TIME FOR MARK PENN TO GO.
Looks like Mark Penn -- Hillary Clinton's chief strategist -- met with Colombia's ambassador to the US this week to advise him on how best to pass a bilateral free trade pact.. So, on the one hand, Clinton voices opposition to this Free Trade Pact while running for president amidst electorates that are against further free trade deals. On the other hand, she pays Mark Penn hundreds of thousands of dollars to act as her chief adviser, and he's meeting with official representatives of the Colombian government in order to help them craft a strategy that will lead to the passage of such an act.
Penn will say that he's doing this as CEO of Burson-Marsteller, his political PR firm (which has a nice large unionbusting division, as some of you will remember). But Mark Penn has not been exposed to Gamma Rays which split his person into two unrelated beings, one of whom works for Clinton, the other for BM. Rather, governments and clients paying Penn's firm millions of dollars aren't unaware that the CEO and guy they're meeting with has Hillary Clinton's ear. And Hillary Clinton isn't unaware that Mark Penn has a responsibility to advocate for the interests of these clients.
In 2000, George W. Bush dealt with these problems by insisting Karl Rove step down from his other companies in order to work on the campaign. Clinton has done nothing of the kind, leading to all sorts of huge conflicts of interest. It's time for Clinton to make Penn step down. Either from her campaign, or from his other jobs.
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COMMENTS (31)
Ouch. Nothing like having an ethical vulnerability where GW Bush looks good in comparison...
Posted by: ResumeMan | April 4, 2008 1:43 PM
This is increasingly an important goal for right-wing Colombian president Uribe, whose 2nd closest political ally has been arrested for his connections to the right-wing narco-paramilitary death squads.
Now, Uribe's former private secretary and current member of Congress has been arrested for investigation, and that follows the long-ago arrest of his intelligence chief -- who was also his last re-election chief.
The narco-paramilitaries have gone on to continue to murder union and civil leaders, as the independent judiciary struggles to penetrate the fog of their close links to Uribe's political allies.
Of course, Uribe is once again trying to amend the constitution so he can be elected again, but since he is not Hugo Chavez neither his anti-Constitutional revisions for re-election nor his increasingly close ties to the modern narco-paramilitary movement (whose modern incarnation began on his family's ranch and during his tenure as governor of Antioquia, the state which contains Medellin) makes him an autocrat or tyrant.
He's a close right-wing U.S. ally, so if he wants to change the Constitution a 2nd time so he can run for office again, it makes him the hemisphere's leading democratic figure, whereas when Hugo Chavez proposes the same, it shows that he's Stalin re-incarnated.
Meanwhile, Colombia's attorney general took a look at the proposed Free Trade Agreement (TLC in Spanish acronym) because many of its provisions appeared to directly contradict the Colombian constitution and Colombian law.
Also, trades unions and civil groups lead protests against it.
But here in the U.S. of A, those Colombians concerned about or in direct opposition to the FTA are obviously anti-Colombian, or maybe they are self-hating Colombians, who knows.
In the eyes of American punditry, "Colombians" includes the conservative government, precisely chosen economists, and their equivalent of the Chamber of Commerce.
In Colombia itself, however, like most of the world, the situation and concomitant opinions are much more complex.
http://tinyurl.com/58ylo5
Posted by: El Cid | April 4, 2008 1:49 PM
What is with this guy? I really don't understand it. Can he really be the incompetent joke that he clearly seems to be?
And what do the Clintons see in him, exactly?
Posted by: Korha | April 4, 2008 2:12 PM
Where I come from, my grandparents would always ask if I had made a BM after leaving the bathroom. "BM" was short for bowel movement. Well let's see if Hillary is ready to dump this shit head once and for all.
Posted by: Bernie Watersmouth | April 4, 2008 2:26 PM
Ezra
The Ambassador from Colombia is a woman not a man so your article should read "she". Her name is Carolina Barco and she used to be Minister of Defense but had to quit because of a corruption scandal involving her brother and father.
Posted by: lfo | April 4, 2008 2:26 PM
"And what do the Clintons see in him, exactly?"
the same thing they saw in Dick Morris, til he went off the reservation.
the Clintons are learning, as the Bush people have started to, the loyalty via threats only works for so long, and when the threat is gone so is the loyalty.
once HRC is back in the senate, her presidential run a distant memory, watch for the tell-all book by Penn about what really went on inside the campaign.
but until then, the Clintons will stick by this worthless sack of crap.
Posted by: rob! | April 4, 2008 2:38 PM
Oh please, there are so many money and corruption issues involving the Clintons and foreigners who seek to buy influence over the U.S. policy, that this is absolutely nothing by comparison. She should divorce ex-president Clinton sooner than she should through the loyal and competent Penn overboard.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 4, 2008 2:39 PM
This seems like a pretty good target for an Obama mailer. Pro-free trade, union-busting and hypocrisy is about as good as an attack gets in Penn.
Posted by: Jack | April 4, 2008 2:53 PM
So isn't this the thing that really shouldn't matter? Hillary is not going to win the nomination. I believe this and you have posted as such several times. The only reason to spread this item is to minorly add to the pressure causing her to drop out sooner rather than later.
Posted by: Shock Mouse | April 4, 2008 2:55 PM
A little late in the game wouldn't you say?
Posted by: Floccina | April 4, 2008 2:55 PM
Penn is financially corrupt. It's time for him to go.
But Austan Goolsbee is ideologically corrupt, far more destructive to the Democratic agenda than Mark Penn, and Ezra never says it's time for him to go.
Ezra prefers the approval of the "professional Democrat" class of the Beltway to the Democratic agenda. That's fucked up.
Posted by: Petey | April 4, 2008 3:16 PM
OK, so any remaining doubt about Penn is now gone: he's a puke.
But what does it say about Hillary Clinton that she surrounds herself with pukes, is loyal to them to same degree that Bush has protected his lawless underlings, and is apparently so clueless the damage she causes herself by acting like Bush lite.
I really used to like the Clintons. I'm over them now. It won't be a hard choice when the Oregon primary finally rolls around very late in the primary season.
Posted by: JimPortlandOR | April 4, 2008 3:27 PM
"And what do the Clintons see in him, exactly?"
Was gonna say, "The same thing they saw in Dick Morris," but "rob!" beat me to the punch.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 4, 2008 5:04 PM
110 Million in seven years??
I thought these people believed in salary caps?
Posted by: Anonymous | April 4, 2008 5:14 PM
What is even more interesting is that after meeting with Penn, the President of Columbia criticizes Obama about not supporting the Columbia/US Free Trade agreement but doesn't say a word about Clinton.
Posted by: exhuming mccarthy | April 4, 2008 5:54 PM
What? Mark Penn resign? No! I am having way too much fun watching this repellent, corrupt, porcine scumbag bring an end to Mrs. Corleone's dreams. Without him, she might stand a chance.
Posted by: phillygirl | April 4, 2008 6:57 PM
"the freshness of a fish can be judged by the condition of its head. thus, when the responsible part is rotten, the rest will soon follow."
Posted by: jacqueline | April 4, 2008 8:29 PM
Time for him to go? Are you kidding me? He's like a walking gift to the Obama campaign. Frankly, I'm beginning to think he's an Obama mole.
I say give him more and more press. Hillary will be out in a week.
Posted by: Jeff | April 4, 2008 8:47 PM
Golsbee is off the Obama campaign, Petey. For a political junkie, you really don't pay much attention. Unlike Penn, Golsbee has never busted a union.
Posted by: Reality Man | April 5, 2008 12:32 AM
Penn represents the true face of the clintonistas
Tuzal girl is lying about free trade and workers, and all the rest of her new found populism
as was said on a comment thread elsewhere - the attitude of the clintons is -read the fine print stupid
Posted by: David Mace | April 5, 2008 9:46 AM
It's always someone AROUND the Clintons who must go. Always someone affiliated with them who has the corruption problem. Not them, of course. And that 109 million -- do you think they don't have other, protected money?? Yes, the problem here is Penn, Ickes, etc. They are the problem, nothing else.
Posted by: Anonymous | April 5, 2008 3:29 PM
Doesn't BM own BKSH for whom Charlie Black worked until last week?
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/black-leaves-k-street-for-mccain-2008-03-28.html
Posted by: Michael | April 5, 2008 6:21 PM
Another solid prediction by Ezra: Penn is OUT!
Posted by: Anonymous | April 6, 2008 8:02 PM
Another solid prediction by Ezra: Penn is OUT!
Awww shucks! I really, really wanted him to twist slowly in the wind for a couple of weeks.
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Michael
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