This is just absurd, isn’t it?
Clinton chief strategist Mark Penn — in his role as chief executive of Buston-Marsteller — met with Colombia’s ambassador to discuss a free trade deal, which Clinton actually opposes.
Penn just released this statement: “The meeting was an error in judgment that will not be repeated and I am sorry for it. The senator’s well known opposition to this trade deal is clear and was not discussed.”
Good Lord, talk about a conflict of interest. Mark Penn has done nothing but harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. She should have fired him months ago. This is a superb opportunity for Hillary to salvage what’s left of her campaign by getting rid of this guy and letting someone else do the strategic work. I mean, really, how much worse could it possibly be with someone — anyone — else at the helm?
UPDATE: Thank goodness.
But we’ll see how strong that Clinton loyalty is. Can’t for the life of me see the advantage in hanging on to Penn, but she & Bill seem to love the guy, even over the objections of smart (and hard-fighting partisan) loyalists like Ickes.
I figure she is against free trade deals about as much as she was against NAFTA. Which is to say, about as much as she landed under sniper fire in Bosnia and ran with her head down to the vehicles.
Colombia did!
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p>April 6, 2008
WASHINGTON – The Colombian government said yesterday that it has fired Mark Penn’s public relations firm after the chief campaign strategist for Democrat Hillary Clinton apologized for meeting with Colombian officials pushing a trade deal with the United States.
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p>Colombia officials said they terminated their contract with lobbying and public relations giant Burson-Marsteller in response to a statement released Friday by Penn, the firm’s chief executive, calling the meeting an error in judgment. Clinton opposes the trade deal.
And there he goes:
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p>http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITI…
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p>Seems to me that this can’t be good for her campaign in the near term – unless of course he is the problem that has been holding her back. Disarray / wholesale change at the top and PA right around the corner? Could this be the end?
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p>