Hillary and Mark: Birds of a feather?
So Mark Penn finally left the Clinton campaign or so it seems. Why did it take so long?
As reported in the NYTimes: "Mr. Penn met with the Colombians in his role as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm. He has refused to sever his ties to the company, which also represented Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and through a subsidiary represented Blackwater Worldwide, the military contractor blamed for numerous civilian deaths in Iraq."
And Hillary was OK with this. It sounds like Clinton either ignored or supported the unethical, profit the only principle Mark Penn because she thinks he can help her win the nomination. Where are her Democratic principles? Where are her ethics? Put on and taken off like clothing? Hypocrisy rears its ugly head.
Then, "Mr. Penn worked his way into the Clintons’ favor during President Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign. He provided the polling used by Dick Morris, then an influential adviser to Mr. Clinton, to create Mr. Clinton’s small-bore campaign strategy, much of it aimed at wooing so-called soccer moms with positions like support for school uniforms and for the V-chip to monitor violence on television.
"When Mr. Morris had to quit in 1996 because of his association with a call girl, Mr. Clinton’s campaign went on “seamlessly,” Mrs. Clinton wrote in her memoir, “because Mark Penn continued to offer the thoughtful research and analysis.” He remained for the second Clinton term and through Mr. Clinton’s impeachment trial, demonstrating, among other things, one of the virtues that the Clintons prized most: loyalty."
Sounds so much like the Bush administration, it's scary. Loyalty to the king or queen above all.
More from the Times, "Mr. Penn advocated that Democrats did best when they campaigned from the center, although this did not always sit well with others in the party. His clients have included the Democratic Leadership Council and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, defeated in his Democratic primary and now an independent."
As one of Jim Hightower's book's title so aptly states, "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos..."
The DLC and Joe Lieberman are not Democrats but Republicans using the Democratic label to promote their centrist or middle of the road triangulation of super wealthy and corporatist beliefs. Triangulation was also a hallmark of Bill Clinton's second term especially.
Hillary Clinton has known about Mark Penn's philosophies for many years, and his company's questionable clients and apparently found nothing wrong with his CEO role in a company that represents such egregious clients. She seems to have had no problem with the blatant conflict of his high level position in her campaign while continuing an active involvement with his company. This should be very troublesome for Democrats who may support Hillary Clinton.
But, as Ari Berman pointed out in his piece, Hillary, Inc., "Not only is Hillary more reliant on large donations and corporate money than her Democratic rivals, but advisers in her inner circle are closely affiliated with unionbusters, GOP operatives, conservative media and other Democratic Party antagonists."
This, in addition to the Mark Penn situation, reflects badly on Clinton as a Democrat and her self-promoting message of experience and judgment. It indicates her absolute willingness to discard principles and ethics because the end justifies the means...her possible Democratic Party nomination. What does that say about a potential Hillary Clinton presidency? Business as usual in a Clinton third term.
As reported in the NYTimes: "Mr. Penn met with the Colombians in his role as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller, a global public relations firm. He has refused to sever his ties to the company, which also represented Countrywide Financial, the nation’s largest mortgage lender, and through a subsidiary represented Blackwater Worldwide, the military contractor blamed for numerous civilian deaths in Iraq."
And Hillary was OK with this. It sounds like Clinton either ignored or supported the unethical, profit the only principle Mark Penn because she thinks he can help her win the nomination. Where are her Democratic principles? Where are her ethics? Put on and taken off like clothing? Hypocrisy rears its ugly head.
Then, "Mr. Penn worked his way into the Clintons’ favor during President Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign. He provided the polling used by Dick Morris, then an influential adviser to Mr. Clinton, to create Mr. Clinton’s small-bore campaign strategy, much of it aimed at wooing so-called soccer moms with positions like support for school uniforms and for the V-chip to monitor violence on television.
"When Mr. Morris had to quit in 1996 because of his association with a call girl, Mr. Clinton’s campaign went on “seamlessly,” Mrs. Clinton wrote in her memoir, “because Mark Penn continued to offer the thoughtful research and analysis.” He remained for the second Clinton term and through Mr. Clinton’s impeachment trial, demonstrating, among other things, one of the virtues that the Clintons prized most: loyalty."
Sounds so much like the Bush administration, it's scary. Loyalty to the king or queen above all.
More from the Times, "Mr. Penn advocated that Democrats did best when they campaigned from the center, although this did not always sit well with others in the party. His clients have included the Democratic Leadership Council and Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, defeated in his Democratic primary and now an independent."
As one of Jim Hightower's book's title so aptly states, "There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos..."
The DLC and Joe Lieberman are not Democrats but Republicans using the Democratic label to promote their centrist or middle of the road triangulation of super wealthy and corporatist beliefs. Triangulation was also a hallmark of Bill Clinton's second term especially.
Hillary Clinton has known about Mark Penn's philosophies for many years, and his company's questionable clients and apparently found nothing wrong with his CEO role in a company that represents such egregious clients. She seems to have had no problem with the blatant conflict of his high level position in her campaign while continuing an active involvement with his company. This should be very troublesome for Democrats who may support Hillary Clinton.
But, as Ari Berman pointed out in his piece, Hillary, Inc., "Not only is Hillary more reliant on large donations and corporate money than her Democratic rivals, but advisers in her inner circle are closely affiliated with unionbusters, GOP operatives, conservative media and other Democratic Party antagonists."
This, in addition to the Mark Penn situation, reflects badly on Clinton as a Democrat and her self-promoting message of experience and judgment. It indicates her absolute willingness to discard principles and ethics because the end justifies the means...her possible Democratic Party nomination. What does that say about a potential Hillary Clinton presidency? Business as usual in a Clinton third term.
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