Robert Novak/The Associated Press

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak, who died today, will best remembered for his conservative rants on the former CNN political affairs show “Crossfire,” and for his 2003 scoop that disclosed CIA agent Valerie Plame had arranged for her husband, Joe Wilson, to go hunting for potential evidence of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction before the 2003 invasion.

Regardless of your views of Novak’s handling of the Plame case and the resulting investigation that put a New York Times reporter in jail and led to the conviction of Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, there’s no question that Novak’s original column was real news. And that means Novak was a real journalist, no matter how much he was despised by the progressive left for his political outlook.

Novak worked mostly in the world of columns and opinion writing during an incredible career that spanned more than five decades. Much of that time was spent partnering with Rowland Evans.

Novak enjoyed the clamor of feisty public debate and he loved irritating liberals. But it was the breath of his network of sources and political tips that allowed him to repeatedly break stories and gossip in his columns. Of course, dealing in rumors all the time did lead to mistakes, such as in 2002 when Novak suggested Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wouldn’t run for another term. (McCain won easily in 2004 and is running next year as well.)

Still, Novak was dubbed the “prince of darkness” because his many scoops influenced the outcome of events in Washington, D.C., usually to the benefit of Republican causes.

But if you read his columns on a regular basis, you realized that Novak had few sacred cows. Republicans could be targets of his biting wit when he believed they had earned it, noted Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who was frequently mentioned in Novak’s column.

“Despite being an outspoken conservative himself, Bob pulled no punches when covering Republicans,” Flake said in a written statement. “When he felt Republicans weren’t advancing conservative principles, he was the first to say it. He kept us honest, and his death leaves a huge void in the conservative movement.”

In July 2008, Novak publicly disclosed he had a brain tumor, a medical condition that had caused him to accidently strike a pedestrian while driving a few months earlier. Here’s what Novak said in one of his last public interviews:

“Well, nobody wants to die. I certainly don’t. But all Christian faiths, and certainly Catholicism, hold that there’s an afterlife, that we are not just dust to dust. And that’s comforting, particularly now that I have an illness and there’s very little chance I will recover. A priest who visited me told me I’ve been given a chance to prepare myself. So I began to think about my life and what I’ve done right and not done right and to prepare myself for the last days. I’ve found that reassuring.”

Anyone who relied solely on Novak for their political news had a fractured view of the world. But he got it right most of the time, and before anyone else. So I always will remember Novak as a true peer.