November 20, 2001 - Email from John Fund to Teranto, James, Miniter, Brendan

The Accusation Morgan Made Up Phony Email Addresses as John

Fund in his deposition claimed the email account, johnfund2001@yahoo.com, was never his.  He accused Morgan of making up and using the account.  The fact is Morgan started the account for him in August 2001, at his request, leaving the password unfilled on the computer in their home.  John then put in the password and started the account. Morgan never had access.  

Here below you see Fund refer to the account in an email exchange with James Taranto, asking him to send the copy to him after it is edited at two addresses, his "wjs  address" and this one: johnfund2001@yahoo.com.  

Here is the article as it appeared the next day. 

From the WSJ Opinion Archives:

-----Original Message-----

 From: Fund, John

Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2001 9:21 PM

To: Taranto, James; Miniter, Brendan

 Subject: Political Diary

 Can you e-mail final copy to

 johnfund2001@yahoo.com as well as my wsj

 address? Thanks.

 Prince of Darkness Sheds Some Light

Bob Novak, a syndicated columnist for 38 years and a fixture on CNN for two decades, looked just a tad uncomfortable receiving the National Press Club's award for lifetime achievement last week.

Bob has seen enough Beltway awards dinners filled with flattery in his time to be leery about being the subject of one. But then the roasting of the man Washington

journalists have dubbed "The Prince of Darkness" began and Bob began to enjoy himself. There's nothing like creating a role for yourself and then having your peers recognize you for being good at it.

But in addition to poking fun at Bob's tough-guy image, the dinner speakers also recognized the talents that have made Bob's "Inside Report" the best shoe-leather "reported" column in America. Bob may have passed his 70th birthday, but he outworks most journalists two generations younger than he is. I should know. I became the first reporter that Bob and his late partner Rowland Evans ever hired back in 1982, and both of them always outdid me both in savvy AND stamina.

 The roasters -- Jack Germond of the Baltimore Sun, Fred Barnes of the New Republic and Mark Shields of PBS -- poked gentle fun at Novakian foibles, especially his passion for following basketball teams on the road and then finding a convenient political story in whatever city he was in. They also

effectively lampooned the writing style he and Rowly Evans perfected -- an insider argot that constantly referred to "secret memos" and "little-noticed meetings" took on major policy and political significance.

 An hilarious sendup of a "lost" Bob Novak column prepared for the Press

Club dinner can be found at the Weekly Standard's website (subscription required)

Mark Shields joked that Novak really wasn't as important as he thought he

was in Washington: "After all tonight's Press Club banquet room is the only one in town without a metal detector." As he said that, I looked around and noted that while the room was filled with interesting people, no elected officials or cabinet officers were in evidence. In part that was because Congress had already cleared out of town for the weekend and the war was no doubt occupying Bush officials, but the observation nonetheless held. Bob is a fine journalist, but

not one to cozy up too close to politicans, the stray exception such as Jack Kemp not withstanding. Bob isn't a Republican, he's a tough reporter who does his

own roasting of people on both sides of the aisle.

 But he's also of an old school that recognizes how blessed he has been to

have had a chance to have a career in which he can tell people what he thinks. When Bob stood up to give his response to the "roasters," he thanked his family and the people who took a chance on him during his career. He also took time to recognize the print and TV outlets that paid his bills -- "I know who I work for, and it isn't the government."

Bob finished up by having some fun at the expense of the many sources for his column who were in the audience. He noted that he had learned one important thing in his 43 years in Washington: "There are two kinds of people in this town. Sources...and targets, and you better make up your mind which you are." But in reality there is a third kind of person: readers and viewers. There remain more than enough of those, both in Washington and all over the country, who appreciate Bob Novak to keep him a valuable political tip-sheet and provocative influence on American journalism for years to come.