on 07/23/2008, -1/+5They shoulda checked his trunk for dead bodies.
  • SuperJay, on 07/23/2008, -2/+9Compassionate conservatism in practice.
  • totorototoro, on 07/23/2008, -2/+8The body was splayed over the hood of his convertible, and he didn't notice? wtf?
    • shaggy999, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2It's understandable: Novak was distracted by his passenger Larry Craig, whose lips happened to be wrapped around bob's penis at the time.
  • 4NDr01D, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1Diplomatic Immunity !



    ... It's Just Been Revoked!
  • gregdogum, on 07/23/2008, -2/+5There is no way he didn't "know" .... what a giant douchebag
  • boonesfarm, on 07/23/2008, -2/+1Ted Kennedy.... there, you're entire party platform is ***** too.
  • inlookout, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1I don't know what's crazier... that he was involved in a hit-and-run or that Novakula drives a black corvette!
    • marx2k, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1What about the fact that hit and runs in DC get you a $50 fine?
  • terrya64, on 07/23/2008, -1/+9Being a conservative, he was just going to go home and pray for forgiveness.
  • infodoc1, on 07/23/2008, -2/+2Who would've thought Novak could pull something like that.. he seemed like such an ethical guy.
  • rowlodge, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1just old people that dont need to be driving
  • barktwiggs, on 07/23/2008, -1/+1And I thought that his articles were hit and run...
  • 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.
  • LoneRanger85, on 07/23/2008, -8/+4The pedestrian had vary minor injuries. Novak was given a 50-dollar ticket. I don't think the cops thought it was a big deal. No story here. Another liberal attempt to smear a conservative.
    • 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.
      • LoneRanger85, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2Then why isn't he in jail? The cops were there, you weren't. I know you'd like to see every conservative locked up, but the gulags will just have to wait until Obama is elected.
      • BadAshe86, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Unless you tell the officer that you "No habla English" then he lets you go without even a write up because he can't afford the time off for harassing a possible illegal.

        True Story: March 2006 to me, in a school zone no less. You won't find a link because the officer at the scene (directing school traffic) refused to write it up. Witnesses stopped the driver, who had no license, insurance or registration and received NO citations because of recent protests by the latinos in Irving and Farmer's Branch, TX
  • 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!"

  • IIAmusedII, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Novak better watch his step the next time he tries to cross a street.
  • 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.
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