Blackwater and Hillary’s Dick Morris
05 October 2007 8:00 pm by Taylor Marsh
Republicans give love to Blackwater
Mark Penn, a weirdly rumpled man with a reputation for union busting, and polling
for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, is also the CEO of Burson-Marsteller
(BM), a colossus pr firm. Well, it seems that BKSH, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller,
helped prep Blackwater USA founder Erik Prince for his congressional testimony.
It’s got everyone connecting dots. John
Edwards was quick to say Penn “is like her Karl Rove.” I think
that is a huge stretch, but it paints the picture he wants. Penn is more like
Hillary’s Dick Morris, because if anyone is “her Karl Rove” it’s likely
Bill Clinton.
Burson-Marsteller spokesman Paul Cordasco released a statement. Via
Ben Smith:
“Through a personal relationship, BKSH, a subsidiary of Burson-Marsteller,
helped Blackwater prepare for their recent hearing before Congress. With the
hearing over, BKSH’s temporary engagement has ended.”
Clinton’s communications guy, Howard Wolfson, responds to the story as well.
“Mark Penn did no work on the Blackwater account. Burson has cut its
ties to Blackwater, and that was the right thing to do. Mark is and remains
a valuable member of our team. Sen. Clinton believes Blackwater must be held
accountable for its actions and has laid out a detailed proposal to sharply
reduce the number of contractors employed by the federal government by 500,000.
She has repeatedly stated her concern that such contractors are not as accountable
as federal employees.”
Ben Smith must be getting a lot of hits, because in addition to all of his blog posts on it they bumped it to the homepage of Politico.com
with a brand new headline: Penn-Blackwater
link puts HRC on defense.
Markos calls the BM subsidiary link to Blackwater USA for a two-week gig (or
so) a “bombshell.”
Frankly, I think Penn should take a leave of absence as long as he’s on Clinton’s
presidential campaign team. But this would still be an issue if he had. I certainly
don’t like Penn’s reported union busting, because I’ve been a union member since
my teens (now in honorary withdrawal). I also don’t think it’s a good idea to
be in the pr racket while working for a major campaign, but that doesn’t mean
on this one Penn did anything wrong, let alone that this has anything whatsoever
to do with Clinton.
Blackwater USA has been caught in some despicable things lately for which they
will have to answer. Edwards talking about contractors as he swings through
Iowa is right on target. But a two week prep gig by a subsidiary of Penn’s
company sure doesn’t seem worth all this hyperventilating. But then again, gotcha!
is a great game to play on a Friday. There can be no doubt Clinton’s opponents
are dying to catch her or her campaign in the middle of something sinister.
But as far as the facts reveal today, this one isn’t it.
(h/t to Firedoglake for video; by Scarce; Randi Rhodes)
