Free Republic

Any young journalist covering a presidential campaign is likely to have read Timothy Crouse's classic book on the 1972 election, "The Boys on the Bus." In the first chapter, the author describes the pecking order of print journalists. At the top of the food chain are the wire-service reporters, particularly the reporters from the Associated Press, the oldest of news organizations -- those hard-bitten, vigilant correspondents who set the agenda for everybody else. "Wire stories are usually bland, dry and overly cautious," Crouse wrote. "There is always an inverse proportion between the number of persons a reporter reaches and the...

On Wednesday I received a personal copy of my friend Doug Kmiec’s latest book entitled “Can a Catholic Support Him?” The book is subtitled “Asking the Big Question about Barrack Obama”. I appreciate being mentioned in his Acknowledgement of the book with these words “Deacon Keith Fournier’s writing and editing of Catholic Online is courageous and wise”. So, I write this review to be faithful, to a friendship I value, to the claim in the acknowledgment of this book and to the truth. Doug asks the wrong question. The proper question is not “can” but “should”. The word “can” addresses...

The popular, if controvesial, liberal activist group MoveOn.org today targeted an email campaign at Associated Press executives and the AP Washington bureau chief Ron Fournier after what it termed yet another Fournier attack on Barack Obama. Fournier's article on Obama's selection of Sen. Joe Biden as his running mate gained wide linkage at the Drudge Report, Hot Air and numerous other conservative sites, while it was panned on liberal blogs such as DailyKos and Talking Points Memo. The MoveOn rallying cry to its members included the following. The full Fournier article follows after that. "Today, the Associated Press (whose articles...

In the late 19th century, crusading journalists helped identify and correct some of the worst problems American society faced at that time. Newspapers like The New York Times and the New York World and journals like Harper's Weekly and Cosmopolitan (a very different kind of magazine than it is today) led campaigns that exposed and helped eliminate problems ranging from the sale of patent medicines to corruption in city government. Newspaper and magazine sales soared - and publishers knew a good thing when they saw it. If stories exposing evil sold papers - why, give the public what it wants;...

Ron Fournier says he regards Sandy Johnson, his predecessor as head of The Associated Press’s Washington bureau, as “a mentor.” Johnson, though, regards Fournier, who replaced her in a hard-feelings shake-up in May, as a threat to one of the most influential institutions in American journalism. “I loved the Washington bureau,” said Johnson, who left the AP after losing the prestigious position. “I just hope he doesn’t destroy it.” There’s more to her vinegary remark than just the aftertaste of a sour parting. Fournier is a main engine in a high-stakes experiment at the 162-year old wire to move from...

(CNN) -- French skydiver Michel Fournier's bid for a record-breaking parachute jump from Earth's stratosphere was aborted Tuesday when the balloon that was to carry him into the far reaches of the sky slipped away from his flight crew. The former paratrooper had hoped to set new records for the highest jump, fastest free fall, longest free fall and the highest altitude reached by a man in a balloon. But those hopes drifted away over the plains of Saskatchewan when the balloon escaped. Still clad in his bright yellow pressure suit, the visibly frustrated Fournier waved away cameras after his...

The AP’s political analyst Ron Fournier attempts to put his finger on a sour note creeping into the Barack Obama campaign. Despite the near-adulation Obama has received from the press and his fainting fans on the campaign trail, something off-putting has begun to seep from the interactions of both Barack and Michelle Obama in public His diagnosis — arrogance: He’s bordering on arrogance.The dictionary defines the word as an “offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride.” Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own good. …But both Obama and...

A bit of inspirational vision from Thomas Jefferson. A dose of national supremacy from James Monroe. Theodore Roosevelt's bully pulpit, Ronald Reagan's folksy charm and Bill Clinton's empathy. Add it all up and what have you got? The ultimate president. Of course, there's no such thing as a perfect chief executive, but that doesn't stop Americans from looking for one in the bits and pieces of presidents past. A Frankenstein president might look like this: HONESTY: George Washington didn't chop down the cherry tree, but he was an honorable man. Mason Locke Weems made up the story as a parable...

WASHINGTON - Ted Kennedy did more than welcome Barack Obama into the warm embrace of his legendary family. He also consigned the Clintons and their brass-knuckle brand of politics to the past. "With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion," the Massachusetts senator said Monday in endorsing Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination. "With Barack Obama, we will close the book on the old politics of race against race, gender against gender, ethnic group against ethnic group, and straight against gay." In an eloquent speech laced with stinging subtleties, Kennedy called Sen....

The real story of the night was the unexpected fight which emerged, out of right field, between Senator Fred Thompson and Governor Mike Huckabee. It was started by Thompson and aimed squarely at stopping the growing momentum of Huckabee.

EDITORIAL: Debate? Debacle? Or Defining Moment? By Deacon Keith Fournier 12/1/2007 Catholic Online Overall, the CNN “You Tube” Republican debate, as a debate, was a debacle. However, it may prove to be a defining moment in the Republican effort to resist what only recently seemed like an inevitable Democratic victory in 2008 in the campaign for the White House. LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - Along with the largest audience to view any Presidential debate this year, I watched the entire “You Tube” Republican debate this past week, from start to finish and beyond. In fact, I watched all the way...

REVIEW: 'Bella' is Beautiful By Deacon Keith Fournier 11/20/2007 Catholic Online This movie is about 'Bella', the Italian (and Latin) word for beauty. Bella is also the name of a child through whose eyes we finally see the mystery and meaning of it all as the film concludes.Those who watch this beautiful film are invited to live their lives more beautifully, and live them differently, by making the choice to love. LOS ANGELES (Catholic Online) - I entered the theater with great expectations. Bella exceeded them all. As is the case with many of the showings of this limited release...

DES MOINES, Iowa - This was going to be a column that spoke truth to power, that criticized the top presidential candidates and shed light in a maelstrom of spin. But then Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton called such attempts "piling on." Swift Boating. Sexist. So let's just call this unsolicited advice, and hope that the Democratic front-runner doesn't notice. First, for the Democrats: CLINTON: You're smart, funny, qualified and more personable than most voters realize. So go with that. Stop letting your strategists tie you in knots with their polls, focus groups and microtargeting. It's brilliant stuff, but they're...

Nobody can dispute that Barack Obama opposed the Iraq war from the start and, with striking prescience, predicted U.S. troops would be mired in a costly conflict that fanned "the flames of the Middle East." But nobody should accept at face value the Illinois senator's claim that he was a "courageous leader" who opposed the war at great political risk. The truth is that while Obama showed foreign policy savvy and an ability to keenly analyze both sides of an issue in his October 2002 warnings on Iraq, the political upside of his position rivaled any risk. And, once elected...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alberto Gonzales was a case study in cronyism, a nice guy and presidential pal who became attorney general on the strength of those two credentials. He was not up to the job. In the end, Gonzales' greatest achievement may be that he produced a rare note of unanimity among Republicans and Democrats in Washington: They agree his tenure was an unmitigated failure. "Reasonable people have been saying since the spring that Gonzales should resign, and four months later everybody says this should have happened a long time ago," said Republican consultant Joe Gaylord. "My guess is the...

Democratic presidential candidates argued Saturday night that organized labor is an essential part of the nation's economy whose troubles mirror the deterioration of the middle class way of life. "The only way to reinvigorate the middle class is to reinvigorate the labor movement," Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware told several hundred union members at a labor forum in eastern Iowa.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is too experienced, Sen. Barack Obama too raw. Listening to Democrats give their Goldilocks view of the 2008 presidential campaign must make voters wonder: Will any candidate be just right for the White House? "Senator Obama does represent change. Senator Clinton has experience. Change and experience," New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said Sunday, making a balancing gesture with his hands. "With me, you get both." Richardson may be a long shot for the nomination, but his crack underscored a question that dominated the latest presidential debate: A change versus experience dynamic that almost surely will determine...

(AP) Karl Rove deserves as much credit for spoiling George W. Bush's presidency as he does for creating it _ which is to say he had a lot to do with both. The strategist's political genius helped make Bush president. His arrogance helped make Bush a lame duck. "Rove is the model for all future presidential advisers _ disciplined, smart and personally tight with the commander in chief. With that power comes all of the negative baggage when policy and governing failures erupt out of control," said Republican consultant Scott Reed. "He has kept remarkably cool as the GOP has...

Looking past the presidential nomination, Democratic leaders quietly fear that Sen. Hillary Clinton at the top of their 2008 ticket could hurt candidates at the bottom. They say the former First Lady may be too polarizing for much of the country. In more than 40 interviews, Democratic candidates, consultants and party chairmen form every region pointed to internal polls that give Clinton strikingly high unfavorable ratings in places with key congressional and state races. "I'm not sure it would be fatal in Indiana, but she would be a drag," said Indiana Democratic state rep. Dave Crooks. Speaking anonymously, a Midwest...

The religious right is over as a movement. the "Catholic vote" is up for grabs. The current field of candidates is weak. The pundits of the so called "conservative" movement have lost any sense of where pro-life people truly are and are worthless in their analysis If the Republicans hope to win, they have to nominate Brownback, Huckabee or someone else. If they nominate Guliani the "religious right-conservative alliance" is deader than cement.The author reflects the frustration of many who previously voted Republican and may form a new party if the Republicans nominate Guliani.

WASHINGTON - Lies from the White House. Incompetence in treating wounded veterans. Irrelevance in Congress. Can't anybody do anything right? It's days like these that turn Americans sour on government, stoking a desire for leaders who actually lead. Exhibit A is the perjury conviction of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, whose trial cast unflattering light on the Bush White House and the mainstream media. Exhibit B is the shameful treatment of wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan at Walter Reed Medical Center, and the likelihood that veterans care problems are systemic — a national disgrace. And let's not forget Iraq and...

Rocky Balboa: The Heart of a Champion By: Deacon Keith A. Fournier Rocky Balboa is the Crown of the Rocky Series. It is an enduring tribute to the power of love, loyalty and perseverance. It opened on December 20, 2006 and is a wonderful Christmas gift for all. Introduction I must admit, I was more than excited! From the moment I received the correspondence inviting me to join with “faith and values” leaders for a private pre-release screening of Rocky Balboa, followed by an opportunity to meet with Sylvester “Sly” Stallone after the film, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm....

February 1, 2006 From: Deacon Keith Fournier For Distribution Attached is my public statement concerning my decision to disassociate from Traditional Catholic Reflections and Reports (http://www.tcrnews2.com) over its decision to call for the impeachment of the President and certain members of his cabinet today. I wish Stephen Hand only the Lords' best as he seeks to follow his personal conscience. I strongly disagree with his position. Too often, such disagreements between Christians are treated with hostility. That is not how we have approached this. We are joined as faithful Catholic Christians. We simply disagree - strongly - over this important...

WASHINGTON - The state of the union is fretful. President Bush acknowledged the public's agitated state Tuesday night when he gave voice to growing concerns about the course of the nation he has led for five years. His credibility no longer the asset it once was, the president begged Americans' indulgence for another chance to fix things. There is no shortage: the Iraq war, global terrorism, a nuclear Iran, a stingy global economy, skyrocketing health care costs, troubled U.S. schools, rising fuel costs, looming budget deficits and government corruption. All received presidential attention Tuesday night. In his fifth State of...

WASHINGTON - No more rosy scenarios. After watching his credibility and approval ratings crumble over the course of 2005, President Bush completed a rhetorical shift Sunday night by abandoning his everything-is-OK pitch to Americans and coming clean: He was wrong about the rationale for going to war in Iraq; he underestimated the dangers; the country has suffered "terrible loss"; and the bad news isn't over. Even with his high-profile display of candor _ a step anxious Republican leaders had been demanding for weeks _ Bush remained unyielding. "To retreat before victory would be an act of recklessness and dishonor and...

I am reading an Associated Press story by Ron Fournier about the nomination of Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. I am confused by one editorial point that Fournier seemed to make in the copy: "There is a lot more to do with a woman's right to choose than how you feel about it personally," he said. Specter cited adherence to legal precedent in view of a series of rulings over 30 years upholding abortion rights. With no sign of irony, Republicans demanded that Alito get a vote in the Senate - something they denied Miers. "Let's give Judge Alito...

Newsview: Cheney Again at Center of Drama By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer Tue Oct 25, 7:26 PM ET WASHINGTON - It should surprise nobody that Vice President Dick Cheney is at the center of another firestorm. He's got his hands in just about everything at the White House. Now the administration's Mr. Fix-It faces a sticky political, if not legal, situation with the latest leak in the CIA leak investigation. "His name is thrown into the mix," said Stephen Hess, a presidential scholar and political analyst at the Brookings Institution. "Big time." Cheney once called a New York Times...

Time For a New Movement By Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC David Broder recently wrote an interesting column entitled “Among Conservative Scholars, a necessary debate”. It is one of several efforts I have seen which assess the current “conservative” reaction to the changed political landscape in a post -Hurricane Katrina America. He refers within the piece to a larger article in the “Weekly Standard”, a predominantly “neo-conservative” periodical, which, for its tenth anniversary, invited its regular contributors to opine on “what issue” they had changed their mind on in the last ten years. According to Broder, this inquiry...

WASHINGTON -- Blame for the hurricane damage in New Orleans is spreading all the way to Alaska. Dozens of newspapers around the country carried an Associated Press analysis late last week asserting that Alaska's clout in Congress was drawing money away from New Orleans. Last year, the Army Corps of Engineers sought $105 million for New Orleans hurricane and flood programs, AP political reporter Ron Fournier wrote. Congress approved less than half. And yet it funded thousands of pet projects in the transportation bill in July, including two much-mocked bridges in Alaska. "How could Washington spend $231 million on a...

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes. The economy is booming. Anybody who leaks a CIA agent's identity will be fired. Add another piece of White House rhetoric that doesn't match the public's view of reality: Help is on the way, Gulf Coast. As New Orleans descended into anarchy, top Bush administration officials congratulated each other for jobs well done and spoke of water, food and troops pouring into the ravaged city. Television pictures told a different story. "What it reminded me of the other day is 'Baghdad Bob' saying there are no Americans at the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - At every turn, political leaders failed Katrina's victims. They didn't strengthen the levees. They ceded the streets to marauding looters. They left dead bodies to rot or bloat. Thousands suffered or died for lack of water, food and hope. Who's at fault? There's plenty of blame to go around - the White House, Congress, federal agencies, local governments, police and even residents of the Gulf Coast who refused orders to evacuate. But all the finger-pointing misses the point: Politicians and the people they lead too often ignore danger signs until a crisis hits ...

WASHINGTON - President Bush, who crafted a take-charge image from the Sept. 11 attacks, faces a stiff challenge in responding to Hurricane Katrina. Cutting short his vacation and marshaling the power of the federal government could help reverse his sliding job approval rating. But the president's hands-on approach seems a bit too political for some, and makes him an easy target should Katrina's victims start looking for somebody to blame during the long, costly road to recovery. In purely political terms, the question is whether Bush can live up to the tough, can-do reputation he cultivated after the Sept. 11,...

PHOENIX (AP) -- Struggling to pacify his party's warring wings, President Bush is moving toward allowing illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before February 2004 to qualify for guest-worker visas. People smuggled in after then would be deported. State leaders in Arizona and New Mexico have stepped up pressure on the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress to better police U.S. borders and deal with an estimated 10 million people who are living illegally in this country. "They're trying to split the baby," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said of the White House plan, "and I don't think they can...

PHOENIX - Struggling to pacify his party's warring wings, President Bush is moving toward allowing illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. before February 2004 to qualify for guest-worker visas. People smuggled in after then would be deported. State leaders in Arizona and New Mexico have stepped up pressure on the Bush administration and the Republican-led Congress to better police U.S. borders and deal with an estimated 10 million people who are living illegally in this country. "They're trying to split the baby," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said of the White House plan, "and I don't think they can do...

EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good: A Book Review Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC Catholic Online __________________ “No discussion of moral capital and its effect on our moral ecology and the family is complete without addressing directly the great moral issue of our age. Abortion is a toxin, methodically polluting our fragile moral ecosystem. It poisons everyone it touches, from the mother and her ill-fated child, to the mother and father’s families, to the abortion provider, to each of us who stand as silent witness to this destruction and debasement of human life....

EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: It Takes a Family: Conservatism and the Common Good: A Book Review Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC Catholic Online __________________ “No discussion of moral capital and its effect on our moral ecology and the family is complete without addressing directly the great moral issue of our age. Abortion is a toxin, methodically polluting our fragile moral ecosystem. It poisons everyone it touches, from the mother and her ill-fated child, to the mother and father’s families, to the abortion provider, to each of us who stand as silent witness to this destruction and debasement of human life....

Democrats acknowledged privately that Roberts' record does not lend itself easily to attack. There will be a fight, they predicted, but it will likely not be nuclear. Certainly, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid did not sound like a man throwing down the gauntlet when he said, "The president has chosen someone with suitable legal credentials, but that is not the end of our inquiry." Abortion rights groups have maintained that he tried during his days as a lawyer in the first Bush administration to overturn Roe v. Wade. Pressed in 2003 for his person views on the matter, Roberts said...

Republicans are nervously watching the fight over Karl Rove's involvement in a news leak that exposed a CIA officer's identity, fearing that President Bush's chief adviser has become a major political problem. While the president passed up another chance Wednesday to express confidence in his deputy chief of staff, his political team engineered a series of testimonials from members of Congress who praised Rove and condemned Democratic critics. "The extreme left is once again attempting to define the modern Democratic Party by rabid partisan attacks, character assassination and endless negativity," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., chairman of the GOP congressional...

Killing Terri All Over Again By: Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC I was sickened by all the news reports concerning the autopsy of dear Terri Schiavo. I was repulsed by most of the “commentators” who attempted, in a smug and condescending manner, to try to use these results to not only justify but somehow commend her brutal murder. Terri was killed by dehydration with the full protection of the State, operating through a Judge who was committed to her death. This autopsy changes nothing. Let’s take a moment and strip away all the nonsense. Terri’s autopsy appears to...

WASHINGTON -- The right got winged, liberals lost and Republican Leader Bill Frist had his Senate powers hijacked. The agreement to allow yes-or-no votes on some of President Bush's stalled judicial nominations produced other losers, a few winners — and many in-betweens. Did the president come out ahead? Sen. John McCain? Did the GOP or the Democratic Party gain the upper hand? Has moderation seized the Senate? Those and other questions won't be answered until the real fight, when one or more of the Supreme Court justices leaves the bench. For now, the clearest losers are special interest groups that...

Dean Still Says DeLay May Deserve Jail By RON FOURNIER, AP Political Writer Fri May 20, 7:50 PM ET WASHINGTON - Democratic Party chairman Howard Dean, who famously refused to prejudge Osama bin Laden's guilt, is standing by his judgment that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay may deserve jail time for allegations of corruption. ADVERTISEMENT "Tom DeLay is corrupt. No question about it," Dean said Friday. "This is a guy who shouldn't be in Congress and maybe ought to be serving in jail." The House ethics committee is investigating whether DeLay violated congressional rules by taking foreign trips paid for...

POPE JOHN PAUL II: The Lion and the Lamb By Deacon Keith A Fournier (c) Third Millennium, LLC Like millions of the faithful throughout the world, I have watched and prayed throughout the night for our wonderful Pope. He has showed us how to live, fully given over to Jesus Christ. He has showed us that suffering, joined to the Savior, can become a sign of God’s continued mercy and an occasion of grace. Now, he shows us how to embrace death, not with fear, but with faith. There is no doubt that we who are alive at the beginning...

Terri Schiavo, Martyr, By: Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC The news out of Pinellas Park, Florida breaks the hearts of all decent people. It should shake us to the core. Terri Schiavo is dead, intentionally deprived of food and water, with the force of the raw power of government holding the hands of the executioners. She was killed deliberately, by starvation and dehydration. No Court, Legislative body or Chief Executive had the courage to stop this killing. She was deprived of her substantive due process rights by every branch of government. Terri was not dying. She was not...

The Coming Coalition for Life, Family, Freedom and Solidarity By Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” Fourteenth Amendment to...

The Tomb is Empty By Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC “On the first day of the week, Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning, while it was still dark, and saw the stone removed from the tomb.” Luke 24 The tomb is empty. Death could not contain the One who poured Himself out in Love. The light floods the once dark cave and fills the entire world with hope. The debt has been paid, the last enemy death has been defeated, hell has been conquered, the captives have been liberated, love has triumphed and...

What Have we Learned? What Will We Do? Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC The last “legal” effort to save Terri has been denied. The portals of disinformation continue to provide their global platform to the ministers of propaganda of the new regime of the culture of death. They have all the airtime they could ever desire in order to feign civility, call evil good and good evil, and continue to numb what is left of the conscience of a nation that long ago accepted the lie that there is no truth, that “freedom” consists in the raw power...

Passion Play in Pinellas Park By Deacon Keith A Fournier © Third Millennium,LLC On Passion or “Palm” Sunday, 2005, like millions throughout the, world I was transfixed on the events concerning Terri Schiavo, who is currently residing in Woodside Hospice in Pinellas Park, Florida and her beautiful family. I have joined my prayer with the countless throngs who see the truth behind this real life drama of life and death, authentic and inauthentic freedom, true and feigned compassion and treachery disguised as concern. The timing is no coincidence. I am a Catholic Christian. Although I have been a Catholic since...

When I was Hungry By Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit upon his glorious throne, and all the nations will be assembled before him. And he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the...

Patrick: Pilgrim, Patron and Model By Deacon Keith Fournier © Third Millennium, LLC He was raised in a Christian home in Britain toward the end of the fourth century. This was an age much like our own, gripped by a “culture of death” and filled with a spirit of lawlessness. Tragedy struck Patrick at sixteen years old when he was kidnapped by Irish Pirates and taken to the Emerald Isle. This was the first experience he would have of the land that he would later come to love and for which he would give himself away in tireless missionary service....

The Cultural Revolutionaries Prepare a New Offensive By Deacon Keith Fournier (c) Third Millennium, LLC On Monday, March 14, 2005, Judge Richard Kramer of the San Francisco Superior Court decided that California’s “ban on Gay Marriage” has no “rational purpose.” The Judge likened what he called this “ban” to the old segregation laws. Immediately, the cultural engineers seeking to redefine marriage hailed this ruling as “historic” and likened it to a 1948 State Supreme Court decision that legalized interracial marriage Of course that ruling, which correctly overturned discrimination that prevented a man and woman from different races from marrying, said...