Penn Makes Silly Statement, USA Today Blog Fuels Fire with Partial Quote

by D. Cupples  | Sometimes, it would be nice if Hillary Clinton's campaign "strategist" Mark Penn would diligently engage in a moment of silence.  Make that six weeks of silence.

According to a USA Today blog, Mr. Penn said that Barack Obama "really can't win the general election."  Actually, Mr. Penn   didn't make a Kreskin-esque pronouncement, but he should have known that his statement would cause trouble.  Here's the fuller version of what he said, according to the recording that USA Today had embedded in the blog post:

"We believe this [the Pennsylvania primary] will again show that Hillary Clinton is ready to win and that Senator Obama really can't win the general election."

Neither the statement (on its face) nor the sentiment is outrageous or controversial.  Of course the Clinton campaign believes that Hillary is more likely to win the general election (if it makes it that far) -- just as Obama's campaign likely believes that Obama would win.  otherwise, we'd have heard the sound of tents folding.

That aside, Mr. Penn should understand the media well enough to know that reporters (and bloggers) often prefer snippets of quotes to larger chunks -- especially during a contentious campaign that's fueling hockey-game headlines.

Mr. Penn should understand that instead of quoting his whole sentence, the media would quote just enough of it to make Penn sound arrogant and silly, just enough to bait the Obama campaign into responding. 

This does not reflect well on Hillary's campaign, who is already facing general unfriendliness from the media.

I suppose this type of gaffe is a bit easier to handle than, say, campaign advisers who appeared to  negate the candidate's campaign promises in front of the press or foreign-government officials.

Please, would media people re-aim the spotlight onto things like our economy, health care, wars, contractor fraud, energy independence, corporate fraud....

Thanks to Mr. Penn, Memeorandum has plenty of commentary: The Moderate Voice, Balloon Juice, The Times-Tribune, NPR, AMERICAblog, National Post, Booman Tribune, Scripting News, TPM Election Central, Wonkette, TalkLeft, Donklephant, The Impolitic, Jules Crittenden, Don Surber and The Page

Recent BN-Politics Posts:

* House Holds Secret Session re: FISA (at Republicans'  Request)

* Legal Abuses and FBI Data Mining

* Olbermann's Hillary Comments about Ferraro, Pro-Obama

* McCain's Spiritual Adivser says "Destroy Islam"

* Obama Campaign Uses Bush-Style Tactics in Email

.
 

Comments

[Pug]

This has been the problem with the Clinton campaign of late with their "kitchen sink strategy".

They don't argue that Hillary would be a better commander-in-chief. They argue that Obama can't be commander-in-chief.

They don't argue that Hillary has a better chance of winning the general election. They argue that Obama can't win the general election.

It makes many of us very suspicious that they would prefer McCain if Obama is the nominee and Hillary could have another shot in four years.

[D. Cupples]

Pug,

I don't like Mark Penn's strategies so far. However, they ARE arguing that Hill would be a better commander in chief.

At the same time, you're right that on other issues, they're arguing his negatives instead of her positives. Not smart.

Actually, Hillary said a few days ago that she would expect her supporters to vote for Obama if he wins the nom. I think that a significant number won't because they're offended by O's campaigning. And a significant number of Obama supporters have already said they won't vote for Hill if she gets the nom.

We'll see.