MyDD :: If Colombia Can Fire Penn...

If Colombia Can Fire Penn...

by nascardem, Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 07:55:30 PM EST

I have supported Hillary Clinton for president for months, and I will support her until the last dog dies. However, I would be a lot happier if she would fire Mark Penn. According to TPM, the country of Clombia has fired him, after he admitted it was a mistake of judgment to meet with Colombian officials about a treaty Senator Clinton opposes. According Eric Kleefield,

"Apparently the Colombians did not take kindly to Penn calling the meeting "an error in judgment." From their statement: "The Colombian government considers this a lack of respect to Colombians, and finds this response unacceptable." "

It really is time for HRC to cut this guy loose, too. His lack of judgment has been brutal throughout the campaign. She has gotten as far as she has despite his pathetically bad strategy. Every time he has talked to reporters, he has said something stupid. When he went on tv and said, "no one is talking about cocaine use", he outraged people across the country.

As a "senior strategist", he should have suggested that maybe it would be a good idea to put some staff on the ground in caucus states, instead of ceding them to Obama. As a senior strategist, he should have been on the spot the night before the Potomac primaries instead of peddling copies of his book in NYC. Instead of doing the right thing and taking a leave of absence from his company, and all of his other activities, he has embarrassed the campaign over and over.

Hillary, please take a page from Colombia's book, and throw this guy over the rail, under the bus, down a manhole. Please, FIRE MARK PENN!!!!

Tags: Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton (all tags)

Permalink :: 18 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: If Colombia Can Fire Penn... (2.00 / 1)

If she hadn't hired him from the beginning, she'd have a bunch more money and might've had this thing all wrapped up from the get go.

Hooray for John McCain!

by ragekage on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 07:59:19 PM EST

Re: If Colombia Can Fire Penn... (2.00 / 1)

Wow, something both Obama and Clinton supporters can agree on.

She's not going to fire him because he would turn into another Dick Morris.

by regina1983 on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:00:52 PM EST

Yep, it would be nice to see Penn go... (none / 0)

He's been causing far too much heartburn for Hill's campaign. They need to just dump him and use the savings to win Pennsylvania.

No way, no how, no McCain! :-)

by atdleft on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:06:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Yep, it would be nice to see Penn go... (2.00 / 1)

Of course he is causing heartburn but did you not read what I said?

The moment HRC fires Mark Penn is the moment he is booked on ALL of the networks to speak about Hillary.

by regina1983 on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:16:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Oops... (none / 0)

Sorry. My bad.

But still, I have to disagree here. I think Mark Penn's ALREADY reached Dick Morris lows. That's why Hill's better off firing him. She'd save money AND be able to listen to better advice from the good folks on her team.

No way, no how, no McCain! :-)

by atdleft on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:27:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]

She's gonna win PA despite Mark Penn (none / 0)

And almost nothing says campaign on life support more than firing the top strategist. Only other thing more damaging is when staff goes without salaries.

Mark Penn is an idiot. How he lost this is beyond believable. $120 million in the bank, universal name recognition, strong candidate, and they lose. I bet you they didn't even see Obama coming. They we're more worried about Edwards, thinking that he could get ahead of them in Iowa since he camped out there for a couple years. Pre-Iowa they probably thought that South Carolina would be the end of Edwards as they got the majority of AA support. They had to believe that the Obama campaign would be limping out of New Hampshire.

They completely underestimated the level of angst amongst anti-war Democrats. All she needed to do was vote against Kyl-Leiberman and do the mea culpa on Iraq. If she did, she wins every single State.

Hell - I'm even surprised that the Clinton didn't talk to Obama and offer him the VP slot back in October, just to have him muddy the waters in Iowa and then get out after New Hampshire / Nevada. If they thought he was a true threat they would have.

by johnnyappleseed on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 09:16:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Judgment (none / 0)

Lack thereof.

by Bee on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:01:41 PM EST

Misplaced loyalty (2.00 / 1)

Hillary Clinton is loyal to her friends. Unfortunately, in this case, Penn has repaid loyalty with self promotion and self absorption.

by nascardem on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:04:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Misplaced loyalty (none / 0)

She sounds like Bush. Anyone remember Katrina? Exactly why I can't vote for her.

by regina1983 on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:17:03 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Agreed! (2.00 / 1)

Fire Penn! He is made of cheeseburgers and fail. He's pathetic. I'm beginning to wonder whether Dick Morris is paying him to sabotage Hillary.

Even John McCain lusts after teh engels.

by sricki on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:20:18 PM EST

Re: Agreed! (2.00 / 1)

I don't think she can fire Penn at this point. You know how the media would be all over that. "Clinton shakes up campaign staff in last-ditch effort to save campaign" or "Campaign disarray! Clinton fires top aide" or whatever. You can already see Hardball's panel discussion on whether firing Penn signals the beginning of the end.

She's basically stuck with the guy. And he is so very, very awful.

by Johnny Gentle Famous Crooner on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:32:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: If Colombia Can Fire Penn... (2.00 / 1)

If anyone is wondering why she's not getting the support of any major unions (with the exception of AFSCME and the AFT), Mark Penn is a big part of the reason why.

Joining a union in Colombia is a death sentence.

by Mostly on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:24:07 PM EST

Wow, (2.00 / 1)

At myDD we should have one anti-Mark Penn diary a day because I think it is something we all can agree on. I can feel the good vibes and it makes up for having read the comments of some of the other diaries.

Mark Penn is a failure. He eats too many cheeseburgers and makes the collars on his shirts feel oppressed. he is riding the campaign using it to hype up his book and lobby firm. I hope that after this campaign he is run out of democratic circles forever.

I even feel sorry for Sen. Clinton for having to listen to the advise of this bozo.

Hihgly Recced

PS
can you feel the kumbaya.

Student Guy=JoeMentum. No really Student Guy=JoeMentum, after all JoeMentum was an embarrassment so is Student Guy. This sig is FAIL!!

by Student Guy on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:34:39 PM EST

Mark Penn is horrible. (none / 0)

Just one small indicator of failure: he set up a Facebook app for his pathetic book, Microtrends; it has all of eleven users. That's nothing short of embarrassing for the guy who runs Burson-Marsteller with its thousands of employees.

"This election is not about ideology, it's about competence." -Michael Dukakis

by MBNYC on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:43:33 PM EST

If she fires him now, MSM will scream (none / 0)

her campaign is imploding.
She probably feels stuck with him.

by blobert on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 09:57:48 PM EST

Re: If Colombia Can Fire Penn... (none / 0)

Although I didn't hear it, nor do I understand why the cocaine comment was so offensive, I do agree with everything else you've said here.

The pro-Hillary blogs have been complaining about Penn for some time. I brushed it off until I saw him on c-span peddling his book, and now this with the COUNTRY of Columbia?

Hillary needs to re-establish credibility but quick. This goes to her lack of judgement keeping him on. People want to accuse Penn of a lack of judgement, but the buck stops at the top. We can't criticize Obama for bad judgement calls when we have a mote in our own eye.

The reason Penn did this was because he could. Guess he figured Hillary wouldn't have the guts to fire him at this juncture in the campaign, but she's getting bad publicity for taking this insult from him while paying him a salary (I assume) at the same time. Sorry Hil, this guy has to go!

by India on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 11:17:35 PM EST

Re: If Colombia Can Fire Penn... (2.00 / 1)

"She has gotten as far as she has despite his pathetically bad strategy."

Considering that a year ago she was the inevitable nominee just waiting for her coronation, she has more likely gotten to where she is now because of his pathetically bad strategy.

Lesson: Never hire a pollster to actually run a campaign.

Hillary: "Her dishonesty is actually honest." -- yellowdem1129

by Kobi on Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 01:25:02 AM EST

Re: If Colombia Can Fire Penn... (none / 0)

Lack of judgement or not she should fire him.

He is not working full time on the campaign even though Senator Clinton is not in the lead. Taking into account the millions of dollars the Clinton campaign has paid Mark Penn's company he is not even a hard working 'volunteer'.

by My Ob on Sun Apr 06, 2008 at 09:18:48 AM EST

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