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The Sword Falls on Penn
April 06, 2008 7:33 PM
Sen. Hillary Clinton's controversial senior adviser Mark Penn was fired from the campaign today.
When Sen. Hillary Clinton heard the news that Penn had met with the government of Colombia to talk to them about how to pass a trade deal Clinton opposes, in his auspices as chief executive of Burson Marsteller Worldwide.
Clinton made her displeasure known and Penn today offered to step aside.
Penn's firm -- Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. -- will remain on board providing polling and advice to the campaign.
This was not the first time that a client of Penn's irritated the Clinton campaign.
The work a Burson Marsteller subsidiary did for controversial war contractor Blackwater, and Penn's work for the union-busting corporation Cintas were other clients with whom the Clinton campaign didn't appreciate having its name associated.
Penn was also regarded by many in the campaign as too self-serving, particularly after a Los Angeles Times profile of the campaign written after her horrible month of February, when Penn was quoted saying that he had "no direct authority in the campaign," describing himself as merely "an outside message advisor with no campaign staff reporting to me."
"I have had no say or involvement in four key areas -- the financial budget and resource allocation, political or organizational sides. Those were the responsibility of Patti Solis Doyle, Harold Ickes and Mike Henry, and they met separately on all matters relating to those areas."
That eyebrow-raising display of running from failure was contradicted by senior staffers such as Howard Wolfson, who told the newspaper that Penn had top responsibility for strategy and message.
Read more HERE.
- jpt
April 6, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (35)
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Boom, boom, boom another one bites the dust. I guess that's what u call getting rid of dead weight. Don't be fooled people, Mark Penn's style is a true reflection of his boss Hillary Clinton or Billhillary.Deceit is what they specialize in, unfortunately Mark is the one under sniper fire. May be Clinton tried to do a quick deal with the Colombians, she got caught and push Mark Penn over board.
Posted by: Oretega M | Apr 7, 2008 11:27:07 AM
guidroz - once refrigerated you can't take it back out and she won't quit until someone drives a stake through her heart or if Obama's circuits blow a fuse revealing the Disney animatronics. Are you sure you wanna wait until the DNC Convention in August? Is that stuff any good? Dom Perignon?
Posted by: smartprimate | Apr 7, 2008 6:11:32 AM
i have a nice bottle of champagne in the frige i will open when she finally drops out!! its my personal hillary demise count. hear that hillary??? champagne has moved to the frige!!!
Posted by: guidroz | Apr 7, 2008 3:45:20 AM
Penn has not left the Clinton campaign - I think that everyone has gotten so used to Clinton equivocation that nobody can follow anything they say anymore. Here's Maggie William's statement:
"After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as Chief Strategist of the Clinton Campaign; Mark, and Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates, Inc. will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign."
MARK and Penn, Schoen and Berland.... will continue to provide polling and advice to the campaign. This isn't a resignation. This is political triage.
Posted by: Mara | Apr 7, 2008 2:37:34 AM
Now, when will Hillary step down ? This is really becoming pathetic. Yes Clinton supporters... we all know that Hillary has every 'right' to stay on ... just NO good reason at all. What she is effectively saying Now is that she is willing to sacrifice the Democratic Party's chances in November to insure her leverage to petition for the VP slot. That's pretty Sleazy politicking Clinton supporters and you know well it is. What does that make YOU at this point?
Posted by: PulSamsara | Apr 7, 2008 1:23:07 AM
Kurt...... we are not laughing we are admiring Clinton's enthusiasm that she will do everything just to win, even trying to convince pledge delegates of Obama to switch side ..... so pathetic it even cause me to vomit and not laughing.
Posted by: alexis compton | Apr 7, 2008 1:11:47 AM
laugh it up you silly Obama supporters. You laugh now and we will have the last laugh
Posted by: Kurt | Apr 7, 2008 12:46:39 AM
What a man this Uribe and so with this Penn, perhaps they are into something, are they cooking something fishy, are these the men that surrounds Clinton when she'll be the President, anyway she will not be.
Posted by: alexis compton | Apr 7, 2008 12:44:05 AM
What a man this Uribe and so with this Penn, perhaps they are into something, are they cooking something fishy, are these the men that surrounds Clinton when she'll be the President, anyway she will not be.
Posted by: alexis compton | Apr 7, 2008 12:43:16 AM
BKMC,
So if I understand your arguments we should vote for Obama because Hillary Clinton did not describe her trip to Bosnia with accurate precision. That makes about as much sense as the crazy uncle defense that Obama was providing as to why he put Reverend Wright on his campaign. Good luck with that argument.
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Obama has no foreign policy experience!
Obama has not gone to Iraq!
Obama is green behind the ears!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 7, 2008 12:40:13 AM
Hey Harold,
So do I get a raise for being the fastest gun in the west? Oh right, I need to take that up with Hillary personally. It's too bad that Penn sucked up way more than he deserved or maybe I could have weeded my way into that big, ca-ching stream.
Dogsoldier and I have both been critical of Penn but have always maintained high praises for Hillary. She is a great executive, she doesn't cut somebody loose on a whim, but he gave her nothing but rope this time out.
Hey, no personal offense intended, you're not really Mark Penn are you? Good luck with your future clients. Obama has an opening previously occupied by a crazy uncle-type.
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Obama is an admitted bonehead!
Obama is an admitted crack-user!
Obama should be admitted, well maybe not, but he needs more experience!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 7, 2008 12:27:22 AM
Obama is toast a long time ago' Why is he still in the race?
Posted by: Sandy | Apr 7, 2008 12:17:08 AM
Harold,
Are you Harold Ickes? You are so cracking me up. I don't go around capturing screen prints of what I saw. Anyway, I'm on the west coast, so if it says 6:33 PM, then I probably saw it around 3:30 PM west coast time. Here's my guess how it came down. Maggie Williams probably called George Stephanapolous personally and gave him the breaking story since he's been treating the Clinton campaign favorably on this one. ABC News, as you see, has been describing this story as having "pushed" Penn out. It's all good, though. If you think I have ESP or I'm a campaign insider, it means I'm accomplishing my goal of being heard.
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Obama is an admitted bonehead!
Hillary is the only one that stands up for voters!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 7, 2008 12:07:50 AM
@westcoastmessenger
I'm not convinced yet. This was your post on Penn:
Good news. Mark Penn is leaving Hillary's campaign. He really has been giving her bad advice. Now we can finish out the remaining 10 contests on a high note and take this election.
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Hillary stands up for all voters!
Obama is still green behind the ears!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 6, 2008 6:33:57 PM
So, posted here at 6:33:57. If you're able to show me where at that time the news about Penn was already up, please let us know. People have searched for it, and you so far your announcement appears to be the earliest one on the Internet.
Posted by: harold | Apr 6, 2008 11:38:50 PM
Sam,
Excellent point. It did not help that Howard Dean has already made the case for John McCain when Dean said that America should elect the candidate who was a war veteran with medals as opposed to the candidate who had never been to war. This will make it extremely difficult for Obama or Hillary, for that matter. Either party would be swiftboated. At the very least Hillary can counter McCain with her work on the Armed Services Committee.
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Hillary stands up for all voters!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 6, 2008 11:36:56 PM
Mark Penn is out. That's a good start. Hillary, now it's your turn to step down! Do it sooner, it will be good for the party!
Posted by: ralph | Apr 6, 2008 10:35:31 PM
Mark Penn's firing points up the problem with her campaign. Do it until you get caught. Say anything. Do anything unless you get caught. Well, now they are getting caught and it isn't pretty. This guy is typical of most trusted core group. Nothing different about him, he just got caught. Another Sniper exposed.
Posted by: harry | Apr 6, 2008 10:32:35 PM
Magda, WestCoastMessanger, jay, Jgaw, MattOhio, russell and magda, it is not a question of liking or not liking somebody. Bu a judgement of what the 2 candidates stand for, their judgement, their values, managerial skills, vision and leadership. These are markers to be used to judge a leader and in Obama you have all of these qualities. Hill the Bosnian General has not helped herself and at this point in time her senior staff are resigning or being fired, that is not a successful campaign. God bless America and God bless Obama. OBAMA08.
Posted by: BKMC | Apr 6, 2008 10:10:12 PM
BKMC,
Your language betrays you. You've done nothing but demean Hillary Clinton, treat her as if she is not deserving to be in this contest, demand that she "step aside", and continually treat her in a pejorative manner. I'm glad you say there is no sexist agenda going on here, but it's clear those are "just words". Everytime I hear you or any other Obama supporter say "why won't this woman give up", or the equivalent, it is increasingly clear where you are coming from. You are clearly afraid to have a woman as commander-in-chief. On the other hand, you are perfectly OK with having a former crack-smoker as commander-in-chief. It defies any logic.
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Obama admitted to smoking crack!
Hillary stands up for all the voters!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 6, 2008 10:06:25 PM
BKMC,
At least we established through your language that you are coming from an agenda of sexism. I wondered why you have so much emotion and fear of Hillary Clinton, at least that has been cleared up. You have to have a man leader, can't handle a woman in the top position, huh. Where you have failed is why you are choosing Obama as that man, other than your claim of hope.
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Obama has audacity!
Hillary offers much more than just hope!
Hillary stands up for all voters!
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Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Apr 6, 2008 9:52:33 PM
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