The funniest part of all this "momentum" bullshit is that Obama's delegate pickups have been almost perfectly predicted by his campaign's spreadsheet model. One of these campaigns actually knows what it's doing, and it ain't the one Penn works for,

Bah, and people believe Penn? Clinton didn't break Obama's momentum in getting more pledged delegates out of Texas than she did.

umm....bullshit?

I love how the Hillary campaign operates the same way Bush does, "if we say it is true, that makes it true, we don't need facts"

Niiicceee.

Limbaugh effect. Yeah, yeah, I know. It couldn't POSSIBLY have altered the vote count, right?

I did an analysis of voting in Ohio. In heavily Republican counties, voter turnout in the Democratic primary was greater than 100% of votes cast for Kerry in the 2004 election. I'd like to see where that occurred besides Ohio and Texas. My guess - nowhere.

Add to that the fact that Bill Clinton went on the Rush Limbaugh show.

Add to that the fact that 16,000 in Cuyahoga County alone switched registration on the day of the primary, writing Democrat for a Day on their ballots.

I live in Ohio and I believe my eyes do tell me. And believe me, the right-wingers had a fun day on Tuesday.

Mark Peen should just STFU.

If Clinton can't prevent the people in her campaign from blabbing to the press, why should we expect her to be this "Ready on Day One" leader that she keeps trying to sell herself as.

BTW, for those who haven't read it, there's a not very flattering piece in the NY Times about how Hillary has managed her campaign. Which is to say, not terribly well, including being stunned that they were about to run out of money at the end of January, even after receiving weekly updates about the financial situation. But yeah. She's READY ON DAY ONE! Or, as someone said in the piece, this campaign mismanagement shows that Hillary is "READY TO LEARN ON DAY ONE". Somehow, that doesn't have quite the zing.

He's "NOT READY TO BE COMMANDER-N-CHIEF"?????

Yet the very first DECISION that Hillary would make as the Democratic nominee for president would be to nominate Obama as her Vice President?

The VP slot MUST BE READY ON DAY ONE also. Think about 9/11 folks. Just 9 months into Bush's presidency, if something had happened to Bush, Cheney would have been our PRESIDENT.

Who ever the Presidential nominee picks as their VP should be ready on day one.

Penn's saying that Hillary's FIRST DECISION/JUDGEMENT would be a FAILURE once again.

Penn's commentary has become so risible and preposterous that I can't imagine any Penn-related publicity helping Hillary at this point. More Penn!

If he is talking about the narrative in the media as "momentum", then he would be accurate.

Penn, the Clintons, et al, are simply plagerizing Vladimir Illich Lenin's truism from 1920 when the Bolshies installed radio Moscow loudspeakers in every village and hamlet,,,,"Tell them loud enough and long enough and the people will believe it."

What Penn, the Clintons, et al, know and about which they are in total denial, is that there is no moral, character, or progessional equivalency between Sen Clinton and Sen Obama. The Clintons are up against someone whom they simply do not understand,,, and what folks like them do to something they don't understand is try to destroy it.

The Clintons need the Presidency to the very core of their being,,, and are demonstrating that in their 'anyway to it is fair game' tack. Obama doesn't need the Presidency at any level,,,,, he's offering himself for the good of the Republic,,,,, like Lincoln and FDR.

The Clintons just don't get it,,,,,, it's part and parcel of the disordered appitites soap opera of their lives. Like they say in AA,,,,, Denial is more than a river in Egypt.

Either Obama is fully ready to be President on day one or Hillary is full of shit as she tries to beg onto the ticket. That the media fail to point out her massive hypocrisy is just business as usual.

I'm an independent who changed my registration to Democrat for the sole purpose of supporting Obama. If Obama is the nominee I will proudly remain a Democrat. If Clinton is the nominee, I will change back to independent the day she is nominated. I guess I wasn't home the day Penn called.

Wolfson just said on the media conf call that Obama has "not passed the test to be Commander-in-Chief."

I am a Hillary supporter - through and through - but even I admit that this guy Penn is a jerk and I wish Hillary would fire him. He should have learned by now how to shut up. Bill learned to shut up. The only person still babbling stupid-uendos is Penn.

Hee hee, what-EVER, Penn. Funny.

But this from Grover M:

"If he is talking about the narrative in the media as "momentum", then he would be accurate."

is a bit scary-true of late. Is is, sadly, a lot to do with spin and little to do with reality.

Here's what I don't get about the media. If I had a friends that would say any number of contradictory and obviously bullshit statements, I would treat them and their statements accordingly: I wouldn't take them serious. And yet, the media reports this shit faithfully and apparently with a straight face.

You have the Clinton campaign, on the one hand, talking up a joint ticket, on the other hand, you have them saying that he's not qualified because he never shared a stage with Sinbad. If the media was anti-Clinton has Greg Sargent (and others) have suggested, they would be ridiculing them for making such schizophrenic statements. But that's not what's happening.

It's baffling really.

Mark Penn is such a clueless idiot. His optimism about his candidate's chances is comically pathetic. Obama's win in Wyoming on Saturday was HUGE. The reason: he was coming off an incredibly bad week where screw-ups from his own campaign had put him on the ropes and the "kitchen sink" strategy of the Clintons had mostly kept him there. They threw everything they had at him--including the garbage disposal. Hillary even went so far as to endorse John McCain. And yet, Obama took Wyoming in a landslide. If Penn thinks this is a good sign, he'd better pray things don't get any "better" for Hillary.

frankly0:

The 'standard' demographic categories are different depending on the state. Don't believe the Clinton talking points and check the results more closely. And here's an alternative definition of momentum: Obama keeps increasing his delegate lead until the superdelegates get sick of humoring the Clintons and get on board and push him over 2025.

Nice line of crap, Penn. Clinton wins Ohio, but loses Texas on the merit of the primacaucus....and Obama comes back to spank Clinton in Wyoming, and next in Mississippi. Doesn't sound like a stop in momentum. I figure that the race-baiting crap will work in the sticks of Pennsylvania, but in the end Obama will be in front.

If Hillary Clinton steals this nomination, just wait for all hell to break loose. McCain Presidency. Republicans take the House and Senate. Nothing will get the Republicans fired up like their hatred of Shrillary. Mark my words. Go ahead and sacrifice the entire party for the "good" of the Clintons. I wonder where the poor male intern is going to have to stick the cigar in the NEXT administration. :)

Baghdad Bob says "The Clinton campaign has lost all credibility."

Mark Penn is a mercenary scumbag. We need to take the Democratic Party back from his ilk. These corporate lobbyist Dems would rather see President McCain than a grassroots Democratic Party. I'm increasingly suspicious that Hillary is trying to sabotage Obama for the GE to try to win in 12.

What'd you do, take an extra Stupid pill today?

Why don't you crawl back into the hole in which you spent Feburary while Obama was busy 12 states?

Every single time, my opinion of Senator Clinton goes up a millimeter, this guy appears. Then I remember that he is her guru, her Svengali and I say NO WAY!!!!!!

I cannot emphasize enough how the Clinton campaign's constant disparagement of Obama (as opposed to McCain!) is turning me into a white-hot supernova of rage. No way in hell will I vote for Hillary Clinton, and if I could take back both of my votes for Bill, I would. The Clintons must be stopped, period.

Well, who can be surprised? Clinton comes out over the top in suggesting that we should all vote for McCain over Obama. Then, yet another Clinton campaign advisor gets a lot of media coverage with a cheap shot that, other than being negative and cheap, has no meaning whatsoever.

What is momentum anyhow? Can you define it? Did the media who gave so much coverage to such a cheap shot bother to define this elusive term "momentum"?

What is a work is the corporate media promoting an ongoing battle without bothering to mention that Clinto has lost the war.

Right now it seems that the corporate media is doing all it can to promote Clinton -- the candidate it can trust to conduct business as usual. Look at the media for the past two weeks.

-- Count the number of times you see a photo of Hilary with a smile.

-- Count the number of times you see Obama with a smile or even a relazed, but serious look.

This is not a coincidence or a reflection of changes in the candidates' demeanor. What you see is a concerted, follow-the-herd effort to project an image of Clinton as a winner and victor over Obama. It is not a conspiracy or an agreement but merely an effort by numerous corporate journalists to please numerous corporate managers.

The distortion most easily believed is the one most consistently repeated. The media herd know this principle well and are counting on using it in an attempt to elevate Clinton to an undeserved nomination.

Let's all hope that we can keep our eye on the vote totals, the number of states won and the ability of a Democratic nominee to win and bring about the change we so desperately need.

Well, who can be surprised? Clinton comes out over the top in suggesting that we should all vote for McCain over Obama. Then, yet another Clinton campaign advisor gets a lot of media coverage with a cheap shot that, other than being negative and cheap, has no meaning whatsoever.

What is momentum anyhow? Can you define it? Did the media who gave so much coverage to such a cheap shot bother to define this elusive term "momentum"?

What is a work is the corporate media promoting an ongoing battle without bothering to mention that Clinto has lost the war.

Right now it seems that the corporate media is doing all it can to promote Clinton -- the candidate it can trust to conduct business as usual. Look at the media for the past two weeks.

-- Count the number of times you see a photo of Hilary with a smile.

-- Count the number of times you see Obama with a smile or even a relazed, but serious look.

This is not a coincidence or a reflection of changes in the candidates' demeanor. What you see is a concerted, follow-the-herd effort to project an image of Clinton as a winner and victor over Obama. It is not a conspiracy or an agreement but merely an effort by numerous corporate journalists to please numerous corporate managers.

The distortion most easily believed is the one most consistently repeated. The media herd know this principle well and are counting on using it in an attempt to elevate Clinton to an undeserved nomination.

Let's all hope that we can keep our eye on the vote totals, the number of states won and the ability of a Democratic nominee to win and bring about the change we so desperately need.

Hillary's failure to get rid of Mark Penn is the one of the largest clues that she is not qualified to become president.

A POTUS has to be able to choose advisers and cabinent members wisely, and fire them when necessary.

Penn broke Obama's momentum so bad he was only able to add 7-8 more delegates to his lead ! Obama does not need Clinton on his bus-in front or in back. She is too divisive !

Stopped momentum? Has the pollster not paid attention to the national polls?

Gallup now has Obama back up 49% to 44% and Rasmussen has Obama up 47% to 45%. National numbers are meaningless, but they certainly don't show a loss of momentum since Ohio and Texas.

.... I am really REALLY sorry to my eyes for subjecting them to elysee's post on Obama's Muslim 'ties'. I hope they don't hold it against me. Perhaps I will look at some pictures of Jessica Alba or Barack Obama SMILING and get back in their good graces.

At least in a serious vein I won't link to a Freeper or lucianne.com pointing you to THEIR unanswered questions about Hillary Clinton's involvement in Vince Foster's murder. Juss because you SEE four fingers and I am telling you there are FIVE fingers doesn't mean what you know to be reality doesn't exist.

The NY Times article claimed that Maggie Williams ordered Penn to "stay off television." They shoulda' added, "stay off all conference calls with press."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/us/politics/10clinton.html?hp=&pagewanted=print

Penn has become wealthy, not so much from giving this kind of BS campaign advice, but from his job as CEO of Burston-Marsteller, representing massive corporate conglomerates before Congress, Exec. Branch and in media. Indeed, Burston-Marsteller is itself a massive corporate conglomerate which includes Charlie Black's lobbying firm BKSH. Charlie Black, of course, is McSame's best lobbyist buddy and volunteer campaign advisor. Neither Penn nor Black have quit their day jobs while working on the Clinton and McSame campaigns. Essentially, two lobbying juggernauts continue to make millions for each other while running two campaigns for Preznit which are *essentially the same campaign.*

Only Obama is the anti-Bush.

If you look at it in these terms: Obama = Good and HRC = Not Very Good

then what Penn is saying is that "we threw a wrench in the spokes of that do-gooder"; a la Snidely Whiplash.

and also

"we aren't winning so much as we are dragging on the leader more effectively". Akin to hugging the heck out of your boxing opponent instead of actually throwing punches or making your own statement.

If you are on the side of Good, it is hard to be appreciative of someone who can only drag you down, instead of uplifting us or carrying us on their back to the finish line.

If nothing else, perhaps we can be sure that an Obama presidency would be absent this kind of flailing, destructive, death by a thousand cuts tantrum-like HRC behavior.

fantastic new thread, don't miss it!

Get a haircut and a decent thing to say. Come back tomorrow. We'll do lunch.
Honest.

I wasn't going to comment, but I'm just curious:

How do you think Penn will spin Hillary's defeat in Mississippi?

How long before people like Gore, Pelosi and Dean will call out the Clinton strategy for what it is--an attempt to make Obama a weak general election candidate so as to ensure his loss and her nomination in 2012?

I mean, can it be any more obvious that, at this point, Clinton cares more about Obama losing the general (so as to ensure her nomination in 2012) than getting a Democrat in the White House?

She has already gone on the record in support of McCain *over* Obama! That can't be taken back, and will be replayed constantly during the general election process!

Why doesn't the party step in and cut her off?

Hillaryland is Bizarro World where everything is the reverse of what is real.

"We completely broke his momentum," means we're losing our asses out here.

"He could be my VP," means "Oh please Barack please... pick me pick me... I'll be good, I promise."

"The Commander-in-Chief test," means "I lied about my resume. I don't know nuthin' 'bout birthin' no babies."

Mark Penn: Walking Flop Sweat

If this doesn't work and HRC slips some more, Mark Penn better brush up his resume.