Patriotism, Giuliani and Ron Fournier’s Credibility Problem

For years the National Journal’s Ron Fournier has held himself up as America’s non-partisan truth-teller, as a man of conscience who will always tell it like it is. To hear Fournier tell it, he is above partisanship, political gamesmanship, and small ball. Integrity is Fournier’s currency, and blasting shallow, partisan hypocrites is his brand.

What to make, then, of Fournier’s glaring, highly-partisan hypocrisy and dishonesty in his latest moral crusade — this one to use former-New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a club against the entire Republican Party?

For two days now, all over Twitter and cable television, Fournier has posed as a Man of Principle outraged over the fact that, in a private setting, Giuliani dared question the love President Obama has for his country (to his credit, Giuliani is now publicly standing by his claim).

This is just a sample of Fournier’s outrage campaign:

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Fournier is furious that Giuliani criticized The World’s Most Powerful Man, and he obviously believes that you “sacrifice your seriousness” when “opposing somebody’s views spills into questioning their patriotism.” And yet…

…at the 3:15 mark in the video below (from late 2013) you will see Fournier himself openly question the patriotism of others.

Worse, unlike Giuliani, Fournier isn’t questioning the patriotism of The World’s Most Powerful Man, a man with legions of political and media supporters  to rush to his defense. No, Fournier questions the patriotism of ObamaCare opponents.

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FOURNIER: And I would say not “almost” rooting for failure. There are many Republicans rooting for failure and I frankly find that unpatriotic. The law’s been passed. We should all be doing what we can to make it work.

Fournier has also called the questioning of Obama’s patriotism “pathetic and beneath” Giuliani.

Apparently, it’s not pathetic and beneath Fournier to do the same to millions.

Apparently, rules are for Little People, like former mayors. It gets better…

Because a raging ego, and a mercenary impulse to tailor your beliefs to whatever cable network you happen to be on, oftentimes blinds self-awareness, here’s video from just yesterday of Fournier on his high horse (if you’ll pardon the expression) blasting those who question the patriotism of others as … “unpatriotic.”

Captain Integrity’s principles on this issue are now pretty clear. There is a pattern. According to Fournier,  fighting against The State (ObamaCare) and criticizing The Leader of the State (Obama)  are the only true acts that reach the level of unpatriotic.

Beyond the “unpatriotic” hypocrisy, Fournier’s chilling belief that we must all get in line to make a law like ObamaCare work is almost beyond comprehension. To paraphrase “The Princess Bride,” I’m not sure the word patriotism means what Ron Fournier thinks it means.

Something else that doesn’t mean what Fournier think it means is “non-partisan.” Here’s Fournier going the full-Todd Akin — weaponizing the opinion of a single man against the Republican Party as a whole:

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This is something the objective, unbiased, not-at-all liberal media only does to the GOP. The media is really nothing more than a bunch of left-wing “gotcha” trackers, and when they snag one — whether it’s a “Duck Dynasty” star or a former mayor — all Republicans must always answer for whatever personal opinion the media wants stamped out.

This is Thought Policing 101, but it also a very effective partisan weapon the media wields against the GOP at every opportunity. For instance…

Giuliani is a former mayor who expressed his opinion in what he thought was a private  setting. Joe Biden is a sitting Vice President who just this week publicly stereotyped Somalis. No one in the media, including Captain Integrity, is asking any Democrat to distance themselves from Biden’s latest racist statement. No one in the media grilled a single Democrat over DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s criticism of intermarriage. And in 2008, when then-candidate Obama questioned a sitting president’s patriotism, no one in the media…. Well, you get my point.

In fact, all three of those stories — involving a candidate for president, the head of the DNC, and a sitting Vice President — got about 5% the media attention the private comments of a former mayor did.

When questioned on this double standard, America’s Moral Courage Crusader punted (if you’ll pardon the expression):

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Ron Fournier did not return a request for comment. 

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC