The Nation: HRC's Blackwater connection

[illinoisprogressive]

HRC'S BLACKWATER CONNECTION...
UPDATE: Mark Penn emailed the Politico's Ben Smith to say that the Associated Press story, on which I wrote this blog post, is inaccurate. "It was a temporary assignment based on a relationship that has concluded," Penn says. "Burson is correcting this." The question, of course, is what was the "temporary assignment," when did it begin and when did it conclude? To be continued...

UPDATE II: Burson says its subsidiary, BKSH & Associates, run by GOP operative Charlie Black, "helped Blackwater prepare for their recent hearing before Congress. With the hearing over, BKSH's temporary engagement has ended."

The PR firm run by Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's top strategist, has a new client: Blackwater.

Burson and its subsidiaries, as I reported in a profile of Hillary's corporate advisors in May, has represented everyone from union-busters to big tobacco to Ahmad Chalabi. Blackwater represents a new low.

The firm will be tasked with salvaging Blackwater's tattered image and allegedly murderous conduct. But hey, if Burson could set up the National Smokers Alliance on behalf of Philip Morris, which covertly fought anti-smoking initiatives, who knows what they could do for private mercenaries.

The account is being handled by Robert Tappan, a former State Department official who directed communications for the Coalition Provisional Authority in 2004. Tappan was presumably one of the people tasked to defend Blackwater when State was giving it hundreds of millions of dollars in military contracts.

Hillary Clinton, like so many Democratic politicians, has sharply criticized the conduct of Blackwater in Iraq. "Let's end outsourcing our government to companies like Blackwater and hold the contractor accountable," she said at a rally in California this week.

But her chief strategist remains the head honcho at the company defending them. Penn has never clarified his financial stake at Burson since he joined the Clinton campaign, nor exactly how much business he's still doing. Now might be a good time for a thorough explanation.

UPDATE III In Iowa today, Edwards attacked Hillary on her strategist's Blackwater ties. "I also saw this morning that Senator Clinton's primary advisor, Mark Penn who is like her Karl Rove–-his firm is representing Blackwater," Edwards said. "I think it is important for Iowa caucus goers to understand the choices they have in this election. And it is the reason I continue to say we don't want to replace a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats."


http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=240313

[trumad]

1. You lost me at "the Politico"....

[Carrieyazel]

2. The Nation has really been running some excellent stuff lately.

Of course, their recent essay on Richardson, "The Richardson Surge" was top-notch.

[AtomicKitten]

3. Top notch article.

Blackwater is out-of-control and requires a leash, not this kind of tasteless association.

[ShortnFiery]

4. Thanks for this IP. The information conveyed within is quite disconcerting. n/t

[Skip Intro]

5. The same The Nation that wrote the hit piece: CLINTON WON'T COMMIT TO RENEW CONSTITUTION" - ?...

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/campaignmatters?bid=45&pid=239574
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CLINTON WON'T COMMIT TO RENEW CONSTITUTION...Illinois Senator Barack Obama has finally signed the American Freedom Pledge, joining his fellow Democratic presidential candidates in encouraging the restoration of basic Constitutional principles after the battering they have taken during the Bush-Cheney era.

All the Democrats, that is, except New York Senator Hillary Clinton.
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Sounds like Clinton was the only one who hadn't signed on, doesn't it?

But wait, the article continues...

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The often embarrassingly cautious Obama campaign had been slow to sign on to the pledge. Earlier this week the American Freedom Campaign, which is promoting the pledge, revealed that New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Alaska Senator Mike Gravel had signed the pledge, while former North Carolina Senator John Edwards and Delaware Senator Joe Biden had responded with supportive statements...
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what? You mean Edwards and Biden hadn't signed?

spin, poor spin at that.

I'll pass on The Nation for a while now.

[BrightKnight]

6. .

[BrightKnight]

7. A fairy tale, empty propaganda – n/t

[stillcool]

8. Why is so much attention...

being payed to Blackwater and not to the other hundred or so Private Military Contractors operating in Iraq? And, why is it that only the American contracts are being scrutinized...what about the other governments with whom these corporations have contracts...doesn't that matter? And why now? Who is Blackwater taking the heat off of?

[Quantess]

9. Blackwater did some egregious things to put themselves in the spotlight.

That's how it appears to me, anyway.

[Nimrod2005]

10. OMFG!!! This is not good