Clinton says Penn controversy won’t be damaging
(CNN) - Hillary Clinton predicted on Tuesday the recent controversy surrounding her top advisor's meeting with the Colombian government wouldn't prove damaging to her campaign, and suggested she dealt with the matter more definitively than Barack Obama did when he faced a similar situation.
"I don't think [it will hurt], because I think people want to know where I stand," Clinton said on CNN's American Morning, reiterating her opposition to a free trade agreement with the Colombians.
"I find it kind of curious, we took action, and I think it was appropriate," she continued. "Contrast that to Senator Obama's campaign where, as far as I know, nothing was ever done when one of his top economic advisers representing the campaign, unlike Mr. Penn who was not representing the campaign, but Mr. Obama's representative told the Canadian government basically not to pay any attention to what Senator Obama was saying about NAFTA."
The comments are in reference to her campaign's former chief strategist, Mark Penn, who resigned that post over the weekend after news surfaced he had met with the Colombian ambassador in his role as CEO of a P.R. firm to promote a free trade bill Clinton sharply criticizes.
The controversy was reminiscent of that which surrounded Obama shortly before the Ohio primary, when an economic advisor reportedly told a Canadian official Barack Obama wasn't as opposed to NAFTA as he was claiming to be. Clinton sharply criticized the Illinois senator at the time, suggesting he was being disingenuous about his opposition to free trade, and went on to win Ohio by double-digits.
Also in the CNN interview, Clinton made clear she thinks the party's nominee cannot be decided until the votes in Florida and Michigan are factored in.
"We have two major states who are in limbo despite the fact they voted and their votes were certified by their respective secretaries of state, and I was willing to do a re-vote in both states and Senator Obama was not," Clinton said. "I think that if we don't resolve those, then we'll be going forward to the convention."
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WILL YOU COVER THE REAL STORY ABOUT THE PREGNANT WOMAN NOW???????? WILL YOU APOLOGIZE TO HILLARY???????WHERE'S THE INTERVIEW WITH THE DEPUTY OR THE FAMILY OF THE PREGNENT WOMAN?????? DO YOUR JOB!
All I can say is I cannot wait until the debate on Saturday ! I really hope Obama calls your bluff.
1) Mr. PENN was a top staffer of HILLARY, acted in stark contradiction to precisely her STRATEGIC position and.... he CONTINUES TO BE AN ADVISER. SO, WHERE IS THE CONTRAST WITH OBAMA SHE MENTIONS ???
2) The Economic Adviser of OBAMA was simply that, an Adviser and even the Canadian admitted that the version of CTV was not accurate
3) So, the TOP STRATEGIST is not a representant of the campaign ??
These declarations are one more of HILLARY's mistakes and failed intent to mislead !!
TOM ALBO
What a bunch of garbage. I can't believe her hutzpuh – thank god this is almost over – 3 more weeks and adios Hillary
APOLOGIZE TO HILLARY....SHE TOLD THAT STORY ABOUT THE PREGNENT WOMAN JUST AS THE DEPUTY TOLD HER....GO INTERVIEW HIM AND THE FAMILY OF THE WOMAN THAT DIED!
Can anyone answer the question of why Obama flip-flop on the gun issue? CNN why don't you do a story on that?
Hillary was:
"misled" by Bush about the Iraq War when she voted yes
"opposed to NAFTA" yet supported the bill publicly
"mispoke" in her autobiography and on the campaign trail and when she refuted Sinbad's recollection about sniper fire in Bosnia a year after the Dayton agreement had ended the conflict
"didn't know" Mark Penn was negotiating with Colombia
Couldn't pronounce Medvedev's name in the debate (Russia)
Didn't know Musharaff wasn't up for re-election
Voted for the Iran Resolution
Voted for the No Child Left Behind act, which was a "mistake"
Wow. Is she really ready on Day 1?? I am baffled that people support Hillary and have no idea how they can believe anything she says since she so clearly has a very poor track record.
Hillary if this is damage control you are doing a terrilbe job of it! What is this reverse psychology? It ain't working. Hillary is as transparent as a bank's lead vault door. I don't want to see any video Hillary Clinton related unless she is giving her concede speach and backing the official democratic nominee Barrack Obama "PERIOD" enough spinin!
I find it fascinating that Hillary can be so 2 faced about votes counting and her faithful just climb on board fat and happy. In one breath she claims"all votes must be counted" – of course thats when the discussion revolves around Florida and Michigan or when pressured to drop from the race. Then in the next breath she says "there is no such thing as pledged delegates, they should feel free to vote as they see fit" – which equates to not counting anyones vote, just let those that get a free vacation to the convention decide who the nominee is between cocktails. Hillary bends in the wind to suit herself and herself alone. Its time her supporters realize that and get her to drop out so that the party can move forward.
Yea boy.. she really dealt decisively with Penn. Like everything else with her it is an illusion. In this case he has merely been put "under the table," but still operative as evidenced by his participation in their most recent conference call.
Remember, it was Hillary's decision to leave him in place though his job placed him in serveral compromising places. Just another example of poor judgement and illusion.
IT DOESN'T MATTER WHETHER YOU THINK THIS WILL HURT YOUR CAMPAIGN OR NOT, BECAUSE .....YOU ARE ALREADY DONE!!FACE THE MUSIC THAT YOU ARE LOSING TO SOMEONE WHO WAS UNKNOWN NOT THAT LONG AGO BUT HAS INSPIRED THE NATION TO TAKE A SECOND LOOK AT POLITICS AS USUAL. GO DO WHAT YOU DO BEST. DONATE TO THE "CLINTON CHARITIES".
She had her Penns mixed up. It should have been William Penn, not Mark Penn, giving her advice on what to do, especially in Pennsylvania, the Quaker State. His rule, like hers, is the Golden Rule and it does not say those with the gold make the rules.
Hillary, I suppose you in Bill had nothing to do with the NAFTA agreement either. This country would not be in the mess it is in right now, had it not been for the Clintons and their behind closed door deals. What ever Walmart wants from a trade deal with the Colombians, they will get if the Clintons have anything to do with it. Anyone except Hillary!!!
IF I HEAR ONE MORE THING ABOUT THE FLORIDA AND MICHIGAN RECOUNT I AM GONNA JUST SCREAM!!!! THEY DONT DESERVE TO VOTE ANYWAY, THEY KNEW THE WHAT THEY COULD GET INTO IF THEY CHANGED THEIR ACTUALL VOTE DAY SO THE HELL WITH THEM!!! SECOND FLORIDA NEEDS TO JUST CHIP OFF AND FLOAT AWAY FROM THE REST OF THE US EVERYTIME VOTING COMES AROUND BECAUSE IT NEVER FAILS THEY ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING WRONG WITH THEY."2000 VOTE"! WHAT A CROCK!
Good job Hillary!!! You have proven over and over that you are willing to take the risks and rise up victorious. You are a real fighter.
HILLARY 2008
Yawn.....tell me when hillary stops lying. The only thing that should now make a headline is when she actually tell the truth.
I'm so tired of her. I can't wait for this primary to be over. I hope I never have to see her run for public office outside NY.
I used to like her, not anymore.
Is Billary serious? Wow, I see another George Dubya, typical of her to bury head in the sand.
that's so low!!!!
There is a big difference between your staff member sercretely lobbying for a trade deal and Obama's staff having an informal meeting having nothing to do with the campaign and then casually talking about NAFTA and being misquoted. Oh, but nice try.
Obama '08
What the heck is going on over there at CNN?
This morning, you deleted all the comments on the Gergen thread about the Obama-NAFTA controversy being debunked (they were there last night!). Now you refuse to post mine!
What gives?
I guess she's right if you ignore the fact that Penn is still working for her and that the story about NAFTA was actually that it was HER campaign giving the wink and not Obama.
But she is pretty good at making up stories.
Eric-PA,
The information in question was on Fox News, CNN & MSNBC. Hillary just lied so quickly, you probably missed the coverage. The sad part is that it was stated the both campaigns gave the wink wink but only one (Obama) received coverage.
Hummm... DOUBLE SIDED MEDIA AT IS BEST!!
HRC is spinning this so fast I'm getting nauseous - and it's not the first time. CNN, you have GOT to call her on her lies! Everyone knows that the so-called incident with Obama's campaign and Canadian officials turned out not to be as she portrayed it before the OH primary. (Wait and see what scandal she tries to unfurl on the eve of the PA primary, so voters will react viscerally to it before Obama's campaign has a chance to debunk it. Don't fall for it, PA!)
She didn't fire Penn, she just changed his title, and it's business as usual. He remains her highly paid senior strategist. Anyone who thinks that his other lobbying activities are not directly relevant to his work for her is naive. Don't you think the Colombian government feels closer to Hillary because they both employ the same well-connected "strategist"?
CNN, do your job, or you really will look like the "Clinton Nonsense Network."
Hillary leave Barack out of it. Stop trying to spin everything, this is why the public does not trust you.
Hillary Clinton is still lying. Penn has not left. He said it himself on a conference call. This was all for the media and voters