As we noted yesterday, Plamegate columnist Bob Novak, in writing a tribute column about his friend Tim Russert, also threw the late Meet The Press host under the bus, exposing him as one of Novak's anonymous sources — something you shouldn't do to a friend, living or dead.

But that wasn't the extent of their relationship, trafficking information back and forth.

In a few sentences, Novak labeled Russert a serial talker, handing off information that, for whatever, reason, he couldn't use. Perhaps he was too close to the source. Perhaps the information was given to him v. v. off-the-record. Perhaps Russert had, in what would be a shock to many who knew him, an ax to grind.

In fact, because Russert was such a engrossed Washington institution and so well-connected, Novak didn't just rely on him for information — he re-shaped his own reporting to stay in Russert's good graces. And that, ladies and gentleman, is Novak's most ill-advised admission of all.

Writes Jack Shafer, helping put much of this in context:

In his Russert-tribute column today, Novak explains the nature of their logrolling relationship.

"Russert from the start … was an extraordinary source for me," he writes. By "from the start," Novak means since 1977, when Russert came to Washington as part of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan's staff. Novak writes of meeting Russert for drinks in Manhattan in 1982, when Russert pulled from his briefcase a batch of opposition research that would ultimately demolish a Republican who planned to run against Moynihan that year.

In a recklessly honest passage, the conservative Novak attributes the "peculiar pro-Cuomo slant" of his column to Russert's move to liberal Gov. Mario Cuomo's staff. In other words, Novak fesses to spinning positive columns about a politician whose politics he despised in return for good material from his friend Tim.

In Washington, such behavior is tantamount to running a protection racket, a charge that has long been aimed at Novak.

[...]

In Novak-land, Russert had to be a valued, protected source. When Russert crossed the narrow boulevard that separates politics from media to join NBC News, he continued to make payments to Novak. The two spoke on the telephone "two or three times a month," Novak writes. "[W]e exchanged political information, and I usually was the recipient."