[Editor’s note: Columnist Robert Novak has retired but is writing occasional columns. The following is his latest.]

[Editor’s note: The dean of all Washington political columnists, Robert Novak, is well enough to write occasional columns, of which the first since since his illness was announced is below.]

LOS ANGELES, CA, AUGUST 4, 2008 — Robert D. Novak announced today that he is retiring from writing his column, Inside Report, distributed by Creators Syndicate, due to the dire prognosis resulting from his recent diagnosis of a brain tumor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As financial storm signals appeared the last 18 months, there were Bush officials who urged drastic reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But, according to internal government sources, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson objected because it would look “too political.” The Republican administration kept hands off the government-backed mortgage companies that are closely tied to the Democratic establishment.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — What is an “Obamacon?” The phrase surfaced in January to describe British Conservatives entranced by Barack Obama. On March 13, the American Spectator broadened the term to cover all “conservative supporters” of the Democratic presidential candidate. Their ranks, though growing, feature few famous people. But looming on the horizon are two big potential Obamacons: Colin Powell and Chuck Hagel.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Sen. Arlen Specter, at age 78 suffering from cancer, was feeling miserable Monday following chemotherapy the previous Friday. But believing the best antidote was hard work, Specter took the Senate floor with a speech different in kind from the partisan oratory now customary in the chamber.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In Scott McClellan’s purported tell-all memoir of his trials as President George W. Bush’s press secretary, he virtually ignores Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage’s role leaking to me Valerie Plame’s identity as a CIA employee. That fits the partisan Democratic version of the Plame affair, in keeping with the overall tenor of “What Happened.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — On May 15, 1963, the late Rowland Evans and I published our first column. That makes today (Thursday) the 45th anniversary (the first 30 years under the Evans & Novak byline) of the nation’s longest-running current syndicated political column. It achieved that distinction Feb. 27 with the death of William F. Buckley Jr., whose column started 13 months before ours.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The bad news last week for conservative Republican Rep. Mike Pence was private confirmation that his proposed law protecting journalists from runaway judges was opposed by President George W. Bush himself, not just inflexible Justice Department lawyers. The good news this week for Pence was an unexpected public endorsement by Bush’s successor heading the Republican Party, John McCain.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Reserve’s unprecedented bailout of Bear Stearns was crafted not at the White House or Treasury, but in secret by a New York central banker whose name is unknown to Washington power brokers and was a Clinton administration presidential appointee.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The disgraced Eliot Spitzer had hardly resigned as governor of New York when Republican strategists began calculating a return to power in Albany via New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Preparing to hear oral arguments Tuesday on the extent of gun rights guaranteed by the Constitution’s Second Amendment, the U.S. Supreme Court has before it a brief signed by Vice President Cheney opposing the Bush administration’s stance. Even more remarkably, Cheney is faithfully reflecting the views of President George W. Bush.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Overwhelming repudiation of President Pervez Musharraf by Pakistan's voters did not immediately dilute the Bush administration's support for him. On the contrary, the first election returns were barely in Monday night when the U.S. government began pressing victorious opposition leaders not to impeach the former military strongman.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — With Barack Obama nipping at her heels in Iowa, Hillary Clinton went on the state’s public television Dec. 14 to say: “I’ve been vetted. ... There are no surprises.”

WASHINGTON — David Axelrod, the seasoned Chicago Democratic political operative who is chief strategist for Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, was taken by surprise in the last minute of CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Dec. 2. Howard Wolfson, Sen. Hillary Clinton’s spokesman, accused Obama of running a “slush fund.” In fact, the Clinton campaign was spreading that story privately months ago.

WASHINGTON — Well-connected Republicans in Mississippi were shocked by more than the unexpected nature of Trent Lott’s announced resignation Monday. They were stunned that Lott, in good health at age 66 and at the top of his game, was leaving the Senate one year into his fourth term in order to make more money.

WASHINGTON — Who would respond to criticism from the Club for Growth by calling the conservative, free-market campaign organization the “Club for Greed”?

WASHINGTON — Agents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party’s presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but has decided not to use it. The nature of the alleged scandal was not disclosed.

WASHINGTON — A bus full of 15 Iraqi lawyers carrying a four-page, single-spaced letter to President Bush arrived at the White House Tuesday. The mission was to request less U.S. help for building prisons and more for establishing the rule of law. There was no immediate official response, and experience of the last four years indicates nothing will be done in the future.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the House Democratic Caucus chairman, dissented from Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support of a resolution condemning the 92-year-old Armenian genocide that has proved to be the big blunder of her tenure.

WASHINGTON — National anti-abortion leaders Wednesday put finishing touches on a letter to be sent to all members of Congress urging suspension of more than $300 million in federal funding of Planned Parenthood until a massive criminal case brought in Kansas against the abortion rights organization is settled. That launches an attack against the nation’s largest purveyor of “reproductive health care” — including abortions.

WASHINGTON — Would the Democratic-controlled Senate approve a $1 million earmark to celebrate Woodstock-era baby boomers, carved out of a bill funding health care and education? It would because it is sponsored by New York’s influential senators, Hillary Clinton and Charles Schumer. It would because they promote the pet project of a big-time Democratic campaign contributor.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Back on their heels in a defensive posture all year while majority Democrats in Congress offered liberal initiatives, reform-minded conservative Republicans this week introduce the most sweeping tax plan since Jack Kemp’s three decades ago. It would establish a radically simplified, flatter tax for an estimated 90 percent to 95 percent of all income tax filers.

WASHINGTON -- Eyebrows at the Treasury were raised last Tuesday when Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. named a major Democratic fundraiser to an important advisory role. On the next day, eyebrows were still elevated when Under Secretary Robert K. Steel participated in an event spearheaded by Bill Clinton's two Treasury secretaries.

WASHINGTON -- The Alice-in-Wonderland quality of legislating in Congress was typified this week. The Democratic Congress quickly passed a national health insurance bill, drafted in secret and protected from amendment, that constitutes the most important legislation of this session. While designed for a presidential veto, it is national health insurance -- through the front, not the back, door. Democrats view it as no-lose: either landmark health care will be enacted over President George W. Bush's veto, or, if overridden, they'll have a lovely 2008 campaign issue.

WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign hints that agreeing to refrain from campaigning in outlaw Florida and Michigan primaries is a noble sacrifice bowing to party rules.

WASHINGTON — One day after Alberto Gonzales submitted his resignation as attorney general and two days before it was made public, White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten was on the phone Saturday feeling out who might be available as a replacement.

WASHINGTON — The unexpected, widely praised cut in the discount rate a week ago Friday only momentarily removed pressure from the Federal Reserve. While the Bush administration and conservative economists deplore bailing out improvident investors, leaders of the mortgage finance industry consider it unthinkable that the central bank will not take decisive action.

NEW YORK — Benazir Bhutto arrived in New York three weeks ago, shortly after meeting secretly in Abu Dhabi with Gen. Pervez Musharraf. She leaves this week, without having heard again from Pakistan’s military ruler. More than merely deciding who rules Pakistan, global conflict against radical Islam may be at risk.

WASHINGTON — Anticipating that Sen. Hillary Clinton will clinch the Democratic presidential nomination, some supporters are beginning to argue against her principal rival — Sen. Barack Obama — for vice president.