Mark Penn met with his client, the Colombian government, to strategize about a trade pact his client, Hillary Clinton, opposes

Just out from the Wall Street Journal, Mark Penn strikes again:

Hillary Clinton's chief campaign strategist met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. on Monday to discuss a bilateral free-trade agreement, a pact the presidential candidate opposes.

Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials. It is not clear if Mr. Penn was there in his campaign role or in his job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm.

The firm has a contract with the South American nation to help promote congressional approval of the trade deal, among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department.

Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Mr. Penn's campaign-consulting firm, received more than $10million in payments from the Clinton campaign as of the end of February, according to federal election filings.

Mr.Penn declined to comment. Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Clinton's campaign, declined to comment on Mr.Penn's presence at the meeting. "Sen. Clinton's opposition to the trade deal with Colombia is clear," Mr.Wolfson wrote in an email response to inquiries. He referred questions to Burson-Marsteller. A firm Burson-Marsteller spokesman did not return calls or emails seeking comment.

A spokesman for Colombia's President Álvaro Uribe said that the ambassador met with Mr. Penn to discuss the bilateral agenda. "There have also been meetings with the advisers to the campaigns of Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain," he said, calling the meetings part of the embassy's normal business. "It's the embassy's job to explain Colombia's reality."

UPDATE: At The Field, Al Giordano has a post about an attack on Obama from Colombia's President Uribe (Mark Penn's client) who Al calls "the single biggest violator of human rights in the American hemisphere." What a coincidence, huh? Read More......

A speech delivered forty years ago tonight in Memphis

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CBS/NY Times polls: 81% say U.S. is on the wrong track. 81%.

Americans aren't happy with the direction of the country:

Americans' views on the economy and the general state of the country have hit an all-time low in the history of the CBS News/New York Times poll. Eighty-one percent of those polled say the country is on the wrong track, while only 14 percent believe it is heading in the right direction.

Asked to compare the state of the country to how it was five years ago, 78 percent say things are worse today - the highest percentage since CBS News began asking the question in 1986. Only four percent say things are better now.

You think Americans want four more years of the George Bush policies that brought us to this? Because on the issues, Bush and McCain are the McSame. Read More......

Bear Stearns gets a $30 billion bailout, but no bankruptcy reform for real people who might lose their homes

The Bush administration, Congress and the financial services industry spent the first part of this decade working on bankruptcy "reform." It was the kind of "reform" that screwed over real people. Far too many Democrats -- 73 in the House -- went along with Bush, Tom DeLay and the GOP to support the legislation. At the same all the key financial players were working to make bankruptcy harder on average Americans, the financial services industry was veering unregulated to the chaos we have today.

Ironically (or not), on the same day the Federal Reserve Chairman and others were testified before a Senate panel to justify the $30 billion taxpayer backed bailout of Bear Stearns, the Senate defeated efforts to reform the nation's bankruptcy laws:

“This really tries my patience,” he said. “At this point in time, we don’t have the appetite in the Senate to face this.”

Durbin’s amendment would allow judges to revise the terms of mortgages on primary residences. It is opposed by the banking lobby and most Republicans. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), for example, said earlier Thursday that he would have insisted on a 60-vote threshold for the amendment’s adoption. That all but doomed the bill’s chances in a Senate split 51-49.

Of course Mitch McConnell wanted to screw over real people.

Money does talk on Capitol Hill. And, despite all their huges losses, those financial services types do have money. Read More......

On the Hill, F.A.A. staffers testify the agency ignored serious safety issues on Southwest planes and let them fly anyway

This is comforting. Just another example of the Bush administration ignoring your safety:

Three veteran Federal Aviation Administration inspectors told lawmakers on Thursday that their agency supervisors looked the other way while Southwest Airlines neglected to inspect planes as required, and continued to fly them even after discovering cracks in some of them.

The inspectors said that their F.A.A. supervisors knew of the problems but had discouraged them from pursuing the safety problems or addressing problems within the agency, even threatening to relieve them of their duties.

One was removed from his job as an office manager and another was encouraged to apply for a transfer, they said. A third said he was temporarily removed from his role overseeing Southwest, as a result of complaints by the airline.

Is there any agency in the Bush administration that has actually done its job and put the public first? Any? Read More......

Another Clinton superdelegate, New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, talks about switching his vote

All that talk from the Clinton campaign about superdelegates having the right to vote for whomever they want is catching on, but not the way the Clinton campaign wants according to this report on First Read:

Per NBC’s Tom Winter, Gov. Jon Corzine, a Clinton superdelegate, just said on CNBC's Squawk Box that he reserves the right to change his vote from Hillary Clinton if she doesn't have the popular vote. He stopped short of saying that he definitely would change his vote if she lost the popular vote and he did strongly emphasize that Sen. Clinton would win the popular vote in the end.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, another Clinton super, has said similar things regarding the popular vote.

Cantwell made her statement late last month:

“If we have a candidate who has the most delegates and the most states,” the Democratic party should come together around that candidate, Cantwell said. The pledged delegate count will be the most important factor, she said, because that is the basis of the nominating process.

UPDATE: Sam Stein has an interview with another Clinton superdelegate, Rep. John Murtha, that seems to veer from the Clinton messaging, too:

Hillary Clinton simply cannot be the Democratic nominee if she doesn't win the popular vote, Pennsylvania congressman and Clinton-backer John Murtha said Wednesday.

"Clinton has to win Pennsylvania," he argued in an interview. "She has to be ahead in the popular vote to have any chance at all of getting this nomination."

Murtha declined to speculate on how the rest of the primary would play out. But during a wide-ranging interview he offered takes on many aspects of the primary race that put him at odds with his chosen candidate.

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Susan Collins rebuked in Maine press for trying to distract from real issues

The Kennebec Journal blasted Susan Collins for trying to make attendance one of the major issues in her re-election campaign:

While Collins' attendance record is an accomplishment, it's a big stretch to propose that it should provide a significant basis for evaluation of her record. Conversely, short of Allen missing a large number of votes -- say 10 percent or more -- we don't think his attendance record is a substantial issue.

Attendance at votes speaks nothing about the substance of those votes. And in the end, what Maine voters should focus on in this race and others are not diversionary tactics, but where candidates have stood and now stand on significant issues such as the economy, health care and the war in Iraq.

Clearly, this is a typical GOP distraction from the real issues. Tom didn't miss that many votes -- and he always votes the right way.

But, Susan's big issue is apparently her perfect attendance. Twelve years in the Senate and that's the best she can do? It's pathetic. And, as the Kennebec Journal notes, it's very "high school." Maybe she should have missed a couple of votes:

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"Mr. Bush has sometimes seemed invisible during the housing and credit crunch"

Bush wasn't quite invisible -- clueless is more appropriate. Actually, for months, Bush was singing the praises of the U.S. economy -- while it crumbled around him. When he does speak, he gets it wrong. Maybe, it is best for all of ust that he's out of the country thinking about other things (not that he knows what he's doing on other issues, either):

The first hint that President Bush might be detached from the nation’s economic woes was in February, when he conceded that he had not heard about predictions of $4-a-gallon gasoline.

Then Mr. Bush went to Wall Street to warn against “massive government intervention in the housing markets,” two days before his administration helped broker the takeover of the investment bank Bear Stearns.

Now Mr. Bush is in Eastern Europe, one of eight foreign trips he is taking this year. As he delivered his farewell address to NATO on Wednesday, Senate Democrats and Republicans were holed up in the Capitol, scrambling to produce a bill to help struggling homeowners, the kind of government intervention Mr. Bush had cautioned against.

For a man who came into office as the nation’s first M.B.A. president, Mr. Bush has sometimes seemed invisible during the housing and credit crunch. As the economy eclipses Iraq as the top issue on voters’ minds, even some Republican allies of the president say Mr. Bush is being eclipsed and is in danger of looking out of touch.

I'd say we're well past Bush "looking" out of touch. He is out of touch. Read More......

Obama raised over $40 million in March. Clinton withholding her total til the FEC filing deadline on April 20th. John McCain is breaking the law.

First, any discussion about campaign finance spending must start with a reminder that the GOP nominee is not only being vastly outraised, John McCain is breaking the campaign finance laws. He is in the public finance system and subject to its limitations. In February, he knowingly exceeded the spending cap, which is a crime.

Now, for the Democrats and interesting developments from both campaigns.

Via Ben Smith, Obama's fundraising was once again astounding:

Yet another success of lowered expectations, and well-concealed numbers, as Obama announces his fundraising numbers for March.

The campaign says he raised more than $40 million from more than 442,000, more than 218,000 of whom were giving for the first time. It's a well Obama's barely begun to tap.

Apparently, we'll be waiting for several weeks before we see the Clinton total for March. This is significant. Very significant. In the past, the Clinton campaign jumped out front to release its campaign numbers -- often before the reporting period had even ended. Even when Clinton had a bad month in January, only raising $13.5 million, Terry McAuliffe revealed the number on February 4th. We knew on February 28, 2008 that Clinton had raised $35 million in February. Not this time. According to Howard Wolfson, on a Clinton campaign conference call, we may see the tax returns soon, but the Clinton campaign will not be releasing its March fundraising total until the filing deadline, which is the 20th of the month. That's not a good sign for Team Clinton. What are they trying to hide?

The superdelegates should probably be asking about the financial viability of the Clinton campaign. Remember, money was part of the Clinton campaign's inevitability -- and she finished February with lots of debt and unhappy creditors. Read More......

More bad economic news: New unemployment claims rose and were higher than expected

I don't imagine the people losing their jobs are going to get a multi-billion dollar bailout like Bear Stearns got:

The number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits last week shot up to the highest level in more than two years, fresh evidence of the damage to a national economy clobbered by housing, credit and financial crises.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications filed for unemployment insurance jumped by a seasonally adjusted 38,000 to 407,000 for the week ending March 29. The increase left claims at their highest point since Sept. 17, 2005, following the blows of the devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes.

"This report supports the view that the jobs market is deteriorating toward recessionary conditions," said T.J. Marta, a fixed-income strategist at RBC Capital Markets.

The latest snapshot of labor activity was worse than economists had anticipated. They had predicted claims would be much lower, around 365,000.

Remember, John McCain himself admitted he doesn't know much about the economy. Read More......

If you're in debt and not paying your bills, those 3 a.m. calls can be disturbing

We know McCain is inept on the economy. But, how can Clinton solve the nation's economic woes when her own campaign is in debt and can't pay its bills? From the JedReport:

Politico's Ken Vogel has the details on Clinton's debt problems, saying that her campaign has earned "a reputation as something of a deadbeat in some small-business circles." And it's not just the embarrassment of being a deadbeat -- Clinton's money trouble is yet another indicator of a campaign struggling to survive.

So, given the campaign's financial track record, this is the more likely 3 a.m. call, again, via Jed:



As we reported on March 21st, at the end of February, the Clinton campaign was in debt. The Politico article cited by Jed confirms that:

The New York senator’s presidential campaign ended February with $33 million in the bank, according to a report filed last week with the Federal Election Commission, but only $11 million of that can be spent on her battle with Obama.

The rest can be spent only in the general election, if she makes it that far, and must be returned if she doesn’t. If she had paid off the $8.7 million in unpaid bills she reported as debt and had not loaned her campaign $5 million, she would have been nearly $3 million in the red at the end of February.

Obama has $32 million free and clear at the end of February. Imagine if the situation were reversed. Yeah, imagine that. Read More......

Thursday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

John McCain is still on his crime spree, illegally spending campaign money. And, the traditional media is still abetting him. So frustrating. How can the political reporters let McCain get away with scamming the campaign finance laws that McCain purports to champion? This is a glaring example of the free ride McCain is getting from the press.

Anyway, start threading. Read More......

Open Thread

So, we're right in the middle of all new South Park episodes. Tonight's show featured all the "biggest internet stars" -- even Chris Crocker made an appearance:


And, Canada was on strike. It's always something with the Canadians on South Park. Read More......