Penn E-mail urged Geffen attacks, library "dump"

[xochi]

Source: politico.com

November 10, 2008

Hillary Clinton's first major mistake of the campaign, her staff has long admitted, was whacking Barack Obama after his supporter David Geffen trashed Clinton to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd on Feb. 20, 2007.

Much of the blame for the overreaction has been shouldered by Clinton communications boss Howard Wolfson, who demanding an apology from Obama -- and insisted Obama's campaign return Geffen's campaign contributions.

But Newsweek's epic account of Obama's campaign this week points a finger at Clinton's top strategist and pollster Mark Penn. The controversial Penn, the story claims, advocated a scorched-earth response -- then trashed Wolfson for the response when it triggered a damaging backlash.

A Feb. 21, 2007 Penn E-Mail -- entitled "How do we hit back?" -- obtained by Politico, suggests that Penn was a prime mover in goading Clinton's brain trust into a sharp response linking Obama with the entertainment mogul's remarks.

He wrote:

Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/1108/Penn_Email_urged_Geffen_attacks_library_dump.html

[eridani]

1. Hillary ought to string up that jackass by the short hairs n/t

[Jim Sagle]

2. Whadda crocka chickenshit bullshit.

And aren't the primaries over, anyhow?

:boring:

[nichomachus]

6. Primaries are over and now is the perfect time

to figure out what worked and what didn't for the next time. It's called "failure analysis." Those who don't do it are destined to fail again and again.

[Hieronymus]

9. Of course you're right ... we deserve to know what happened, even if it's

unpleasant.

[Bad Thoughts]

7. deleted

deleted

[truthisfreedom]

3. Thank you for your "concern."

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Heck, I Could Have Destroyed Hillary's Campaign For Only $2 Million

She should hire me next time - I'm a better buy than Penn.

[JNelson6563]

5. I hope we hear no more of Mark Penn

Asshole.

[blondeatlast]

8. Penn's a jackass. but the primaries are over. I never liked HRC but I'm sick

and tired of the recurring hatred.

Politico's just a dressed up Drudge, anyway.

[marlo]

10. I think that we all have a vested

interest in conducting ourselves like adults, putting the pettiness and the anger that was present during the primaries (and the general election) behind us and moving forward, but does that mean there can never be any discussion about the events behind the scenes that led to Barack securing the nomination? Taking down the Clintons is a huge deal, and think that there is nothing wrong with analyzing what went on behind the scenes during the campaign. Maybe I'm incredibly naive, but I also believe that this can be done respectfully without bashing Hillary or anyone who supported her. Is this notion totally out of line?

[blondeatlast]

11. Thanks, mom. I'll try to do better next time. You weren't here for the primaries, I'm guessing--

unless you are now wearing a sock.

[marlo]

14. I've been lurking here for years,

and I saw exactly what happened on this forum during the primaries. It got pretty nasty; however, several months have passed, and I know that this forum is filled with a surfeit of intelligent, well-adjusted people, so I figured that it would be possible to have a conversation about the behind the scenes info from the Clinton camp, the Obama camp, the McCain camp etc. that's being released to the press now without people opening each others throats.

I guess I was wrong.

[rvablue]

12. No, your notion is not totally out of line, and I'm a former Hillary supporter

Your post is excellent and should be heeded so that yes, we can come to understand what went on without bashing Hillary or the feeling of her supporters. Acting like adults is the perfect way to put it, b/c if you are going to get into this political game, you must understand that in every single primary, members of the same party are going to go at each other. Obama gave as much as he got.

One of the early reasons of why I was able to jump on the Obama campaign so easily was his accomplishment of outlasting, outwitting and outcampaigning the Clinton machine. This made me trust that he could take us across the finish line. It is an accomplishment in and of itself for the history books and so it must be dissected and analyzed.

In months and years to come, DUers who hated Hillary will come to see her as one of Obama's greatest allies in the Senate, if she remains there.

[dionysus]

13. good post

:thumbsup:

[xochi]

17. Well said! One of several thoughtful and sober posts here... n/t

[roguevalley]

15. I want to know what happened, how it happened and how not to

repeat it. that is not hatred. that is educating yourself against failure.

[high density]

16. It's not hatred

It's a historical look into what happened, and it happens after every campaign cycle. Yes, it reinforces what an idiot Mark Penn was (is?) but that was already known. Penn attacking Newsweek by saying that their quotes are wrong is highly suspect. They had embedded reporters writing specifically for the post-election recap article that came out last week, and I have no reason to believe they'd make stuff up.

I do hope future Democratic campaigns will jettison the "guilt by association" crap against fellow Democrats.