Robert Novak, originally uploaded by poppyott.

Robert Novak wrote a moving column in today’s Washington Post about his battle with a brain tumor. Having lost many family members to cancer myself, I can only imagine what trying times these are for Novak and his family. I was glad to read that Novak is drawing support from some unlikely sources, most notably Vicki Kennedy, whose husband Teddy is also undergoing treatment for a brain tumor as well.

Scanning the comments on the Washington Post, it’s disappointing to see so many offensive attacking against Novak. A typical comment: “Die quickly..and die painfully.” Another remarked, “waiting with shovel in hand.” As much as you might disagree with his politics or his reporting, this type of immaturity is disheartening.

Novak, however, says it’s not just limited to anonymous commenters and bloggers. In the Creators Syndicate version of the column, he reports this broadside leveled by Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame:

We have long argued that responsible adults should take Novak’s typewriter away. The time has arrived for them to also take away the keys to his Corvette.

Of course, you won’t read that quote in the Washington Post. The newspaper was forced to trim Novak’s column to fit on its op-ed page, and conveniently nixed this mean-spirited attack in the process. I blogged about it tonight on NewsBusters with a side-by-side comparison of the original and Post version.