Posted by debrazza on Sat Aug 23, 2008 at 6:01 PM Pacific

A question of credibility: Hagel (R-NE) v. Fournier (R-AP)

Guest post by debrazza

Just for the sake of comparison:

Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE): Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden's selection is good news for Obama and America.

Ron Fournier (R-AP): The picks say something profound about Obama: For all his self-confidence, the 47-year-old Illinois senator worried that he couldn't beat Republican John McCain without help from a seasoned politician willing to attack. The Biden pick is the next logistical step in an Obama campaign that has become more negative — a strategic decision that may be necessary but threatens to run counter to his image.

Chuck Hagel is of course a Vietnam vet, two-term, highly respected Republican Senator from Nebraska. By contrast, respected does not seem to be a word that can be attributed to the reputation that Ron Fournier is gaining for himself as Washington Bureau Chief for the Associated Press. But what does Chuck Hagel know about politics or his colleagues anyways? The "Editor's Note" appended to Fournier's article informs us that Fournier surely must know more about these things than he does.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Ron Fournier has covered national politics for The Associated Press for nearly 20 years.

Jed provides an excellent run down of the rest of the favorable press about the selection, all of it completely at odds with Ron Fournier's "analysis".

Update: Jonathan Singer of MyDD points us to similar praise from other Republican Senators, putting Fournier's article further afoul of reality.

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN): I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy...

Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA): No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden. He's been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He's been a leader on crime control."

Update 2: John Aravosis of AmericaBlog has ingeniously dubbed him "McFournier". It fits.

Update 3: Michael Calderone of Politico calls the Fournier piece "Drudge-worthy".

Update 4: If you want to do something about it, MoveOn and FireDogLake have both started action alerts and have listed phone numbers and e-mail addresses of folks at the AP who you can contact to let your opinion be heard. Don't forget, if you see it in your local paper, contact them as well.

Update 5: Lindsay Beyerstein of majikthise points out that bias may not be the only one of Fournier's issues, he may be collecting speaking fees in contravention of the AP's ethics policy on outside appearances.