You can't blame the guy. Every time I've seen the "Axe" and Poison Penn on teh same stage (usually via MSNBC), you could tell there was absolutely no love lost between the two. Same goes for Trippi vis a vis Penn.

Good riddance.

And how could he not?

Garbage in, garbage out. Maybe Hillary's campaign will rebound now that they've taken out their trash. Or at least maybe they'll stop stinking up the primary season.

We can only hope.

What Greg fails to tell you....

Most of Axelrod's venom was spent on Penn's Ohio NAFTA scam.

Fill in the blanks Mrs. Clinton (or have your resident shill do it for you):

I would ask you to look at this story and substitute my name for Sen. Obama’s name and see what you would do with this story… Just ask yourself [what you would do] if some of my advisers had been having private meetings with foreign governments

Perception management...Greg Sargent's business, his ONLY business

While I certainly can understand the impulse to gloat (I also dislike many aspects of clintons campaign) I would have thought axelrod would be a little more careful so his comments dont become a story that distracts from the penn story

Oh, we're all engaging in a little schadenfreude over Penn. He's too easy of a target.

(Axelrod does sound like he is stifling bursts of laughter, doesn't he?)

Clinton's long history with Penn is common knowledge to those who follow such things closely, but not to Clinton's target voters in the remaining primary states. I think his long term role with the Clintons and his firms connections to foreign countries and to anti-union activities is news to them.

Target voters are likely also unaware of the astronomical salary the Clinton campaign has paid to Penn. I wonder how much his change of position will affect his salary from the campaign. It would be a great campaign ad visual to show how many blue-collar PA donors it would take pay Penn's salary from the campaign for a month, or for a year, at a rate of say $25/donor.

Good thing you got that update in defending Axelrod's behavior Greg. Heavens forbid the Obama right or wrong nitwits may see the need to start attacking you again. Worry not, you're covered; you have made it perfectly clear that you are not saying anything bad about Axelrod.

This has already been pointed out ad nauseum, but Penn reinforced some of the worst perceptions of Hillary -- her alleged centrism and national security hawkishness, among other things.

I never really associated Penn with any particular foreign policy orientation, so I don't get that part.

What Penn reinforced was the perception of Clinton as a mercenary political opportunist, a divider, and poll-driven political calculator. Penn was all about breaking people up demographically into tiny little groups, and then targeting them with special little poll-tested policy and rhetorical nuggets, crafted for each such little group.

This approach represents the polar opposite of the Obama themes of national unification, and represents a serious misreading of the times on the part of the Clinton campaign.

Penn also represented the very model of the conscienceless political gun for hire, whose firm was advising union-busting corporations at the same time that he was advising a Democratic candidate trying to appeal to union members; who was helping a foreign government make its pitch for a NAFTA-like trade deal at the same time that his candidate was trying to convince people she no longer likes such deals. This reinforced the old perception of Clinton as an ambitious go-getter on the make, lacking a real political soul.

It's really astounding how insulated and morally deadened Washington types are sometimes, and how matter-of-fact they are about this kind mercenary activity. They don't seem to get the fact that ordinary people are attracted to principles, and look on these operators as engaged in a kind of depraved whoring.

Obama chief strategist David Axelrod giving the OK for Obama supporter Raunchi Toads to call Hillary a F*cking Wh*re in front of a bunch of cheering Obama supporters to raise money for the limpwristed one was THE low point in American Polotics. Axelrod is a turd.

Greg writes: "Penn reinforced some of the worst perceptions of Hillary"

Hmmm. Was Senator Clinton there? Either she's a dumb person easily convinced by a charlatan, whom we can all see through

OR

she's a smart person and agreed with Penn's philosophy and tactics.

Both call into question her judgment.

"worst perceptions of Hillary -- her alleged centrism and national security hawkishness, among other things."

I would have thought that the latter of these "perceptions" was caused by her vote on Iraq and on the Iran resolution rather than anything Penn may have done or said.

I love the phrasing here--"worst perceptions," "alleged"--Greg you are too funny.

I'm an Obama supporter who thinks that Greg's original post required no further clarification. It goes without saying that making fun of Mark Penn is defensible. In fact, it's admirable.

Wonder who kicked up the title to the vdo, "Axelrod kicks Penn when he's down"?

It goes without saying that making fun of Mark Penn is defensible. In fact, it's admirable.

That's certainly my position on it and has been from the start. I took one look at the people around her and just about gagged.

When the sun finally cools himself in the distant ocean, when the suspended boots swing on the wall, when the feet lay dead on the recliner, when our glasses clunk and when the Ale spills: Greg Sergeant will admit: he, on occasions, warmed his feet at the Hillary campfire, while was left in the cold by the Obama crew.

I’m not accusing bias but suggesting the apparent inside access and the lack their off.

While Harold Ickes and co seem willing to whisper in Greg’s ear, he seems to have no flies resting on the Obama walls.

As a result- TPM has frequent and more processed reporting on Hillary camp and more banal assertions on what comes out of the Obama camp.

"it's tough to blame Axelrod for enjoying himself a bit here, given the line of attack Penn orchestrated against his candidate."

I agree completely. He's more than entitled.

I don't know Axelrod, nor do I know much about him, but I have to say I have been impressed with what I've seen of his performance. The Obama campaign has largely stayed on message and treated the voters as intelligent adults. Axelrod doesn't seem to do nearly as many media appearances as Penn (or even Wolfson or Ickes, for that matter), though I did note he was on Charlie Rose last week. It seems to me that he's generally careful in what he says, and more thoughtful and less spin-oriented than others of his ilk. These are just initial impressions, of course, but I definitely find him a positive contrast to the talking heads of the Hillary and McCain campaigns. And I think this speaks well of Obama's skills as an executive in terms of his ability to find talented subordinates.

Axelrod is nearly... nearly, as creepy as Penn is so he shouldn't talk.

Hillary has always been narrow, in terms of her management style. In the book For Love of Politics, Sally Bedell Smith writes that the reason Hillary muffed the healthcare thing, was because she was adamant about not budging an inch from her stated plan.

At a certain point in the negotiation phase with Congress, Bill was told by members that the bill would pass, if 90% of the people were covered, for the time being, as opposed to 100%. He agreed to the compromise and mentioned it to the press, while he was in Maine. Hillary called Bill and said, "what the f**k are you doing there? The next day, Bill retracted his statement and the deal fell apart.

Members of Congress had so many issues with Hillary's healthcare initiative, it never even came up for a vote.

That's just one example of the way Hillary handles herself. She has made any number of terrible errors in judgement, tending to dig her heels in, lie and generally make Richard Nixon, look like her soul mate, more so than Bill Clinton.

It's surprising that the MSM hasn't revisited her past, in an attempt to explain to the voters, who she is and how she operates. Travel Gate, File Gate, etc. all put Hillary's current behavior into perspective, in the sense that she has always been an angry, top-down sort of manager, who swears like a stevedore and is overly rigid.

Her paranoia, demonization, and entitlement, were all well documented by numerous sources, before the 2008 campaign brought them out.