Ron Fournier

Greta on Fox: Why Would The New York Times Put ISIS Beheading 21 Christians on Page A-6?
By Tim Graham | February 17, 2015 | 2:07 PM EST

Fox News host Greta Van Susteren expressed outrage on Monday that The New York Times couldn’t put the massacre of 21 Christians in Libya on the front page of the paper. It came on A-6, under the headline “Islamic State Video Shows Beheadings of Egyptian Christians in Libya.”

On her Fox website, she wrote: “Something is seriously wrong with The New York Times... 21 Christians beheaded by ISIS in Libya and it is NOT page A1 in my New York Times edition — but buried on page A6. How could the beheading of 21 Christians not be front page?” She also took it to her TV show:

Fournier: Obama Has Destroyed Government's Credibility, But I Still Want ACA to Work
By Tom Blumer | November 18, 2014 | 12:27 PM EST

Two cheers — and two cheers only — for the National Journal's Ron Fournier.

On Fox News's Special Report with Bret Baier last night, the former Associated Press Washington Bureau chief observed that the Jonathan Gruber videos about how the Affordable Care Act was dishonestly written and promoted, as well as President Barack Obama's reaction to those revelations, demonstrate that he (Obama) "has destroyed the credibility of his administration, himself, and government itself." Fine. But then, imitating the naive lover who won't give up despite constant betrayal in the hit song "I Can't Let Go," Fournier stated that he "would like to see this bill work." 

Fox News Sunday Panel Slams Obama’s Foreign Policy: ‘The Underestimator In Chief’
By Jeffrey Meyer | August 10, 2014 | 2:43 PM EDT

In the wake of the U.S. military launching air strikes to combat ISIS militants in northern Iraq, the entire panel on Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace had some harsh words for President Obama’s foreign policy.

While the entire panel that appeared on Sunday, August 10 agreed that Obama has mismanaged the threat ISIS poses to the Middle East, Ron Fournier of National Journal had the strongest rebuke of Obama when he charged that “he's been the Commander in Chief or the underestimator in chief.” [See video below.]

On Fox News Sunday, Williams Says Opposition to Obama Is 'Old, White' Tea Party
By Tom Blumer | August 4, 2014 | 6:46 PM EDT

It would almost not be worth noting, because it's so predictable. On Fox News Sunday, Juan Williams, with strategic support at opportune times from National Journal's Ron Fournier, characterized the support within the Republican Party for impeachment as coming from "Tea Party opposition ... (with) no diversity, it's a white, older group of people."

What makes it worthy of notice is the fact that Michael Needham, head of Heritage Action for America, called out Williams for his comments and held his own as Fournier attempted to be the supposed voice of reason while really bringing aid and comfort to Williams. Video and a transcript follow the jump:

On CNN, National Journal's Fournier: Obama Administration Either 'Incredibly Incompetent' or 'Crooked'
By Brad Wilmouth | June 24, 2014 | 10:52 AM EDT

During the regular "Inside Politics" segment of Tuesday's New Day on CNN, Ron Fournier of the National Journal declared that he was "naive" last year in giving the Obama administration the "benefit of the doubt" over the IRS scandal, and called for an independent prosecutor to investigate as he reacted to the recent congressional testimony of IRS commissioner John Koskinen.

A bit later, he asserted that the administration was either "incredibly incompetent" or "crooked" regarding both the IRS and V.A. scandals. Fournier:

Senior WH Official to Ron Fournier: VA Not Overhauled Because 'We Don't Do Small Stuff Well'
By Tom Blumer | June 9, 2014 | 10:00 PM EDT

In a Monday National Journal column about how many Democrats are allegedly saying they have "quit" on Obama — claims I find quite hollow, given that no one asserting this has yet had the guts to go on the record — Ron Fournier quotes "a senior White House official" with a head-shaking take on the Veterans Administration scandal.

Specifically, "Questioning why the Veterans Affairs Department hadn't been overhauled months ago as promised by Obama (actually that was seven years ago, plus six other times, Ron — Ed.), a senior White House official conceded privately to me, 'We don't do the small stuff well. And the small stuff is the important stuff.'" If the VA is "small," what in the world is big? And for that matter, what have these people done well, big or small? I suspect that the rest of the press, and Fournier himself, would be absolutely livid if they became aware of such an ignorant statement made by someone in a Republican or conservative administration.

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.”

Ron Fournier Thinks Harry Reid's 'Lying' Ads Will Cause Dems to 'Pay a High Price'; On What Basis?
By Tom Blumer | April 10, 2014 | 1:03 AM EDT

The National Journal's Ron Fournier appeared on Greta Van Susteren's Fox News show on Tuesday and blasted Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for "making facts up" and "lying" in his non-stop campaign against the eeeeevil Koch Brothers.

Bless his naive little heart, Fournier even actually said: "Shame on us if we in the media let him get away with this." "If"? What's all of a sudden going to prevent that from happening, Ron? If anything, the already slim chances that the press will cover Reid's fairy tales have decreased, given strong evidence that Washington Post reporters completely invented a story about the Koch Brothers' lease holdings in shale oil-rich Canada — a story which "just so happened" to end up being the basis for a letter to Koch Industries' President demanding answers sent by a Democratic senator and congressman. The video segment, including Van Susteren's explanation as to why Reid can legally get away with being so reckless, follows the jump (HT National Review's The Corner; bolds and paragraph breaks are mine):

Ron Fournier: Obama Admin 'A Propaganda Outfit...Running a Government-Sponsored Media Organization'
By Noel Sheppard | December 4, 2013 | 12:22 PM EST

It's becoming quite clear that the Obama administration's treatment of the press, along with revelations of deceit associated with promises about the Affordable Care Act, are causing some members of the media to think differently about this White House than they did in the first term.

On Wednesday, National Journal's Ron Fournier told talk radio's Laura Ingraham, "[T]his is a propaganda outfit...they are running a government-sponsored media organization" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Journalists, Networks Decry Obama White House's 'Troubling Precedent' on Press Access
By Matthew Balan | November 21, 2013 | 4:03 PM EST

On Thursday, CBS's Sharyl Attkisson reported on Twitter that the White House Correspondents Association, along with "dozens of associations & media outlets", sent a letter of protest to White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. Attkisson outlined in subsequent Tweets that the letter blasted the Obama administration for restricting the access of photojournalists at certain presidential events, "while releasing government photos and videos of the same events".

Politico's Hadas Gold posted the full text of the letter to Carney in a Thursday item, which was signed by "leading media outlets like ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, The Associated Press, Reuters, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Yahoo News". In the letter, the WHCA board asserted that the Obama White House's policy was a "troubling break from tradition", and hinted that it ran counter to the President's claim that his was "the most transparent administration in history":

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):