Mark Penn resigns; blogosphere sighs

Hillary Clinton's Karl Rove, Mark Penn, has resigned as her chief strategist. He will stay on board as her chief pollster. (Hat tip: aeromusek.)

The immediate cause of Penn's departure is a flap over his meeting last week with the Colombian government -- in which he was ostensibly acting in his private capacity as a lobbyist and strategist, not as a member of Hillaryland -- but that was really just the straw that broke the camel's back. Penn has been widely reviled by everyone in Hillary's inner circle (except Hillary herself) throughout the entire campaign and before, and he almost certainly would have been sacked back in January as part of Hillary's rumored post-New Hampshire "shakeup" if she had, as expected, lost the Granite State's primary. Instead, he was inexplicably kept on board despite the fact that everyone hates him and his "strategy" was an obvious failure. To make matters worse, as Josh Marshall says, it was absolutely crazy to have "Mark Penn both run message and polling when his polling is so legendary for cherry picking data to confirm his preferred political strategies and messages."

Anyway, I'm kind of sad about this, as Penn was easily the most reliable source on the Clinton campaign team for nonsensical, risible bulls*** spin, which made for great fun mocking him. Alas, to paraphrase Richard Nixon, the blogosphere won't have Mark Penn to kick around anymore.

P.S. Chris Cillizza writes:

While the news of chief political strategist Mark J. Penn's abrupt departure from Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign this evening took many in the Democratic political world by surprise, talk soon turned to how the move would impact the overall message of the campaign. One Democratic consultant, granted anonymity to speak candidly, predicted "a less combative campaign and more focused on her strengths."

Penn was a major influence in Clinton's decision to focus on her toughness and readiness to be commander in chief during the campaign. He was one of the guiding forces behind the now-infamous "3 am" telephone ringing at the White House ad that sought to raise questions about Sen. Barack Obama's (Ill.) ability to lead the country in the event of a national security crisis.

Comments

[Mad Max, Esquire]

Mark Penn is surely a bigger fucking idiot than Bob Shrum (and that is saying something). Hillary should have lost that fat, unkempt slob months ago. Of course, I think the damage has been done to her campaign (mostly because Penn...and pretty much anyone...is incapable of keeping Hillary from being Hillary).

[David K.]

What strengths of Hillary's are they expecting to focus on exactly? Her comparison to Rocky was apt, Rocky LOST.

[Joe Mama]

Penn (and Shrum, for that matter) would only be the Democrat "Karl Rove" if they actually won something.

[Angrier and Angrier]

Hillary lied about Bosnia, lied about that dying woman, has played the gender card, has tried to use the race card and stuck with this Penn ass for far too long. Hillary can't make a good judgment call at 3pm. What makes anyone think she can do it at 3am?