Ron Fournier struggles with the issue of false equivalence. For him, it doesn’t matter how badly the Republican Party acts as long as he can argue that the Democratic Party is unpopular, too:
This is no way to run a country. When both parties in a two-party system measure themselves not by promises kept and problems solved but by the Pyrrhic victories awarded to least-lousy combatants, you get what we’ve got in this country: Record-low trust in government, a broken political system, and a deeply disillusioned public. These may be the sad legacies of both Boehner and Obama.
To those on the far right and far left who will accuse me of “false equivalence,” I beg your pardon and say, OK, the other side sucks a bit more. Feel better? The rest of us don’t.
It seems to me that Fournier is ready to admit that his side “sucks more” than the Democrats. That doesn’t prevent him from lobbing a “both sides do it” accusation for the bazillionth time, but it still represents a small step of progress.
You mean “Former McCain White House Press Secretary Ron Fournier”…
Don’t forget being Turdblossom’s BFF!!
How is that any such admission by Fournier? In TeahadistWorld, everything – everything – about Obama and liberals is evil, including the “fact” that they’re the only side that does anything wrong but they (we) won’t ever admit it. What has “fair and balanced” become but a corrective to the “false equivalence” of the librul media?
I read this as Fournier trying to make his (stupid) point without having his hide torn off by his own spittle-flecking readership. In the past, even as a supposedly objective reporter trying to dignify the circus, they’re the only ones he’s cared about; why should it be different here?
Fournier exhibits all the symptoms of an abused spouse. He can’t tell the truth for fear of retribution from the drunk bully he’s married his career to.
He needs to seek professional help.
How you got that from that excerpt is beyond me. Here’s what I got:
“I’m sorry you were offended.”
It’s the equivalent of the apology/non-apology employed when Republicans are caught saying bigoted shit.
No, we don’t feel better, Ron. You just admitted that “the other side” could theoretically involve Democrats because you prefaced it by saying “the far right” protests your columns as well.
Sorry, the part I don’t see is Fournier getting ready to admit anything.
Fournier is a click bait whore. His articles are consistently among the most read over there at NJ. He caters to the wingers, but he is also the person to whom many liberal writers point for evidence of f’d up punditry. So he wins all around.
Parties SHOULD argue, compete and bicker. That is their raison d’etre.
The problem is that the GOP has completely abandoned any pretense of governing. It’s not that there are sharp ideological disagreements over ACA or immigration reform it is that the GOP simply can’t bring itself to the business of governing, which demands compromise.
Yes, that’s why it’s so bizarre that Fournier wants to blame both parties for our broken political system. Only one party has openly dedicated itself to breaking our political system. If you want to fault the Democrats for failing to overcome Republican obstructionism, that would be one thing. But at least the Democrats generally agree that the government should work.
A column with a preemptive statement attached. Too funny.
Ron Fournier is still the slime he’s always been.
I’ll pretend I don’t know who Fournier is and have no idea of the political bent of The National Journal. (“Trusted non-partisan reporting” is their slogan. Yeah. Right. Like CNN. A centrist mouthpiece of the PermaGov; a “Trusted part of the fix-making system.”) Then I’ll read the article.
Hmmmm…
HMMMMmmmm…
Sounds about right to me.
As the size of the traditional hard-line Ratpublican and DemocRatic voting blocs shrinks due to disillusionment coupled with mortality due to advancing age, the undecided middle…not “independent,” exactly, just disillusioned, pissed-off and confused…grows. Now add to that rapidly expanding group the numbers of truly committed liberals and conservatives plus a “minority” population that is only a decade or less away from becoming a majority and you should be able to hear the winds of change blowing even if your ears are wide shut by years of partisan habit. If you cannot hear that wind? All’s I can say is “Wake the fuck up!!! The U.S. is approaching some kind of perfect political storm.
Once again…only the Paulist political machine both understands this set of developments and is taking effective action regarding how to attract its vote. You don’t agree with much of what Rand Paul says?
Great.
Surprise!!!
Neither do I.
However, in a land full of compromising politicians Rand Paul is essentially the only potential presidential candidate of either party who is saying anything that will resonate with the rapidly growing majority of uncommitted U.S. voters. Elizabeth Warren is the only other nationally recognizable pol who is at least to some degree trying oppose the weak positions of either of the two major parties, and she has no real, battle tested nuts-and-bolts political organization on the ground and thus is currently a non-factor for 2016. Should HRC drop out of contention for some reason…still a possibility in my estimation, due to too much stress…she might make a run at the nomination, but I don’t think she’d succeed if only for lack of national political experience plus hard-line opposition form corporatist Wall Street.
Yes, the Democrats are indeed the least lousy party.
McDonald’s or Burger King.
In a two-dimensional world that’s all there is to eat.
Time to open the other eye.
Later…
AG
Really? You’re still pimping for that asshole? Did you see his column on Israel in the National Review? I thought that might have opened your eyes, if anything would. The man is a fraud.
I would be happy to “pimp” for someone else, S.S. Someone without the baggage that is probably going to consign Rand Paul to the dustheaps of history. But there is no one else who is opposing this government unless of course you move somewhere else, and the “somewhere elses” where real opposition is forming are often much worse than the government that they are opposing.
So I stay here and try to get you kneejerks to think instead of your usual reflexive jerking.
It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
AG
baby paul will never be president.
He just went meta with the “both sides do it” bullshit. “Both sides” accuse him of doing false equivalence, so he’ll give the same condescending and insincere response to “both sides”.
“Both sides” disagree with him, therefore he’s obviously right … and also, that means he’s smarter than both sides.
So, one side claims that 1+1=2 and the other side says that 1+1= a threat the the Constitution. Obviously the correct answer is somewhere between those two things, and anyone who stubbornly sticks with their original belief is tiresomely partisan.
Actually, the Dem side has fairly well established that 1+1=0.
AG
Only in your pimpin’ fer baby paul way of thunkin’ AG
That is:
One term plus another term equals no substantive change in the system.
AG
I love all of these supposed Independent voters. They love to post how each party is alike. What I find interesting is when you start asking them questions. The fast majority of them are hard core GOP lovers. That have chosen to call themselves independents for it is a great way to avoid being responsible for what the party they truly love is doing.
“The fast majority of them are hard core GOP lovers”
It’s The Love That Dare Not Speak It’s Name”.
I would read any apparent willingness on the part of Fournier to admit that “the other side sucks a bit more”, as a tactical gambit to appeal to those who, if they can’t be drawn onto the Republican bandwagon, can at least be dissuaded from affiliation with Democrats.
I cannot understand why we’re continuing to discuss Fournier as if he were the political independent that he portrays himself as. Is there any reason at all to believe that Fournier’s middle-of-the-road pretensions are something other than rhetorical cover for his efforts to clear the way for the “good work” of Karl Rove and his ilk?
Record-low trust in government, a broken political system, and a deeply disillusioned public.
Gee, I wonder why there is record-low trust in government! I wonder why the system is broken and the public is disillusioned!
Government is not the solution to our problem government is the problem.
-Saint Ronald Reagan
Yes, Ron, everything sucks because both sides do it.