Clinton: Penn controversy won’t be damaging - handled situation better than Obama

[sabra]

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/04/08/clinton-says-penn-controversy-won%e2%80%99t-be-damaging/

CNN) — Hillary Clinton predicted on Tuesday the recent controversy surrounding her top advisor's meeting with the Colombian government wouldn't prove damaging to her campaign, and suggested she dealt with the matter more definitively than Barack Obama did when he faced a similar situation.

"I don't think (it will hurt), because I think people want to know where I stand," Clinton said on CNN's American Morning, reiterating her opposition to a free trade agreement with the Colombians.

"I find it kind of curious, we took action, and I think it was appropriate," she continued. "Contrast that to Senator Obama's campaign where, as far as I know, nothing was ever done when one of his top economic advisers representing the campaign, unlike Mr. Penn who was not representing the campaign, but Mr. Obama's representative told the Canadian government basically not to pay any attention to what Senator Obama was saying about NAFTA."

The comments are in reference to her campaign's former chief strategist, Mark Penn, who resigned that post over the weekend after news surfaced he had met with the Colombian ambassador in his role as CEO of a P.R. firm to promote a free trade bill Clinton sharply criticizes.

[easy_b94]

1. How in the Hell did she handled it when he is still on her payroll?????????

[Evergreen Emerald]

Where are you getting your information?

[DerekJ]

8. How about Penn himself?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/07/penn-speaks-in-private-wi_n_95508.html

"I think you've heard that I made the decision to step down as chief strategist of the Clinton campaign. Penn Schoen and Berland is going to continue to poll for it and I'll continue to play a role advising Senator Clinton and former President Clinton as well as the rest of the leadership of the campaign," he said.

[easy_b94]

9. Top men

[Lerkfish]

2. no real action was taken, it was a title change with no reduction in duties

and to continue to try to characterize it as "handling it" is laughable.

[rodeodance]

22. Hillary has a new top Strategist --didn't you know that?

[democrattotheend]

29. But Penn is still on the campaign.

When she fires him completely she'll have a point.

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Zueda]

3. What's to damage?

she's already done. :shrug:


Her goal now is to force herself on his ticket in hopes she can be like cheney.

[easy_b94]

5. you can't damage already damage goods ;)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

4. When did Axelrod resign?

:shrug:

[dkf]

6. Now if Penn was completely gone from her campaign she might have a point.

But again, she is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.

Seriously, how can we trust this woman? She is a joke.

And Goolsbee said he was misrepresented. I am waiting with great interest to see what the Canadian investigation shows.

[Window]

31. Indeed.

She's so full of ..it.

[powergirl]

7. "as far as I know" Don't tell me this is an accident , again

She just can't resist using that phrase. It doesn't work anymore.

[bunnies]

10. Changing Penns title is "handling it" ??

What an absolute joke.

[GoesTo11]

11. Not so classy

turning this into an occasion to attack Obama. Can't she just say "Sorry, we messed up but we've fixed the problem."

[Window]

32. No. That would be too much like the right thing to do.

She just can't help herself. She sounds petty and small, and she's lying AGAIN.

[Erin Elizabeth]

12. To me, Clinton now sounds like adults sound

in The Peanuts. That sort of "wa wa wa wa wa" sound that makes no sense, doesn't mean anything, and is so insignificant, it's not even real words.

[dkf]

15. Funny, she always had that effect on me.

I always felt that while she was talking up a storm, she wasn't saying much.

[Mooney]

13. Why the fuck does anyone even listen to what she has to say any more?

I think when she said yesterday that she opposed the war before Obama did, that she lost any chance of regaining any credibility. Between that and this flap with Mark Penn, it should be clear to anyone with half a brain that this woman is a complete and utter fucking joke.

The best case scenario is that she's a pathological liar. The worst case scenario is that she has acute dementia and suffers from hallucinatory delusions. At this point, it's clear that she's not even qualified to work at the DMV, much less be president of the United States.

[karynnj]

What surprised me there is that she saw the reaction to Bill Clinton saying he was always against

the war. That was back when BC still had a large reservoir of good will, but it was met with raised eyebrows and people politely saying , " No".

Not only does this bring up the difference between her and Obama on Iraq, it brings up BC lying about Obama's record on Iraq and to top it off how the Clintons' try to reset the rules - defining that nothing before January 2005 counts.

[ima_sinnic]

14. but what about your other staff and big-money supporters, Ms. Hypocrite and LIAR?

Clinton Colombia Ties Don't Stop With Former Chief Strategist

Politico | Eamon Javers | April 7, 2008 07:18 PM

Mark Penn isn't the only Hillary Rodham Clinton supporter on the wrong side of the Colombia trade agreement. The Democratic-leaning advocacy firm the Glover Park Group, former home to Clinton campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson, signed a $40,000 per month contract with the government of Colombia in April of 2007 to promote the very agreement that Clinton now rails against on the presidential campaign trail.

That means Glover Park Group was arguing the same position on the free trade agreement as has Penn, the contentious Clinton strategist and Burson-Marsteller chief executive who lost his campaign job over the weekend after The Wall Street Journal revealed that he'd met with Colombian officials to plot strategy on the pact.

Several other Glover Park employees have deep connections with the Clintons, including founding partner Joe Lockhart, who served as the White House press secretary under President Bill Clinton, and Joel Johnson, who was a senior communications adviser in the Clinton White House.

ix employees of Glover Park Group contributed a total of nearly $20,000 to Clinton’s campaign in 2007, according to data kept by the Center for Responsive Politics.

Wolfson, who is set to take over many responsibilities from the departing Penn, resigned from Glover Park last year to avoid conflicts of interest but retains an equity interest in the firm.

more, http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0408/9433.html

it's all one big good ole boy bunch of greed-head cronies in hillaryland. she can give lip service all she wants to "opposing" a trade deal with Colombia. But it's just that ... lip service. She truly disgusts me.

[redqueen]

30. It's not just Hillary's campaign though. It's the DLC.

[catgirl]

16. Howard Wolfson's firm lobbied for Colombia as well!

To help make its case, Colombia had already hired at least three firms on Capitol Hill, in addition to the work by Mr. Penn’s firm, Burson-Marsteller, paying out from $15,000 to $40,000 a month. Collectively the Colombian government has paid more than $1 million to firms that have negotiated or lobbied on behalf of the deal.

They include the Glover Park Group, the fast-growing firm set up by former Clinton White House aides including Joe Lockhart, who was chief spokesman for the president. (Howard Wolfson, Mrs. Clinton’s campaign communications director, was a partner at the firm but has taken a leave of absence.)

The firm has approached more than a dozen members of Congress, focusing on moderate Democrats who the lobbyists believe might be persuaded to disregard their party leaders and vote in favor of the deal.

Lobbyists at Johnson, Madigan, Peck, Boland & Stewart — whose partners include another former aide in the Clinton White House, Bill Danvers — have separately met with pro-business Democrats like Representative Joseph Crowley of New York. And Andrew Samet, a deputy secretary of labor in the Clinton administration, has been hired under yet another lobbying contract.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/08/washington/08lobby.html?_r=1&ei=5088&en=20cfcea9f1231b60&ex=1365393600&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1207663476-10a8Ley2Q0mMLV20UCK9PA

[easy_b94]

17. should should start another post about this

[catgirl]

20. Here you go...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5425831

[jefferson_dem]

18. She's got the full-on "bunker mentality" at this point.

All reason out the window.

Sad.

I hope she can regroup. We will need her strong voice in the Senate.

[dkf]

19. spin spin spin. No wonder she can't think right. She's still dizzy from all her spinning.

[virtualobserver]

28. she is incapable of speech unless she is simultaneously doing a triple pirouette

[berni_mccoy]

21. LOLOLOLOLOL ROFL OMG ROFL OMG

Thanks for the laugh!

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

[Colobo]

23. She's ridiculous.

[Window]

33. Utterly.

[City Lights]

24. She's trying out another Bush tactic...creating her own reality.

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones she's concentrating on.

:rofl:

[americanstranger]

26. Go sell it to the PA unions, lady.

And good luck, 'cause they ain't buying it.

- as

[bunnies]

27. Ed Rendell doesnt seem to think so..

Dont mind that disconnect, Hillary. :eyes: