Blogoland

On an airplane:

According to our unofficial mascot on the flight, Novak was boarding an American flight to Chicago when he cut in front of another passenger while entering first class. The guy protested and laid a hand on Novak -- who responded by socking him and threatening to knock his teeth out.

Not mild-mannered Bob? We reached Novak in Maui, just minutes into yesterday's game."Some guy pushed me and I pushed him back," he said, shouting into the phone from the stands. "That's all there was to it." Both offending parties were scolded by airline staff and huffed to their respective seats.

Get this man into the ring.

On the afternoon of last year's New Hampshire primary, Robert Novak was in the Merrimack Diner in Manchester broadcasting a segment of Crossfire. It was a garden-variety event for Novak, then on his 12th presidential campaign and his umpteenth edition of CNN's gabfest, until a local man, furious with Novak for outing a covert C.I.A. agent in his syndicated column, started shouting at him during a commercial break. "You're a traitor!" he shrieked. "You're a traitor!" The man was hushed up, the program resumed, and Novak talked more politics.

But afterward, as Novak made his way to the CNN bus, his tormentor followed, taunted him some more, and allegedly shoved him from behind. Novak, a short septuagenarian whose three-piece suits hide a considerable gut, grabbed the much larger man by the arm and gave him a shove back, sending him sprawling. Then he prepared for more serious skirmishing. "Novak looked like a little caged animal, fist locked and cocked back," an unsympathetic observer later wrote, "like a garden troll gone insane." Before he could take another swing, his Crossfire counterpart Paul Begala dragged him away.

Like a garden troll gone insane. Priceless.

At least Novak will have another career to turn to when he hands in his pen.

[Hat tip, Romenesko.]