National Journal

Former Newsweek Reporter: Obama's Panned West Point Speech a Reasonable Response to Bush's 'Decade of Disaster'
By Tim Graham | June 1, 2014 | 8:22 AM EDT

President Obama's West Point speech was panned by consensus as hard to follow, which was even acknowledged in media-elite salons like Washington Week on PBS. But on Wednesday's edition of The Diane Rehm Show on NPR, some journalists were trashing Bush instead.

After Katrina Vanden Heuvel of The Nation credited Obama for "always looking out for a younger generation" that's more peaceful, former Newsweek correspondent Michael Hirsh (now with National Journal) said the public isn't war-weary, but reasonable to support Obama after a "decade of disaster" under George W. Bush:

CNN's King, Panelists Hit Obama From Left on Climate Change: 'Why Did They Wait So Long?'
By Matthew Balan | May 6, 2014 | 3:12 PM EDT

CNN's John King, along with the AP's Julie Pace and National Journal's Ron Fournier, targeted President Obama from the left on Tuesday's New Day over the issue of climate change. King highlighted Obama's interviews with meteorologists in order to "push his agenda for climate change," and wondered, "If the President has this power...through executive authority, and this issue is so important to him, why did they wait so long? Why not do this in the first term?"

The two guests seconded the correspondent's question, with Fournier hyping how the apparent crucial nature of the issue: [MP3 audio available here; video below the jump]

Former AP Bureau Chief Says Blow Off White House Briefings, They're 'A Waste of Time'
By Tim Graham | May 2, 2014 | 9:38 AM EDT

Former AP Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier is advising the White House press corps to toughen up. “The typical White House reporter considers President Obama's team the most secretive in memory, stingier with information than the tight-lipped Bush White House and, according to a Politico survey, prone to lie.”

So Fournier advised in National Journal that it’s time to be “both fair and tough,” to shift the leverage of the conversation from the government to the people, and even consider blowing off the White House briefing as “a waste of time.”

White House's Pfeiffer: Obama Not in Gettysburg Because HealthCare.gov Is a Disaster — For Dems
By Tom Blumer | November 19, 2013 | 9:21 PM EST

Can anyone imagine a top Bush 43 adviser, say Karl Rove, telling a reporter that his boss couldn't attend an important American historical anniversary event because "he's too busy trying to save the Republican Party"?

Dan Pfeiffer is "Assistant to the President of the United States and Senior Advisor to the President for Strategy and Communications." Today, in response to a tough but fair question tweeted by Ron Fournier at the National Journal, Pfeiffer said that President Barack Obama wasn't attending the ceremonies surrounding the 150th anniversary of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address because "there's this whole website thing that someone suggested might destroy the Dem Party." The exchange would surely generate a great deal of press coverage if it involved a conservative or Republican presidential adviser, but the only story other than at Fournier's National Journal was at the Hill, a popular burial ground for such stories. The Fournier-Pfeiffer exchange, with some external razzing, follows the jump (HT Twitchy):

National Journal's Ron Fournier: Obama Is 'Lying About Lies' in an 'Orchestrated Deceit'
By Tom Blumer | November 5, 2013 | 1:48 PM EST

If there is to be a tidal wave of defenders of President Barack Obama's "it if it hasn't changed" revision to his original guarantee — "If you like your health insurance plan, you can keep your health insurance plan" — Ron Fournier (NewsBusters history here), who toiled at the Associated Press for 20 years and joined the National Journal several years ago, will not be among them.

In 2008, Fournier advocated "accountability journalism." When he took over as AP Washington bureau chief, he pushed for what was described as "a more hard-charging, opinion oriented style of writing" as a "new direction AP should take." Both were, in my view, thinly veiled attempts to inject more left-leaning bias into what news consumers to this day still mostly believe are "objective" wire service reports. With that demonstrated pedigree, perhaps it's a surprise that Fournier would be so vocal about Obama's attempt to "reinvent history" (HT Instapundit; bolds are mine):

Ron Fournier on Sebelius: ‘Maybe She Should Have Been Shown the Door’
By Noel Sheppard | October 22, 2013 | 10:03 AM EDT

As NewsBusters has been reporting, the Obama-loving media are clearly sickened by how the rollout of the President’s signature piece of legislation has gone.

Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Joe Tuesday, National Journal’s Ron Fournier excoriated Obama’s performance in the Rose Garden the previous day and said of Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius, “Maybe she should have been shown the door” (video follows with transcript and commentary):

National Journal's Report on Missing Workers Misstates History of Labor Force Participation Decline
By Tom Blumer | May 4, 2013 | 9:12 PM EDT

Give Nancy Cook at NationalJournal.com credit for a generally well-written though somewhat naive report ("Forget the Unemployment Rate: The Alarming Stat Is the Number of 'Missing Workers'") on the unprecedented plight of the millions of adults who have dropped out of the labor force.

But in discussing the "glaring caveat" in Friday's employment report from the government, namely that "the 'labor force participation rate' held steady in April at 63.3 percent—the lowest level since 1979," she missed a major source of the rise in the rate to a record level in the late-1990s. She also left readers otherwise unaware of the actual history with the impression that the rate has been "on a gradual decline" since then, which is simply not the case.

National Journal's Fournier Blames NRA for Democrats Lacking Votes to Ban Guns
By Matt Vespa | March 20, 2013 | 5:47 PM EDT

In his March 20 piece, "Cowardly Congress, Ruthless NRA, and an Impotent Obama Conspire Against Assault-Weapons Ban" National Journal’s Ron Fournier attempts to shame 2nd Amendment-supporting Americans over Democrats killing an assault weapons ban before it had the chance to hit the Senate floor. 

Fournier groused that “the gun lobby deserves most of the blame for creating a political climate in which any regulation of firearms is viewed as an attack on the constitutional right to bear arms. This as much a financial issue to the NRA and its industry allies as it is a constitutional one.”  What climate is he talking about?  The liberal media have been behind Obama’s gun control agenda since December, using every opportunity possible to use the tragedy to press a gun control agenda.

What's more, while it's supposedly "ruthless" for the NRA, the nation's oldest civil rights organization, to defend the 2nd Amendment from encroachment, Fournier has no qualms about today's edition of the New York Daily News, which featured the victims of Sandy Hook in a ghoulish display of political exploitation. It’s advocacy journalism at its most craven. 

National Journal’s Ron Fournier Asks Why Obama Doesn’t Just Murder John Boehner
By Jeffrey Meyer | March 4, 2013 | 1:02 PM EST

**UPDATE** Earlier version of blog incorrectly stated that Ron Fournier had deleted tweets in question when in fact they are still on his account.

It appears as though the days of civility and integrity in journalism are long gone.  On March 1, National Journal’s Ron Fournier, formerly the Washington bureau chief at the Associated Press, took to Twitter to express his dissatisfaction with government sequestration, suggesting that President Obama:

Can handle Bin laden, not Boehner?  He may be POTUS, but Obama incapable of “a Jedi mind meld.”

Fournier continued his violent rhetoric in a follow-up tweet, suggesting that, “Bin Laden didn’t compromise.  Handled him pretty well.”   

National Journal Campaigns Against Climate ‘Extremist’ Cuccinelli
By Mike Ciandella | March 4, 2013 | 12:09 PM EST

The Beltway news operation National Journal attacked Virginia Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful Ken Cuccinelli for his stance on political issues, particularly global warming. In a March 2 article entitled “Can Climate-Change Denier Ken Cuccinelli Win a Swing State?” National Journal asked how “[i]n storm-battered Virginia, the Republican candidate for governor still doubts the science.” The story was illustrated with a flood picture to underscore the point.

Throughout the story, Cuccinelli was depicted in negative terms: “partisan firebrand,” “extremist” and “hard-right.”

CNN on Obama's Treasury Secretary Picks: 'Perfect' If Wall St. Hates Them, Good If Wall St. Likes Them
By Matt Hadro | January 10, 2013 | 3:16 PM EST

CNN had a friendly take on President Obama's Treasury Secretary nominee Jack Lew, despite the pick receiving sharp criticism from conservative circles. "He's definitely the guy for the next several months," CNN's Ali Velshi gave the White House spin on Thursday's Newsroom.

"Yeah, funnily enough if Wall Street hates him, he might be perfect for the job," chuckled anchor Michael Holmes."That's what a lot of people think, Michael, actually," Velshi added. Back in 2008, however, CNN framed Wall Street support for potential nominee Tim Geithner as a good thing.

At National Journal, Fournier's New Role Involves 'Moving the Needle' in 'Reporting'
By Tom Blumer | November 28, 2012 | 10:32 AM EST

Well, at least he isn't shy about it.

According to Dylan Byers at Politico, the National Journal's Ron Fournier is going to "step down as editor-in-chief" and moving to "a role as editorial director." Before joining that publication in June 2010, Fournier worked at the Associated Press for a total of over 20 years in two different stints. In an email response to Politico yesterday, Fournier elaborated on the motivation behind his move (bolds are mine throughout this post):