Full statement of Change To Win here:

The statement, from executive director Greg Tarpinian:

It's time for Senator Hillary Clinton to send her vaunted 'chief strategist' Mark Penn packing -- back to his job consulting for union busting corporations and anti-labor governments for good.

Continued after the jump.

"We have questioned Penn's role in the Clinton campaign in the past for his representation of union busting employers like Cintas. At that time, Penn said there was a wall between him and his firm's representation of union busters. The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton's presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role - advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.

"The vast majority of Americans do not believe that we should be granting preferential trade status to a government that coddles death squads that target union organizers. Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for union members, where more than 2,200 workers have been murdered since the 1980s by Colombian death squads for trying to form unions while the government has done nothing to effectively stop the murders. It is time for Penn to go."

Hillary's Bush-like loyalty to obviously unworthy cronies is really pretty disturbing. Even her other top campaign people hate this sleazeball's guts- keeping him around has been 100% her personal responsibility, and she should answer for that.

I am liking all these people admitting they were wrong and apoligizing.

Refreshing.

People calling on him to be fired but give w and cheney a free pass is pathetic.

I guess the only hope to hold w and cheney accountable is the ACLU.

Yeah, I bet you are, Penn.

LOLOLOLOLOL - ing myself sick over this one.

This is an unnecessary distraction. It is unfortunate to say the least that he has not set aside his consulting work to focus 100% on her campaign. Clinton does not need the negative press about his business activities that conflict with her political goals and policies. I hope that Penn very quickly resigns for the good of the campaign.

Can the last Clinton staffer please turn off the light?

NOOOOO!!!! She CAN'T fire Penn! Not now! This is very bad news for Hillary! Who will be in charge of her Department of Idiotic Bullshit? Oh, wait, Wolfson can handle it. Never mind.

Things have been getting kind of dull in the Obama/Hillary wars of late. Guess it was time for another round of demands for staff firings.

If the unions turn on Clinton because of this, she is in very deep trouble. Not only will she lose valuable endorsements, but the publicity will destroy whatever credibility she has remaining. Yet in a twisted way this incident may be a blessing for her because her campaign will be a 100 times better off if she concedes to demands for Penn's departure.

Firstread's take on this another sordid and slimy affair at Clinton camp

The latest revelation that Penn -- whose firm represents the Colombian government in its effort to secure passage of a so-called free trade agreement -- is actively involved in securing its passage in the middle of Senator Clinton's presidential campaign is outrageous. It also suggests that he has been playing a double role - advising the Senator on what to say to curry Democratic voters and advising the Colombian government on what to say to curry a majority of votes in Congress.

Mark Penn: I Am Sorry I "Misattended" That Meeting With the Colombian Ambassador

I agree.

Don't you listen to them, Hillary! Everyone's entitled to a slip-up. He was probably sleep deprived. And he's your best advisor. Do not give in, Rockygirl. Stand your ground and stand up to these bullies. You need him. We need you to need him.

And besides, Bill, the President for Life of the Democratic Party, declared a cease fire on the demanding for people to be fired thing. So hang on to Penn, you can't win without him. Stand by him, stand by your man.

See if you can get Patti to come back too. You need her back at the helm. Nothing's been right since she left.

Trust me. I have the best interests of the Party and the Country at heart, here.

The comment section on the Politico story that Eric Kleefeld linked to includes several tributes to idiotic. Flufferwink is on there too.

My favorites:

"Mark Penn would not have been my CHIEF STRATEGIST!!!!"

and

"Mark Penn, just go on Leno and laugh it off. That makes everything okay."

and

"TAG, Penn, you're Judas now."

and

"scratch $4M from Hillarys debt"

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0408/Obama_allies_hit_Penn.html

Mark Penn's compensation has been OVER $8,000,000 to date! Hillary Clinton's judgment needs to be questioned...how can she throw that much money at such a buffoon? Heck, Penn is the CEO and boss of senior McCain campaign advisor Charlie Black!

Her loyalists hated the guy. The schizophrenic behavior of the campaign is a direct reflection of the tensions between competing advisors (and Hillary's chameleon-like willingness to be something other than authentic). The highest eschelon of Hillary's campaign is just power hungry to the core with little, if any principles.

I really hope it doesn't come down to Penn getting fired - his company's cross-association with the McCain campaign has had a certain kryptonite flavor to the HRC supporters i've flipped in the field. Around here at least, he's second only to HRC herself in the Clinton's worst enemy roster.

brilliant strategy by penn. cuts off tax return talk---maybe for the whole weekend.

found on http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/

Mark Penn is not - as in the case that Senator Clinton cited on March 3 - an unpaid issues advisor, but, rather, the commander-in-chief of the Clinton campaign: the chief strategist, pollster, message czar, and the highest paid member of her campaign staff.

I can’t remember a presidential campaign in my lifetime in which the top strategist moonlighted for corporate accounts during the heat of the primaries (if that’s really what he was doing with the Colombian ambassador, as claimed: note that the Embassy told the Journal that it didn’t know which hat Penn was wearing). The conflict of interest is staggering.

Al Giordano

"I don't think people should come to Ohio and tell the people of Ohio one thing and then have your campaign tell a foreign government something else behind closed doors," Clinton said then. "That's the kind of difference between talk and action and that I've been pointing out in this campaign."

"I would ask you to look at that story, substitute my name for Senator Obama," she also said. "If some of my advisers had been having private meetings with foreign governments and basically saying ignore what I'm saying because it's only political rhetoric … I think it raises serious questions."

-- Hillary Clinton, Ohio

"Ahhh... Duuuhhhh.... Hehe..."

-- Hillary Clinton, Pennsylvania

Worth every penny

It is now Friday afternoon.

Hillary, where are the tax records.

Hillary, where are the tax records.

Hillary, where are the tax records.

This may already be in the comments above, but here is what HRC had to say during the BS Canadian NAFTA brew ha ha:
"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."
Well, Hillary, you should thank Mr. Penn for giving voters and the media the opportunity to do so. Now, Mr. Penn is a PAID adviser, where Austin Goolsbee is not. More than a paid advider, Penn is the architect of your rather pathetic campaign. He should have been fired long ago, so what's the delay now?

Matthew -

Maybe you should add another column to your table of lies and then we can tally up the totals and whoever has more wins the nomination!

I'm sure you wouldn't have any trouble massaging those numbers! What a brilliant bloody idea! FOR HILLARY!!!

amk for ObamaMajority wrote:

"Don't be ridiculous. After all her fake hysteria over NAFTA in Ohio, Obama should forgive and forget ?? Are you nuts ? He should kill her vicious and slimy campaign with this bomb."

Do you really think it advances the Obama campaign's interest to stoop to the level of the HRC campaign "strategists"? There are enough HRC supporters out there complaining about the "virulence," "fanaticism" and "negativity" of Obama supporters in the blogosphere. We'll need them in November. She may need to pull every dirty trick in the book to win; we don't. Let's not beat up on the candidate for something stupid her campaign manager did.

hrebendorf: Did HRC really say that nonsense about Obama in Ohio? In that case, I'm not sure that it shouldn't be "all bets are off." Beat her up on it a bit.

so THATS her chief strategy

Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for union members, where more than 2,200 workers have been murdered since the 1980s by Colombian death squads for trying to form unions while the government has done nothing to effectively stop the murders.

Wow, I lived in Colombia for almost five years in the 60s and it was nothing like this. It was in between civil wars and before the drug cartels gained strength, or perhaps even existed, I don't know. The FARC and other armed rebels were around, but were kept under control for the most part. Kidnappings by the rebels began within the year after we left in 1970.

I've never heard of government sponsored or government condoned death squads. They have had the militant rebels forever and the drug thugs for the last 20-30 years, and have been unable to eradicate them. The drug lords and probably other militants act something like Hamas or Hezbollah in that they provide jobs and social services to the people where they operate and who protect them in turn. Things could have change, of course, and I could have missed reading about the death squad problem. It was a wonderful country back then.

"Just ask yourself [what you would do] if some of my advisers had been having private meetings with foreign governments..." - Hillary Clinton, March 2008

Right here - http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/04/obama_foreign_policy_adviser_r.php - Greg Sargent of TPM EC wrote the following about an Obama campaign official, who went on record saying that 60-80k GIs should remain in Iraq until 2010:

"Obviously, candidates surround themselves with multiple advisers with a range of views about stuff, and can't be responsible for all of them," wrote Greg Sargent.

And then said: "It's unclear right now whether the Hillary camp will try to make an issue of this today."

So where's the outrage about Team Obama making an issue about Mark Penn's meeting with Colombian officials?

Shouldn't TPM EC have written about that meeting: "Obviously, candidates surround themselves with multiple advisers with a range of views about stuff, and can't be responsible for all of them"?

Or are some animals less equal than other animals in the Obama universe (which TPM has clearly become).

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.

Indeed

How is the media letting Penn and Clinton get away with this? Do you think Columbia was more apt to hire Penn knowing his position with the campaign of the likely Democratic nominee? Hell, the meeting was probably because Columbia was reading the papers and worried that Clinton would lose and therefore wouldn't get the favorable treatment Penn had promised them...

Mark Penn got fired from the Colombian government...

and another lye from Senator Clinton..or rather she mispoke...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/05/clinton-under-fire-over-f_n_95218.html