Mark Penn Looking for Work

The wires are humming just now with the news that Mark Penn, Head cook and bottle washer for the Clinton campaign, has quit. One such story comes form the Washington Post:

ALBUQUERQUE, April 6 — Mark J. Penn quit Sunday as Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s chief strategist, the second shake-up in her campaign’s top ranks since the onetime front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination began trailing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

Penn had been a polarizing figure within the Clinton campaign for months because of his personality as well as his strategic vision, but his departure came as a result of another continuing controversy — the conflicts of interest that resulted from his representing major clients as president of Burson-Marsteller, the giant public relations firm, while working for Clinton.

Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that Penn had met with Colombia’s ambassador to the United States to discuss promotion of a free-trade agreement, one that Clinton opposes. Penn apologized Friday for an “error in judgment,” and the Colombian government responded a day later by firing Burson-Marsteller.

Clinton is now looking for a scapegoat, and Penn seems a likely enough target. Penn’s job, after all, was putting lipstick on a pig…. Hillary Clinton is a product that is about as popular as raw sewage. Granted that Penn didn’t help that image, but what could?

Hey, I’ve got an idea; Maybe Obama can use him in the General Election, huh?

Addendum:  (David L)

As to Mark Penn’s departure, did he jump or was he pushed?  Does anybody care?

However, I have got to quibble with the suggestion that Mark Penn is looking for work.    Apparently, working for the Mrs. Clinton was Penn’s part time job.    Penn’s not out of a job, as in real day job, just a part time gig.

As to Mrs. Clinton is fair to say that Mrs. Clinton is not exactly the smartest chick in the world and is not exactly the smartest person ever to seek the presidency.    Mrs. Clinton hired a part time campaign strategist and then expected full time, read day job,, performance and loyalty.    It is kind of like expecting your favorite waitress to only flirt with you.

Word this morning from the London Times that Iran had forces on the ground at Basra:

IRANIAN forces were involved in the recent battle for Basra, General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, is expected to tell Congress this week.

Military and intelligence sources believe Iranians were operating at a tactical command level with the Shi’ite militias fighting Iraqi security forces; some were directing operations on the ground, they think.

Petraeus intends to use the evidence of Iranian involvement to argue against any reductions in US forces.

Dr Daniel Goure, a defence analyst at the Lexington Institute in Virginia, said: “There is no question that Petraeus will be tough on Iran. It is one thing to withdraw troops when there is purely sectarian fighting but it is another thing if it leaves the Iranians to move in.”

Quite correct, and that the general sees this is encouraging.  Then again, I have questions about the sanity of anyone who figured Iran wasn’t a part of this picture from the outset. That’s the thing about wolves; they’re opportunistic, and always hungry.

And of course the Democrats attempt to play down this problem have emboldened them.  It’s not like they didn’t know… which is exactly why both Clinton and Obama have not solidly committed to remove us from Iraq. THey know what’s at stake.

Bluto notes the same link and quips:

Countdown to slanderous Leftist attack on the general’s veracity, and/or apologia for the barbaric Iranian mullahcracy in 3…2…1..

You mean they’d actually wait that long, Bluto?

Nigil Lawson at the Daily Mail

First, then, what is happening? Given that nowadays pretty well every adverse development in the natural world is automatically attributed to global warming, perhaps the most surprising fact about it is that it is not, in fact, happening at all. The truth is that there has so far been no recorded global warming at all this century.

The world’s temperature rose about half a degree centigrade during the last quarter of the 20th century; but even the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research – part of Britain’s Met Office and a citadel of the current global warming orthodoxy – has now conceded that recorded temperature figures for the first seven years of the 21st century reveal there has been a standstill.

The centre now officially expects global warming to resume at some point between 2009 and 2014.

Maybe it will. But the fact that the present lull was not predicted by any of the complex computer models upon which the global warming orthodoxy relies is clear evidence that the science of what determines the world’s temperature is distinctly uncertain and far from “settled”.

But, of course, if you listen to Al Gore, not only has he identified the problem but it’s vital that you take his curative. Of course, there are a few bad side effects. But he’s got SCIENCE on his side. Right?

Right.

You know, the only difference between Al Gore and the snake oil salesmen of old, is that in the case of the snake oil salesmen, the illness they proposed to cure actually existed. Gore’s gone them one better.

SAN FRANCISCO — They work long hours, often to exhaustion. Many are paid by the piece — not garments, but blog posts. This is the digital-era sweatshop. You may know it by a different name: home.

A growing work force of home-office laborers and entrepreneurs, armed with computers and smartphones and wired to the hilt, are toiling under great physical and emotional stress created by the around-the-clock Internet economy that demands a constant stream of news and comment.

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.

Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet.

Of course, what the Times doesn’t mention is that the same stresses that drive such Bloggers as they list, are driving those at the disosaur media, such as, for example, the New York Times.  No shock, that, I suppose. The Times ignored Jayson Blair for how long?

What they also don’t dare mention is that the bloggers have been mopping the floor with the Dinosaur media for some time, now. That’s crucial, I think, in the understanding of just why the Times went to print with this story.  One doesn’t have to be Fellini to figure out the subliminal message of this particular film: “You can’t win against us. ” Or, perhaps more graphically, “You can win a few battles, but you’ll die going against us”.

Nah, the Times doesn’t have any motivation in the matter. Right?

Others: OTB, Michelle

testing downstream feeds

Ann Althouse notes liberal discomfort with the John McCain biography tour:

Bill Scher perceives irony in McCain’s ad — which depicts his life story, including his service in Vietnam — because it is “very much about ‘I.'” Scher thinks the ad says: “Look at the heroic life that I have had. You can trust me to manage this war, et cetera.”

Four years ago, the ‘rats ran a candidate, John Kerry, whose entire campaign was based on his puffed up four month tour in Vietnam and an hallucination that he somehow served in Cambodia while Richard Nixon was President.    In other words, Kerry.s biography had less truth in than one of Mrs. Clinton’s stump speeches.

Flash forward four years, and the ‘rats appear to be running yet another candidate who running on yet another phony biography.   Barack Obama claim to qualified to be President is based solely on Aught Two speech in gave to an anti-war group in which he opposed the liberation of Iraq.   That’s it.    When BO talks about his judgment, he referring to this one speech.

Now the party which has so embraced phony biographies, is running into a candidate with a real biography, John McCain, who had more years in the Hanoi Hilton than Kerry had months in country

Professor Althouse sums up BO:

And Barack Obama isn’t a self-made man in the rags-to-riches sense. He has lived a distinctly privileged life — going to all the best schools — and has had to take steps as an adult to put together a more marketable persona. Now, he’s done that wonderfully effectively — but we need to see it for what

Bring BO on.

.

Drezner:

Another day, another online article. The topic of my latest Newsweek column is whether the West — i.e., American and Europe — can still act as the global policy leader. I’m not optimistic: America and Europe face political, economic and demographic challenges to their longstanding primacy. This is a delicate moment for a power transition, given the host of emerging global threats: global warming, nuclear proliferation, macroeconomic imbalances, terrorism, the need to reform global governance and so on. The question is, can the United States and the European Union continue to exercise leadership on these issues?

This is, as they say, a target rich environment. You correctly identify, Dan, that there are issues to deal with. Yet, you bypass their identification, being apparently more concerned with bemoaning the existence of them.

At the outset, it needs to be understood that the west has ALWAYS had  “economic and demographic challenges to their longstanding primacy”. That, Daniel, is the nature of being on the top of the mountain; There’s always someone there trying their best to throw you off. Thats been going on since  before our own Civil war.

The difference between then and now, is, over the years, we’ve changed direction as to staying on top, mostly with our own attitude.  We’re more inclined now, as a nation to ALLOW others to throw us off the top of the mountain. I daresay there are many here in the US… somewhat less than half, in fact, who like the idea of American not being the world leader.Such peope tend to spend a lot of their time being worried about the fraud called ‘global warming’, placing Restrictions on the US but not on the rest of the world, and setting up some kind of ‘world government’, more than they worry about American being strong.  They call that being ‘worldly” or supporting ‘one world’. I call it ‘self-destructive’.

I hate to say this, but I’m not all that worked up about any of Hillary Clinton’s (or any other politician’s) hypocrisy.  Hypocrisy is unbecoming, and it may even raise some question of character (although I’m not sure how exactly), but it’s really empty criticism.  On it’s own, it might make a good argument for discussing the topic that the hypocrisy is focused on, but as a means of fomenting disfavor, I prefer to find more substantive methods.

I’m with you there Art, all of it… there are certainly criminal issues that should be focused on… but I tell you that this kind of thing is so effective because of the point of view of most of her supporters. To understand that comment you need first to understand that our perspective in her earnings is not the important one.

Consider this from the angle of the far leftist Democrat someone whose entire political understanding of money is limited to what Marx taught, and whose definition of ‘rich’ is someone who earns dime one more that they do.  It’s a little hard to attract such people, by saying you’re one with the ‘little people’ when you get hit full in the face with reports of earnings of $109mUSD over seven years.  It’s a little hard to run your primary play.. class warfare… when you’re of the class that you’re suppsoedly fighting.

• I’m still playing with newer templates. I’d kind of like to get something a bit more graphic, but the ones I like the look of take away a lot of the readability our current template has, and most of them would take far too much re-writing to be worthwhile. So, if you see some temporary weirdness… like the entire look changing for a few moments and then changing back again, you’ll understand why.
• WordPress 2.5 continues to rise above my expectations.  The performance has been far better than I ever figured it would be, once I got the admin window java thing squared away.  (My desktop was messed up, as it turns out)
• On Thursday of last week, we had an issue pop up with a couple of the scriptings running in the right side column.  I removed them at the time because they were hanging the site, and causing timeouts… though I’ve re-added them this morning. They seem to be working well again, just now. That’s always the problem with such things.; You’re dependent on whatever server those scripts are tied to, as well as your own. It’s a source of increased frailty. Still, I won’t deny that they’re attractive in that they bring in traffic.  It’s a balance act, in the end.

Well, yeah, there are a number of news sources wh0 call them “Pirates”. I’ll get to that.  Meanwhile, a report on the site of my hometown’s Channel 10:

(AP) PARIS – France’s military is keeping close tabs on a French luxury yacht seized by pirates off Somalia’s coast, and officials hope to avoid using force to free the 30 crew members, the prime minister said Saturday.

Attackers stormed the 288-foot Le Ponant on Friday as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM said.

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said officials were “following the hostage situation minute by minute.”

“Our priority is to protect the lives of the people on board,” Fillon said while visiting the town of Le Mans. “All channels of discussion are open to try to resolve this case by trying not to use force.”

As to the title of “Pirate”, Ace brings something to the table:

Pirate. I do not think that word means what they think it means. For instance, the “Barbary Pirates” were not pirates as you and I traditionally know them. It would be better to think of them as privateers in the service of the ummah–the Islamic nation. Hence, these Islamist privateers generally preyed only upon non-Muslims. Personal gain is fine in the service of jihad.

Actually, that makes a great deal more sense than simple pirates attacking this yacht.

Now, that having been covered, these Islamic nutbags operating in Somalia are not exactly fresh news. Even here in the kindly west, we’ve known about them for quite some time.  So what the devil was this yacht doing operating there?

You may now take Mr. Heston’s firearms. Charlton Heston is dead at age 84. The Associated Press offers an ironic headline, “Oscar-winning star of ‘Ben-Hur’ was known for heroic roles:”

LOS ANGELES – Charlton Heston, who won the 1959 best actor Oscar as the chariot-racing “Ben-Hur” and portrayed Moses, Michelangelo, El Cid and other heroic figures in movie epics of the ’50s and ’60s, has died. He was 84.

Yes Heston played epic roles in Hollywood, but his most epic was in real life, video:

[wp_youtube]lULr1p4DZh8&feature=related[/wp_youtube]

Well said Chuck, rest in peace.

Addendum I:(Bit)

I have some very specific memories of Heston appearing with George McGovern, Dennis Weaver, and Gary Hart in a WFB special, a Firing Line debate. I had the thing taped, but alas, I taped in in Beta.
Hillsdale has part of the text up, however. The proposal Bill Buckley put before the panel: “Reagan was right; Government is the problem”

Heston said, in his opening statement:

It is seldom that liberty of any kind is lost all at once. David Hume, the great Scottish philosopher, said that. I am a Scot myself. He was bloody right. For more than half a century, the shining Republic created by the blood of the Continental Army and a few great men has been nearly nibbled to death by the Democratic ducks in the Congress and a warmly cooperative Supreme Court.

There is now no aspect of American life, public or private, that the federal government does not invade, instruct and finally coerce to its will. Farm and factory, home and school, university and research center, club and playground—all are overlaid with a spidery network of laws, guidelines, restrictions and Draconian penalties that stifle the spirit, the energy, the creative capacity of what was once the freest nation on earth. In this hemisphere, now that Ortega and Noriega have fallen, the collectivists’ sentiments discredited around the world fly best, I fear, in Cuba and Washington, D.C.

Of course, government is the problem. The armies of bureaucrats proliferating like gerbils, scurrying like lemmings in pursuit of the ever-expanding federal agenda testify to that amply. Tom Jefferson, the only genius we ever had, said that government is best which governs least. I am amazed you Democrats are still comfortable with Mr. Jefferson as your designated logo.

One exchange, which shows Heston’s sense of humor:

Rep. Pat Schroeder:

I certainly hope that you are also going to stand strong with us and keep the federal government out of bedrooms. I know people who are on your side also like to get people into the private lives of folks. And I’ve always found it really amazing in that your side often trusts corporations and fat cats to do anything and they want them deregulated, but they want to regulate the private lives of people. I hope you clearly are against that also.

Heston:

Well, as the fellow that took down the original dictation on the Ten Commandments, I am naturally opposed to adultery.

And a passage of that debate serves as a backlight for one of the issues we’re facing today:

Sen. George McGovern:

Mr. Heston, I made reference to the savings and loan crisis. This is probably the most embarrassing and expensive financial scandal in the 200-year history of the country. Some people think that a major contributor to that was the breakdown of government regulation—we actually weakened the regulatory agencies and it was the kind of an atmosphere in the country to let people do what they wanted to in the private sector. What’s your assessment of how well that theory has worked in the savings and loan industry where everybody was more or less allowed to run wild without any kind of government supervision?

Heston:

I think certainly there was grievous dereliction of duty there on the part of the government, specifically the Congress. We lost the Speaker of the House, Jim Wright; we are about to lose the senior senator from California, Alan Cranston, because of their involvement. There were certainly congressmen and senators in both parties that were involved in this. But I don’t think the handling of the program speaks well for the function of government.

Sen. George McGovern:

…as I understand your view here tonight, you would intend, wherever possible, to eliminate government supervision and government regulation. Obviously, we have a lot of scandalous behavior on the part of both the Congress and the executive branch, but is your argument that things would have been better in the savings and loan industry if we had less government regulation and less government supervision?

Heston:

Certainly it would have been better if the little cadre in Congress had not, in kind of a quiet meeting in the [Congressional] Cloak Room, said, “Well, look, let’s guarantee loans up to $100,000.” That was a little careless!

Heston was a true patriot, and will be missed.

Addendum II:  (David L)

Michelle posts all three parts of the address to the National Rifle Association.   Great speech.  Oh by the way, she also posts the trailer to this movie called Ben Hur.  Ever heard of it?

MISSOULA, Mont. — On the air, Ed Schultz, a liberal talk show host based in Fargo, N.D., is well-known for his blunt criticisms of the Bush Administration and the Republican Party. But Mr. Schultz, a fervent supporter of Senator Barack Obama, may have gone too far late Friday when he called Senator John McCain “a warmonger.”

Mr. Schultz, whose program is syndicated nationally, made the remarks while revving up a group of Obama supporters at a $100-a-head fund raiser at the North Dakota Democratic Party’s convention in Grand Forks. As soon as the Republican National Committee got word of the attack, it issued a statement lambasting Mr. Schultz and calling on Mr. Obama to repudiate the characterization of the presumptive Republican nominee for President.

Look, obviously Shultz is a first rate idiot. But my assessment of his idiocy is not because he read the crowd wrong.  It’s quite clear he’s saying what Democrats think; He’s instinctive in his playing to the attitudes of the crowd.  That’s how he makes his money, by playing to the crowd. Thing is, this is way out of touch with American values, and the Obama folks know this. So, the try to hide the idea that their base rteally does think this way…  And that, dear friends is also how the Democrats are so very successful in turning their political events into circular target practice.  Ya see, every once in a while their true attitude leaks out, and they have to spend the next several days in CYA mode.

Think I’m kidding about this being their real position?  I’m not.

“I cannot believe, […] that the only alternative to white racism is black racism. … I publicly repudiate, condemn and reject all white racists. I call upon you to publicly repudiate, condemn and reject all black racists.”

Spiro Agnew, yes that Spiro Agnew, as quoted by Gregory Kane, Baltimore Sun.

Today, McQ relates the story of a young National Guard staff sergeant who was a convoy commander in charge of getting all the vehicles and the 15 soldiers back to his base in Iraq safely. Naturally about 30 insurgents decided they’d ambush him and the convoy with the idea of killing or capturing them all.

As you’ll see, SSG Chad Malmberg had a completely different outcome in mind.

Go and read.

Project Hero, is a worthy attempt on McQ‘s part to remind us that we have heroes among us. Further, that these need to be honored as such. We at BitsBlog are proud to lend our voice to such a project.

By way of James Joyner, I note Teagan Goddard, the morning:

Taegan Goddard argues that Hillary Clinton’s release of seven years of tax returns just after four yesterday was smooth.

Tactically, it’s a perfect time to release them?—?especially if there’s any controversial news in the documents.

1. News coverage will continue to focus on the 40th anniversary of the Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination.
2. There are still more than two weeks until the Pennsylvania primary.
3. It buries the story about chief strategist Mark Penn’s conflicts of interest.
4. Many people are more interested in watching the Final Four and first weekend of baseball season.
5. It’s Friday.

Certainly, she learned something in all those years in the White House.

Actually, it goes back to Arkansas, or she’d never have gotten into the White House. Goddard is correct, though, and that he and others have caught on means this time around it’s just a little too slick for her own good. It’s the kind of thing that her high negatives come from. I wonder if she’ll actually be able to get by with it this time. Based on what I see, I tend to doubt it.

That aside, the thought occurs that the Democrats tend to take great pleasure in tearing down the rich… at least those who got their money by it’s actually being earned at some point in the family history. Will someone please tell me why these figures don’t make people want to tear the Clintons down? Not that Obama is poor, but the point is made; What can they have possibly done, what service to humanity can they possibly have provided that not only puts 109 million in their pockets, but that keeps the ‘kll the rich’ Democrats from complaining about it?

I suppose it’s not unlike the Kremlin; Being a part of the inner circle means you’re exempt from your own socialism.

Addendum:  ( David L )

PoInt to note, the liberals have utterly no problem with being rich.  They have large problems with people who actually earn huge sums of money.   That is libs don’t mind you having tons of money, provided who did absolutely nothing to earn it.    Inheritance, the Kennedys, or marrying a rich widow, John Kerry or open graft, Clintons are all acceptable.