TPM: Latest Mark Penn spin: Obama is the "estabishment candidate"

[antigop]

http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/hillary_pollster_mark_penn_oba.php

This one is worth keeping an eye on, because we'll be hearing more of it in the days ahead. In the Clinton campaign conference call I mentioned below, Hillary pollster Mark Penn repeatedly said Obama was becoming an "establishment candidate" -- a rather strained effort to use Obama's high-profile endorsements to weaken his insurgent appeal.

I will not reply to this thread as I have work to do and am not paid to monitor and post on DU all day.

[Renew Deal]

1. Does he really think people will start believing this?

It's dumb.

[K Gardner]

2. I really believe they think "if we say it, they will believe", and the sad fact is, most of

HRC supporters/apologists do.

[scheming daemons]

9. It's the same way the Bush/Rove people thought....

...if we keep saying "Weapons of Mass Destruction" over and over, the people will buy it.

Democrats are smarter than this.

[CoffeeCat]

14. This is typical Rovian ploys...

You determine your opponents strengths.

Then, you attack those strengths with lies, distortions and catchy-one liners that
have no basis in fact.

Obviously, the Hillary camp has realized that Obama is winning because he is
seen as "the candidate of change".

So now, they're going to try to obliterate Obama's "change" meme by defining
him as "establishment".

Good luck, clowns--trying to run Obama as anti-establishment, when you've spent
the entire campaign thus far, suggesting that he lacks experience.

:rofl: :rofl:

Mark Penn: Rove without brains!

[blm]

3. Bush-Clinton-BushInc doesn't like the old guard progressives rearing their heads.

Old guard progressives LET Clinton try it his way and all they got was their hard work cornering Poppy Bush and his cronies swept under the oval office rug by Bill throughout the 90s.

Clintons are with establishment POWERSTRUCTURE in DC. The Bush protectors.

Obama now has the old guard progressives flanking his side in an effort to STOP the global fascist agenda of Bush-Clinton-BushInc.

[WillyT]

4. LOL !!! - Mark Penn... A Twister In His Own Right !!!

Should we put a watch, or a warning around him.

:wtf:

[Bread and Circus]

5. Mark Penn is Hillary's evil-fuck Svengali pollmaster.

[BridgeTheGap]

6. Put on the hip waders - the b.s. is getting deep! n/t

[JeanGrey]

7. Is Mark Penn really that Iraqi guy who always said

"Iraq has been liberated by Saddam, we are not losing?"

[abburdlen]

8. Obama is the establishment candidate

Bill Clinton was the first black President
Hillary is the best chance for uniting the nation
the IWR was a vote for diplomacy

am I missing any other ones?

I'm certain the majority of Clinton supporters here can't be too thrilled with Mark Penn's performance so far this campaign.

[Alter Ego]

12. Yeah, this by Mark Penn just seems kinda blatantly desperate.

When your candidate has been running on golden memories of the 90s you're really in no position to do this.

[joeybee12]

10. Well, the entrenched DC establishment sure is jumping on his

bandwagon.

[Alter Ego]

11. Hopefully it's because they can feel the change in the political winds.

[amborin]

13. Obama is hypocrical on lobbyists

The Boston Globe

August 9, 2007 Thursday
THIRD EDITION

PACs and lobbyists aided Obama's rise - Data contrast with his theme

BYLINE: Scott Helman Globe Staff

SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. A1

LENGTH: 1276 words


Using campaign appearances, e-mails to supporters, and Iowa TV ads, Illinois Senator Barack Obama
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has repeatedly reminded voters that his presidential campaign does not accept contributions from lobbyists or political action committees, casting his decision as a noble departure from the ways of Washington.

He hit the theme hard again in Tuesday's Democratic debate in Chicago as he sought to capitalize on rival Hillary Clinton
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's remark last weekend that taking lobbyists' cash is acceptable because they "represent real Americans."

"The people in this stadium need to know who we're going to fight for," Obama said at Soldier Field. "The reason that I'm running for president is because of you, not because of folks who are writing big checks, and that's a clear message that has to be sent, I think, by every candidate."

But behind Obama's campaign rhetoric about taking on special interests lies a more complicated truth. A Globe review of Obama's campaign finance records shows that he collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from lobbyists and PACs as a state legislator in Illinois, a US senator, and a presidential aspirant.

In Obama's eight years in the Illinois Senate, from 1996 to 2004, almost two-thirds of the money he raised for his campaigns - $296,000 of $461,000 - came from PACs, corporate contributions, or unions, according to Illinois Board of Elections records. He tapped financial services firms, real estate developers, healthcare providers, oil companies, and many other corporate interests, the records show.

Obama's US Senate campaign committee, starting with his successful run in 2004, has collected $128,000 from lobbyists and $1.3 million from PACs, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit organization that tracks money in politics. His $1.3 million from PACs represents 8 percent of what he has raised overall. Clinton's Senate committee, by comparison, has raised $3 million from PACs, 4 percent of her total amount raised, the group said.

In addition, Obama's own federal PAC, Hopefund, took in $115,000 from 56 PACs in the 2005-2006 election cycle out of $4.4 million the PAC raised, according to CQ MoneyLine, which collects Federal Election Commission data. Obama then used those PAC contributions - including thousands from defense contractors, law firms, and the securities and insurance industries - to build support for his presidential run by making donations to Democratic Party organizations and candidates around the country.

Obama spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that after seeing the influence of lobbyists firsthand during his two years in Washington, Obama decided before he entered the presidential race that he would take a different approach to fund-raising than he had in the past.

Psaki said Obama believes that healthcare lobbyists have blocked progress toward universal health coverage, and that oil company lobbyists have blocked badly needed changes to America's energy policies.

Though Obama has returned thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from registered federal lobbyists since he declared his candidacy in February, his presidential campaign has maintained ties with lobbyists and lobbying firms to help raise some of the $58.9 million he collected through the first six months of 2007.

Obama has raised more than $1.4 million from members of law and consultancy firms led by partners who are lobbyists, The Los Angeles Times reported last week. And The Hill, a Washington newspaper, reported earlier this year that Obama's campaign had reached out to lobbyists' networks to use their contacts to help build his fund-raising base.

This activity, along with Obama's past contributions from lobbyists and PACs, has drawn fire from opposing campaigns. Some political analysts say Obama, by casting himself as an uncorrupted good-government crusader, has set himself up for charges of hypocrisy.