Thoughts on the Novak Incident.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if the whole moment was staged. It DOES provide an awfully convenient way for CNN to keep Novak off their air until after the conclusion of the Plame investigation.

If he'd stayed on the air, CNN would either have to grill him about the leak case whenever he's on, or be criticized for NOT grilling him. This way, he's comfortably out of the picture.

And Carville, usually easily rattled into histrionics, DID handle the whole thing very easily.

My guess is that Carville, Novak, and the producers planned the whole thing. The moderator may or may not have been in on it. He got flustered, but that may just have been a "He's actually going through with it!" moment.

At last word, CNN refused to say whether Novak was on paid leave or not. I guess that doesn't really matter, though. The guy's loaded. It's not like he was living paycheck-to-paycheck. He could afford to blow off a few CNN pay periods. And he's still got an income from his column.