Novak Loses It

Robert Novak goes into meltdown live on CNN and walks off the set! Talking Points Memo is on the case, Media Matters has the video, while Media Bistro has the details:

Carville: "You've gotta show these right-wingers some kind of backbone, you know, the Wall Street Journal editorial page is watching you show them you're tough."

Novak exclaimed, "Now, James, that's bullshit!" Then he turns to Henry: "Just let it go." He paused angrily for a moment, took off his microphone, and stormed off in a very Novak-like shuffle. Carville's look over his shoulder in puzzlement as Novak wanders off is classic. Henry, for his part, barely misses a beat, although there's an audible "um" as Novak crosses behind Carville.

"The chair was swinging," one viewer notes." "The ever-talented Ed Henry, totally kept his cool. At the end, he said he had planned to ask Novak about the CIA leak case, but was unable to because Novak left the set."

Was Novak just making a scene as an excuse to avoid discussing the CIA leak issue? Maybe, but the pressure is definitely showing either way (the man's professional reputation is in tatters).

Novak is now officially "taking time off" after getting slammed by CNN execs.