Remember Mark Penn, of the Hillary ’08 Campaign?? (Guess Who Got Stimulus Money…)

~~By InsightAnalytical-GRL

Here’s a nugget from The Hill.com:

Mark Penn’s two firms awarded millions from stimulus for public relations work

According to the story,

A contract worth nearly $6 million in stimulus funds was awarded by the Obama adminstration to two firms run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton’s pollster in 2008.

Federal records show that a contract worth $5.97 million, part of the $787 billion stimulus Congress passed this year, helped preserve three jobs at Burson-Marsteller, the global public-relations and communications firm headed by Penn.

Burson-Marsteller won the contract to work on a public-relations campaign to advertise the national switch from analog to digital television. Nearly $2.8 million of the contract was awarded through a subcontract to Penn’s polling firm, Penn, Schoen & Berland, according to federal records.

Federal records also show that a former adviser to President Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign received nearly $70,000 from that contract to help alert viewers in difficult-to-reach communities that their televisions would soon no longer receive broadcast signals.

MORE

Specifically, the Obama adviser worked on the ad messaging aimed at Hispanics, only 39 days before the digital transition on June 10.

Just this past Tuesday, Republicans John McCain and Tom Coburn held a news conference to complain that the advertising campaign was a waste of taxpayer dollars.

However,

McCain and Coburn did not show any indication that they knew two Democratic political strategists received funding through the grant.

Hey, I guess that means that Republicans don’t really read large stimulus bills, either!!

…And, of course, Republicans NEVER waste taxpayer dollars, either!

Sigh. This game is getting so old…

But, the question that lingers about Hillary Clinton and whether we assume that this is part of a deal Hillary Clinton cut with Obama after the 2008 primaries were over. I guess I would lean toward that assumption!

Don’t Let the Edwards Story Let This Get By You…Next Week, “The Atlantic” is Possibly Publishing “Leaked Clinton Campaign Memos” on the Internet (Updated 3X)

OK, I’m so disgusted by John Edwards that I can’t express it strongly enough.  I was an Edwards supporter originally…another one goes down the tubes…Enough said.  Onward with this:

The Atlantic is supposed to be publishing on the internet “leaked” memos from the Clinton campaign next week. Josh Green is the reporter. Green is a SENIOR EDITOR at The Atlantic.  According to Limbaugh, who broke this today, there are a couple of hundred of them, and about 150 are going to be released.  Some are written by Mark Penn and other people in the campaign.

Some of the quotes from them include remarks about Obama’s “unelectability” and a few others that I can’t recall at the moment.

I will admit that I heard this on Limbaugh, but quite by accident, since I never tune into him willingly. But I don’t doubt it. The Atlantic is a big enough publication that unfounded rumors about what they were doing wouldn’t go down very well. Limbaugh said he got the info from an insider. We know it’s a center-right publication. On this matter, I am inclined to believe him.

Now, the big question is:  WHO LEAKED THESE MEMOS if this is all true?? My mother, who listens to Limbaugh regularly, has told me that he has been saying that the Clinton team has a plan in place.  He speculated today that it was the Clinton camp that leaked these memos.

Frankly, when he first said they were going to be published next week, MY FIRST REACTION was that it may very well have been the Clinton camp.  When Limbaugh read the purported quotations, which were all negative about Obama, I thought it sounded like even more of a possibility.  They were the sort of comments that most people would not find all that shocking, considering how the Obama team has been screwing up lately.  They sounded like logical conclusions reached by people who could see a train wreck coming.

(UPDATE–Hat tip to SUGAR for reminding me of another quote…”The only person Obama could beat is Attila the Hun”!!!)

My other reaction was “Why not release them all? Why are some being held back?”  Maybe we’ll be figure that out once the released memos come out, maybe not.

I am simply offering this info as food for thought. I know nothing else about this leak, other than what I heard today.  We’ll have to see what comes down the pike next week.

As for the Edwards story…who knows if the Obama camp originally floated it to get Edwards out of the primary race?  Whoever was behind it may never be known. It’s just really disgusting that it turned out to be true. My heart goes out to Elizabeth and the kids.  Their oldest daughter must be as devastated as her mother must be. She listened to him talk about morals and trust throughout the primary season. It is a very, very sad situation all around.

What an AWFUL political season this has been…

UPDATE 3

Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic: announcement on August 8, 2008 about the upcoming memo release…

UPDATE 2

I did hear right the first time. He did tell Elizabeth about the affair back in 2006. Sigh.  And she listened to him talk about morals and trust during the campaign.  Not my business about their relationship.  But, I don’t know….I just don’t know anymore…

UPDATE

I was under the impression that Elizabeth had known about this in 2006.  I heard Hannity reading the story as it broke and I thought he said “the family knew about it in 2006.”  I can’t verify this, so I’ve deleted the mention of Elizabeth knowing about it then…