League of Conservation Voters to endorse Obama

[highplainsdem]

http://www.rep-am.com/news/elections/355024.txt

By Dina Cappiello | Associated Press

WASHINGTON — In an election all about change, environmental groups are doing the usual — endorsing the Democratic presidential candidate.

The League of Conservation Voters will become the latest green group to back Democrat Barack Obama in five separate events across the country Monday. Its pick shouldn't be a surprise. Its scorecard of votes on environmental issues for the first session of the current Congress gave Obama a score of 67 and Republican John McCain a zero. The Arizona senator did not show up for any of the votes the group scored.

"When you look specifically at the twin challenges of cutting global warming pollution and moving toward a clean energy future, on those issues Barack Obama has the most comprehensive plan we have ever seen for a presidential nominee," said league president Gene Karpinsky. The league has endorsed presidential candidates since the early 1980s, but not once has it selected a Republican.

Friends of the Earth and the Sierra Club announced their support for Obama earlier this year, citing McCain's support for more offshore drilling, expanding nuclear power and a gas tax holiday. Neither group has ever backed a Republican presidential candidate, although in 1988 Sierra Club made no choice because both Republican George H.W. Bush and Democrat Michael Dukakis would have been good stewards of the environment, said spokesman Josh Dorner.

Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, which has yet to announce its endorsement, said McCain's renegade image as a Republican crusader on global warming doesn't square with his record.

-snip-

This is good news for Obama, but the AP's obvious bias (saying this is "the usual" and "shouldn't be a surprise") is unprofessional and unethical editorializing in a news story.

[NattPang]

1. That's what AP does now, slant and editorialize. Hadn't you heard?

It's sadly true.

More 'Accountability Journalism'
By JAMES TARANTO
February 4, 2008

In June we noted that the Associated Press had embraced a new idiom called "accountability journalism." The AP's Ron Fournier explained that the venerable wire service, long known for its just-the-facts style of reporting, now aimed to be "provocative," telling readers not only what happened "but why it happened," "what it might mean," and "what it might reveal about the people who presume to be our leaders," who "sometimes" are "just plain wrong."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120214259605640991.html


New AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier Called Obama “Arrogant” And Characterized Him As Uppity
http://www.oliverwillis.com/index.php/2008/05/02/new-ap-washington-bureau-chief-ron-fournier-called-obama-arrogant-and-characterized-him-as-uppity/

The Associated Press' Washington bureau chief, Ron Fournier, has been pissing various people off with his "accountability journalism" since he was installed in May. His bitter former boss at AP trashed his credentials to Politico, and influential website Talking Points Memo wondered if he wasn't responsible for the AP's "atrocious campaign coverage this year." Fournier has said his new approach, which involves taking more pointed stands within news articles, is driven by an in-depth examination of the facts, while critics say it is simply biased, advocacy journalism dressed up in new clothes. Fournier has had the backing of top AP brass in New York, but that may soon change, given the following recap of a 2004 email from Fournier to then-White House senior advisor Karl Rove, published this evening on TPM:
http://gawker.com/tag/associated-press/?i=5025179&t=ap-to-karl-rove-keep-up-the-fight