Hillary's Blackwater Connection

A lot of negative things have been written in the blogosphere about pollster Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's increasingly-powerful advisor. Penn's critics have focused on his firm's union-busting work. They've also attacked his insistence on promoting a strategy of so-called "centrism," even as supposedly "centrist" policy positions - especially regarding Iraq - become increasingly unpopular. And now we learn that the PR firm he runs, Burson-Marsteller, has been hired to repair Blackwater's reputation.

Which raises a question: If they're so good at PR, how did Burson-Marsteller manage to make themselves such a potential public relations disaster for their most famous client? After all, the firm helps "drive strong corporate and brand reputations for its clients," according to its corporate webpage. What will this link with out-of-control mercenaries do for Sen. Clinton's "brand reputation?"

While I haven't hesitated to criticize the Clinton campaign or its advisors, I've deliberately refrained from commenting on Mark Penn for a couple of reasons. For one thing, I work in the corporate world too. We're a capitalist society, and if a person chooses to function in that world the lines aren't quite as black-and-white as they may seem from the outside. (Although union-busting is, or should be, beyond the pale - especially for someone with a leadership role in a campaign that seeks union support.)

For another, I'm not prepared to heap the kind of scorn on Penn that others do (although Kos' impaling of him yesterday is pretty much the definitive blog commentary on Penn's shortcomings). I haven't read "Microtrends," Penn's new book. But Ezra Klein has, and his piece on it and Penn may be the definitive print takedown of the pollster.

Yet another reason I've stayed away from commenting on Penn is that Sen. Clinton seems committed to working with him - and, despite all evidence to the contrary, I suppose I keep clinging to the tattered hope that she develop into a candidate worth supporting in 2008. Some of us haven't completely given up on her yet ... but time is growing short.

Now we have the news that Burson-Marsteller, under Penn's leadership, has taken on Blackwater as a client. Blackwater has become a symbol for everything that's wrong with the incumbent Administration, from the greedy and irresponsible outsourcing of governmental functions to Pentagon-sanctioned atrocities like the shooting of an Iraqi politician's bodyguard by a drunken mercenary operating beyond the law.

Ezra Klein quotes Penn's partner and others as saying that he's driven by "the numbers," and only by the numbers. Yet numbers can only be understood in context - and political contexts include the social, the perceptual ... and the ethical. Taking on Blackwater shows a blindness toward context.

Mel Brooks said this about Hitler in a 1966 Playboy interview:

"There was a whole nice side of Hitler. He was a good dancer - no one knows that. He loved a parakeet named Bob - no one knows that either."

Here's some professional advice for Burson-Marsteller. The best you can do for your new client is to try an approach like that for your client (although Brooks, of course, was joking).

This latest revelation about Penn and his firm doesn't seem to have hit the mainstream media, at least so far. But it doesn't have to get wide press in order to do lasting damage to her campaign, especially during the primaries. That's something we're about to address in our next post - one that will presumably meet with Mr. Penn's approval, since it will be driven by "the numbers."

We're being told that Sen. Clinton and her staff combine "experience" and management savvy with the ability and desire to create "change." This example of poor judgment casts doubts on both claims. It's not smart management, and it certainly doesn't make her look like the candidate of "change."

As for Burson-Marsteller, the best thing it can do for its new client is to buy it a parakeet named "Bob."

A Night Light
The Sentinel Effect: Healthcare Blog
Future-While-U-Wait
RJ Eskow at the Huffington Post

Comments

[villastrangiato]

If these pantsuit creep gets the nomination - I guess I'll be writing in Daffy Duck again in November 08...

[researcher]

vote for hillary she is another neo con and will screw the middle class but they love to be screwed. check out ohio and flordia and they are living proof of loving to be screwed.

oh forgot conn. libermann is still putting it to them. as a neo con I win either way hillary or repub pres.

red states votes forever keeps the war for profits money coming in.

without the red states and cousins marrying cousins southern states we would be a second rate liberal feel good country.

thank you middle class america for your votes. hillary will pay you back by busting your unions and letting illegal cheap labor in to keep wages low in the new america service economy.

god I love the chamber of commerce and the middle class they just keep on giving. they even send their children to fight in illegal wars for profits. true patroits; love them.

wanta be neo cons are a blessing. keep it up americans I have got two kids to send to an elitist private religious university could not do it without ya.

I want my kids to get the same good education that I did. it worked for me it can work for them.

signed
member of chamber of commerce and local evangel christian church.

[lafrance]

the story will never hit the mainstream and if it leaks out they will quickly cover it up.
The mainstream is so in love with Hillary and her non answers and triangulation and corruption that they do their hardest work to make sure they do an ongoing boosterism for her and pump her up and won't bring up anything approaching something not totally gushing about her.
they will take nonstories about her opponets and build them into major 'scandal' like Obama's flagpin to hold off anything about the real story, like Penn and blackwater, from being aired.
Witness the bogus poll showing Clinton at 53 percent. No other poll shows that. It hovers around 15. those they never brought up or aired. Only the one that was bogus all week.
hardly a word was mentioned of Hillary not signing that pledge to not torture and no one has aired anything about Penn and union busting.
So, don't hold your breath that this will be known to anyone who doesn't read blogs. It will not be mainstream news. They are too busy trashing Edwards still over his haircut and making up scandals over flagpins.

[Californian]

Agree completely. If they can't find anything on Obama they'll invent something--like the flagpin--at the worst possible moment.

They'll hype Hillary all the way. If (when) she loses the early states, they'll say she didn't need to win them.

If she manages to get the nomination, once that's sewn up, then they'll suddenly discover this Blackwater connection, and who knows what else they're sitting on. And the Republican nominee will suddenly become the guy you'd most like to have a beer with. Again.

CNN is worse than Fox. At least Fox is out in the open with their propaganda.

[MrXfromplanetX]

Obama, isn't any better. He hasn't tried to get rid of the Patriot Act, he's not going to end the war in Iraq, he's talked about invading Pakistan, he doesn't appose the North American Union, and he wants to increase foreign spending by 50 billion.

I was going to vote for him. I thought he would look out for poor black people, but I don't believe he's really what he appears to be now.

[MrXfromplanetX]

Then maybe you need to send this link to friends and try to get the word out. That's why Ron Paul has a web presence for the most part.

We have to try to overcome the brainwashing of the mainstream media.

[longislandlol]

They (Clinton people) have lots of experience- We (the questioning public) need to ask- were all of her too numerous to name experiences (along with those of her handlers) positive ones? Some more analytical (college grads and beyond) are not going out by the bus loads to vote for all this experience.

[Absintheforall]

Mr. Rove, meet Mr. Penn.

[Countess]

Mrs.Clinton has already shown she will lead a corrupt hawkish administration any the only thing that could explain her lead among democrats is media manipulation and pure ignorance.

[ElkoJohn]

americans love a loser who can win

[laurenc]

Everybody take a look at this fascinating post: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/10/5/155841/062...which documents much about why Hillary (and the Clinton connections in all their variousness) are a tragic mistake for the Democratic Party. If we wonder why we were stuck with a bozo like Kerry last time, how so many people "just didn't like him enough" to vote for him, and how the Democrats are plunging into that "What's the Matter with Kansas" slough AGAIN, read this Daily Kos story and make sure she doesn't get the nomination. Please!

[dora rice]

you talked about Kerry the same way. You also talked about Gore the same way. Why don't you just get it over with and vote the republican sheeps clothes you are

[backhandpath]

No. I'm done with Hillary too...and her ilk who laid down like sheep during the 2000 election fraud.

This is unconscionable.

I refuse to assume that position.

écrasez l'infâme

[Scarabus]

Does any of this matter? The media have already decided who the candidates will be. The totally anti-democratic Democratic Party prelim policy guarantees there will be no real opportunity for "back-benchers" to challenge, or for voters to focus ever more tightly as they winnow the candidates over time.

Cripes! Huff-Po itself has already done two really bad things: (a) asserted implicitly that only Clinton and Obama matter, Edwards maybe...if you want to talk about haircuts rather than genuine compassion; (b) affirmed implicitly that what really matters is fundraising and, especially, donations from celebrities. (Why are we given breathless updates on celebrity donations, including pictures...but no breathless updates on candidates' positions and explanations for "connections" and challenges on critical issues (like Iran)?

Is Clinton suspect for sucking up to Wal-Mart and to Blackwater? Gimme a break! Progressives hate that, but they don't count. The media have already anointed Clinton. With Republicans, on the other hand, those evil bed-fellows will actually add to Clinton's cred. They actually like "Rambo" (as long as his skin color is white--how many persons of color does one find among Blackwater's mercenaries?), and they don't give a care about destruction of local business, Asian slave labor, lead poisoning, pollution of the environment, etc.

American democracy is broken; and Huff-Po is part of the problem, not part of the solution.

[davidly]

Yeah, and just look at how many celebrities donate equally to both Obama and Clinton. Oh- if they're really enlightened, they give a couple of grand to the top three. Gotta puke.

[The Impartial]

I don't see why "Huff-Po is part of the problem".
This is just a site where anybody can come in and give his/her idea, right or wrong, conserv or lib, dude or bright,...Of course American is broken , and, more than ever since 2001. This Administration has been tearing the Constitution.

[pkmlk]

I haven't heard anything good about Mark Penn...other than he's working for Hillary's campaign & is a partner w an office who has a client, Blackwater! What I hear is he's a shifty character.

[GreatFutureForAll]

What concerns me is this steady "drip" of stories that keep coming out about Hillary Clinton.

Just a few weeks ago, one of her chief fundraisers, Norman Hsu was jailed after sending thousands of dollars of tainted money to the Clinton campaign. And, it was only after the FBI began to investigate Hsu that the Clinton team decided to return the money to the so called "donors"(they defended Hsu's efforts prior to the public scandal).

Clinton, when questioned about her willingness to take money from Washington lobbyists, essentially replied that Washington lobbyists are just like everyone else and should be part of the decision making process. She later added that she will seek a "consensus" of opinion when it comes to healthcare reform.

In this respect, Mark Penn fits in perfectly.

It almost seems as if Clinton is saying "trust me. I know how Washington works better than anyone. I may work with the Devil, but your needs will be met."

"If you want to be beat the Republicans next year, I'M YOUR GIRL! I may do some things like they do....But, at least you'll have a DEMOCRAT in the White House. And, you know, thats all that matters!"

If the polls are right and our choice to lead this beleaguered country has come down to just Clinton and Rudy Giuliani, then I may need to fly off to another land...for good.

Some of us thought about it after Bush was re-elected a second time. But after eight of the most disastrous years in our nation's history (from 9/11 to Iraq and the pathetic response to the suffering of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi following Katrina), it may be time think ahead and make some plans just in case.

This is not a country coming together. As we've witnessed in Jena and elsewhere, we seem to moving further and further apart.

There is no way Clinton is going to appeal to Republicans. And Giuliani hates diversity during a time when we have nothing but ever increasing diversity.

Neither will bring America together.

This is getting scary.

[SunDog7]

If you are white, perhaps you remember why your ancestors came to this country in the first place....cause it was getting pretty foul somewhere else. Well this "somewhere else" is now getting pretty foul. Sorry but funds now buy votes...that's the way that it is. And the same blood that ran in my ancestor's veins that got them out of there is getting me outa here.

[horhay]

If you are white...? That is irrelevant, so many people of different nationalities and religions have immigrated to this country for the same reasons your ancestors did. After the Vietnam war , refugees from Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam did almost anything they could do to escape the devastation and chaos of that military disaster. Just wait, there will be a mass exodus from Iraq eventually, too.

But if you think leaving the country is the answer. You can run but you can't hide. Blackwater and other mercenary battalions are a very bad omen for the so-called free world. It won't matter where you live, they shoot at will and no Geneva Conventions to get in their way. Better take a stand here and make sure they are dealt with now, not later.

[Swift2]

I give up on the Clinton haters. Hey, I've got an original idea: if you've got a candidate whose policy is better, tell us about it, urge us to support him, and tell us why.

Let's see: a consultant who works for Hillary has a company which has been hired to help Blackwater's image. So? Did Hillary cackle and say, "Oh, good. The neofascists and I will proceed to eat small children!" No, she didn't. I don't imagine she has any power to influence that at all. Nor SHOULD she.

Look, the GOP tried all this on Bill, and the day he was impeached, his approval rating was in the 60s. It didn't work for them, and they actually believed the weird crap about Whitewater and Hillary having affairs and the Clintons running hit squads and all that psychologi­cally-gene­rated foolishness.

Work your issues! Do the heavy lifting! We have some work to do, and this weak-minded conspiracy crap helps no one, and especially not who you want to win, whoever he is. Or do you want the People's International Granola Party to win? Or Al Gore? Or the Trotskyite Worker's Bloc? Or Karl Rove? Tell us what's on YOUR mind, not this mind-rot and guilt by association.

You could even tell us what influence Penn has had on the Clinton campaign, you know. If you have some actual facts, I'll be glad to read them. Otherwise, I'd much rather play tiddly-winks.

[deleweye]

1. Work your steps; you're in denial again.

2. The Clintons got where they are - and are trying to stay there - by playing by the rules of good ole boy politics: Take care of the money-men first, and then you can hug as many trees as you want. That's not a conspiracy, that's how the world of power works, and plenty of us have first-hand experience of that reality.

3. If you want to understand Hillary's position on any issue, simply look at the contributors lists. The rest is just rationalizations for the great unwashed; i.e., voters.

In that, she's no different from Bush or most of the rest. The challenge is finding a candidate of any party who has the platform to get the public's attention without buying into how "the game" has to be played.

We'd all probably be as well off playing tiddly-winks.

[SunDog7]

Break 'em out.

[timm0]

How about YOU do some heavy lifting... for starters, lift your eyelids off the floor. Go to those sites and read about Penn. Read about how long and deep the ties are to the Clintons. Trace all the power games and victims. Just because you close your eyes to the continued demonstrat­ion/revela­tion of facts that prove the ethical and moral bankruptcy of the team running HRC's campaign by calling it "weak-minded conspiracy crap" doesn't change reality. It merely shows you prefer your fantasy world where beautiful queen hillary is carried on a splendorous throne down a street paved with gold and grins wistfully at the surrounding throngs of cheerful, healthy children as they dance and sing without a care......... to the real one many of us are stuck in, with no cause for optimism or hope so long as someone who personifies all that is wrong with American politics gets pushed up the ladder.

Wake up.

[Donald]

You don't want to support or vote for Sen. Clinton, fine -- that's both your right and your prerogative.

But at least keep in mind that your Clinton-bashing comes at a time when many citizens are waxing nostalgic for her husband's remarkably competent governance -- especially in the wake of the Bush administration, which is without a doubt the single most disastrous presidency since James Buchanan presided meekly over the breakup of the Union just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War in 1860. Therefore, you're probably doing more to drive voters toward Mrs. Clinton than away from her.

Your own post really contains nothing but the same old messianic innuendo and vile personal attacks that have been regularly regurgitated by GOP "true believers" for 15+ years now. Quite frankly, it's reached a point where most Democrats and independents really don't give a rat's ass about what starry-eyed, gullible Republicans like you choose to believe about either Mrs. Clinton or her husband.

Republicans have inflicted incalculable harm upon our country by promoting an abject moron like George W. Bush for the presidency, and as such they may well have forfeited the privilege of being taken seriously by most voters for the foreseeable future.

[surfcitysteven]

I've got an issue for you Swift 2 for which there is no amount of backpeddling Hillary can do to make amends. Iraq. End of discussion.

[ConnieInCleveland]

I WANT AL GORE TODAY! I would like to see Al Gore re-elected with Chuck Hagel as his V.P. They would so shock both parties, they would have immediate coverage and a VOICE THAT WOULD BE HEARD. I think Americans should be Americans first, Democrats and Republicans second. America is so divided, it's no wonder we are so disfunctional.

GORE/HAGEL '08 -- SPEAKING TRUTH TO POWER FROM DAY ONE. I HAVE HEARD AL GORE SPEAK ABOUT WHAT THIS ADMINISTRATION IS DOING TO THE CONSTITUTION AND CHUCK HAGEL TALK ABOUT WHAT THIS ADMINISTRATION IS DOING TO OUR MILITARY. I THINK IT'S TIME WE CHANGE FOR THE POSITIVE. WE NEED POSITIVE VOICES THAT WILL GET HEARD. THE MEDIA COULD NOT IGNORE, DEMOCRAT/REPUBLICAN TICKET. They could draw in good people from both parties. They could take votes from both parties. Many people have no faith in either party and are loosing faith in our government. We need to take our country back from the warmongers and liers from both parties.

[surfcitysteven]

We may as well let George be president forever if the choice is Hillary. Never again will the democrats have any moral standing from which to bludgeon the rightwing on corruption. We will be as ashamed of her, (I already am) as true conservatives are of George. What I really can't understand is the support she has given the fact that she absolutely failed us on Iraq. How can a true liberal possibly vote for her?

[Donald]

It's easy. Most true liberals aren't prone to believe such breathless hyperbole as yours.

[fourex]

There is an attraction and loyalty to Blackwater that goes beyond rational or moral reasoning. Certainly Penn's number worship can't explain it. The other day listening to Rep. Shays gush passionately for the private army, brought chills to my spine. I have concluded that our government has fallen in love with their hit men, men who are willing to kill indiscriminately to protect them. The real numbers are that the entire government from WH to Congress are bankrolling this new SS.

[deleweye]

I suspect a lot of it the vicarious thrills a pack of draft-dodging cowards get from having real killers at their disposal.

[SunDog7]

That' right. Haven't we all had this character type burned into our consciousness for decades in the movies and on tv...and printed on the back of black t-shirts. How can it surprise anyone when it becomes a reality. What you envision you create.

[nippersdad]

I had heard about this connection too and, unfortunately, I felt no shock at the time. The cynicism inherent to corporatists feeling like they are free to corner all aspects of the political process because they have the wherewithal to buy it is really frightening to me. I never pledged allegiance to a corporate oligopoly and the profits to which it feels entitled. It is a mystery why anyone else thinks that they did.

If the mission of Hillary's political advisors is to "drive strong corporate and brand reputations for its clients," they have certainly succeeded (with me, anyway). I see no difference between corporate Republicans and Corporate Democrats at this point.

[Independent voter]

If you believe that that Sen. Clinton and her staff combine "experience" and management savvy with the ability and desire to create "change." I have the following suggestions:

1) remove head from ass
2) perform an enema
3) open eyes, read for yourself
4) stop believing what the Clintons tell you

Repeat as needed.

Nominating Clinton is a sure way to get Rudy in the White House.

[MrLion]

Hillary Rodham Clinton is as much of a "change agent" as Pope Benedict XVI.