Hillary Clinton's chief strategist Mark Penn resigned last night after embarrassing the former First Lady by flying to Colombia on private business to lobby for a free trade deal that the Democratic candidate opposes.
... In a terse statement issued late on Sunday, Maggie Williams, Mrs Clinton's campaign manager, who recently replaced the ousted Patty Solis Doyle, said: "After the events of the last few days, Mark Penn has asked to give up his role as chief strategist of the Clinton Campaign.
She added that Mr Penn would continue to give polling advice to Mrs Clinton.
Mr Penn was an advocate of Mrs Clinton appearing tough and "ready on day one" to be president whereas other aides argued that she should show her human side much more.
One of those aides, Howard Wolfson, was named as a replacement for Mr Penn, along with Geoff Garin, another pollster, who was taken on by Mrs Clinton just over a fortnight ago.
Mr Penn met Colombian ambassador Carolina Barco Isakson and later apologised, saying he met Mr Isakson in his role as chief executive officer of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, a lobbying firm hired [by] Colombia to help win the approval by the US Congress of a free trade agreement with America.
Not good. The Penn departure is probably good news to the growing contingent inside Camp Clinton who think he's a jerk, and that his "ready on day one" message has been a bust.
Meanwhile, as if Hillary didn't have enough problems, she's gotten herself embroiled in another "it's not true-ism":
Hillary Clinton faced fresh embarrassment yesterday after a story she told about the state of America's health care system was disclosed as inaccurate.
The former First Lady, who last month admitted she was guilty of a "misspeak" when she was forced to backtrack after embellishing an account of landing under sniper fire in Bosnia, has crossed the country telling voters a shocking tale of a woman and her baby who died after being refused medical treatment.
The Clinton campaign said Mrs Clinton was told the story by a deputy sheriff in Ohio but had been unable to check it
Mrs Clinton said that a hospital in Ohio turned the woman away twice while she was experiencing complications in pregnancy.
On a visit to Wyoming, she said: "It hurts me that in our country, as rich and good a country as we are, this young woman and her baby died because she couldn't come up with $100 to see the doctor."
But the woman has been identified as Trina Bachtel, a patient at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, who died last August two weeks after her baby was stillborn. She was treated and insured.
Rick Castrop, the chief executive officer of the O'Bleness Health System, said: "We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story."
The Clinton campaign said Mrs Clinton was told the story last month by a deputy sheriff in Ohio but had been unable to check it. ...
Free advice to the Clinton team: you really, really, really need to check it. Really.
<%
dim done
done = request.form("done")
if done = "" then
done = "No"
%>
Tell a friend
<%
Else
if request.form("done") = "Yes" then
'sets variables
dim email, sendmail
email = request.form("email")
Set sendmail = Server.CreateObject("CDONTS.NewMail")
'put the webmaster address here
sendmail.From = "webmaster@aspbasics.com"
'The mail is sent to the address entered in the previous page.
sendmail.To = email
'Enter the subject of your mail here
sendmail.Subject = "Check out this website"
'send a specific page or send a site url
dim url
'url = Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
url = "http://www.aspbasics.net"
'This is the content of the message.
sendmail.Body = "Site recommendation from a friend!" & _
vbCrlf & vbCrlf & "A friend has sent you this email and thought you would should check out this site." & _
vbCrlf & url & vbCrlf
'this sets mail priority.... 0=low 1=normal 2=high
sendmail.Importance = 1
sendmail.Send 'Send the email!
response.redirect Request.ServerVariables("HTTP_REFERER")
'Response.write ("Sent to ") & email
End if
End if
%>
"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
