TPM: Penn Sorta Not Really Resigns from Clinton Campaign

[dkf]

Penn Sorta Not Really Resigns from Clinton Campaign

Fall-out from his work on behalf of the Colombia trade deal Sen. Clinton opposes, Mark Penn is 'stepping down' from his role as "chief strategist" but will remain as chief pollster.

Note to self: Write separate post on the craziness of having Mark Penn both run message and polling when his polling is so legendary for cherry picking data to confirm his preferred political strategies and messages.

Note to self, two: Make effort to work in fact that Penn earlier tried to argue that he was never part of the Clinton campaign in the first place.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/

[blm]

1. Penn will LEAVE Hillary like Rove LEFT Bush in 07, and like Morris LEFT Bill in 96.

Not - but they don't think their supporters are SMART enough to figure it out.

[Hart2008]

8. Penn was Dick Morris's replacement!

Those triangulating Clintons just love to hire these Republican strategists, and then pass themselves off as good Dem's.

With all of these Republican strategists in their camp, is it any wonder they didn't mind losing both houses of Congress in '94 and never regained either house for the remainder of Bill Clinton's presidency?

[blm]

10. Exactly - and remember, Bill had Morris quietly helping him w/Monica problem.

.

[C_U_L8R]

2. How much more fakery can we stand?

Does anyone really want eight years of THIS ???!!!

[sallyseven]

5. I guess you can stand a lot.

Your supporting Obama aren't you. Biggest fake going.

[dkf]

7. Obama is more fake than Hillary?

What a joke!!! Damn that made me laugh.

[dkf]

3. I guess this is what TPM is talking about in point 2:

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," he reportedly said. "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 Wolfson, who told the newspaper that Penn had top responsibility for strategy and message.

Then there was this infamous exchange with Clinton consigliere Ickes from a recent Washington Post profile of the campaign:

Ickes to Penn: " you!"

Penn to Ickes: " you!"

Ickes to Penn: " you!"

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/clinton-chief-s.html

[OnceUponTimeOnTheNet]

4. K&R. nt

[FrenchieCat]

6. So we are being Hoodwinked

Again?

[catgirl]

9. K&R