Ex-Clinton Aide: Media Tougher On Palin

Political Players: Former Clinton Chief Strategist Mark Penn Argues The Press Has Lost Its Credibility

(CBS)  Political Players is a continuing conversation with the leaders, consultants and activists who shape American politics. This week, CBS News' Brian Goldsmith talked with Mark Penn, a top strategist to both Clintons, about the state of the Obama campaign, and the appeal of Sarah Palin.

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CBSNews.com: Sen. Obama is struggling and, in some states, dropping in the polls. Sen. McCain now has higher favorable ratings. How serious is this decline?

Mark Penn: Well, I think you're seeing a real decline after the two conventions. I think after the Democratic convention, Obama had a significant lead, indicating he had a good message. And then after the Republican convention, they reversed it. A fair reading of the polls would be that the race now is basically undecided. And [voters are] going to want to kick the tires on both campaigns and both candidates a bit more.

CBSNews.com: And what does kicking the tires on the Obama campaign involve? What would you examine if you were working there?

Mark Penn: The important thing for the Obama campaign is that they not repeat some of the errors of the last two [Democratic] campaigns that happened after the two conventions. It's important not to go back toward the base, as I think both Gore and Kerry did, but to stay on the convention message that was more in the center.

It was more about tax cuts and strengthening the economy. I think it was a message that was resonating. And so what happens in a situation like this is everybody rushes in with different pieces of advice. And it can be very hard to stay the course.

CBSNews.com: One of the pieces of advice that was offered by your former business partner Doug Schoen is that the Obama camp has gotten away from their message and needs to get back on it. But is that hard to do in this media environment?

Mark Penn: Well, it's very hard with cable TV running several days on the lipstick controversy. What people are looking for is a real analysis of the economy, a real analysis of how you're going to turn things around, a real analysis of how Americans are going to succeed.

I think it's hard to present in this environment. But, nevertheless, if you schedule a series of speeches and you execute them — if there's one thing the Obama campaign has been able to do throughout the course of the last year and a half, it's been able to have a success by giving a serious speech on the serious issues of the day. And I think that's the most important place for them to go right now.

CBSNews.com: There are reports of a sense of déjà vu among some Democrats, the worry that yet again a presidential campaign may be slipping away from them, as you described in 2004 and in 2000. Do you worry the Obama campaign was unprepared for McCain’s offensive?

Mark Penn: No, look, the Obama campaign has been an excellent campaign. Every campaign goes through stresses. Every campaign goes through difficult polls. The fact that the Republican convention was as successful as it was was basically out of the hands of the Obama campaign.

I think these polls will settle down close to even. And I think the real important thing is not to overreact, not to be caught in a back-and-forth with Palin, but to get your candidate rising above it.

In the '96 campaign, we stuck very strongly to making the arguments of what the country needed for the 21st century. And then on the air we very strongly made a contrast between the policy differences, what would happen to things like Medicare and Medicaid if the country went in another direction.

And I think it's important for the Obama campaign to stick to the policy differences, get back there, show the different lives that Americans would have. And it's not easy in this environment. I fully recognize that.

CBSNews.com: Our poll still shows about one in five Hillary Clinton voters saying they're going to support John McCain. What arguments do you think the Obama camp have to make to turn that around?

Mark Penn: I think the best argument to get those voters is that he's going to follow a really strong but sensible course in terms of turning around the economy. I think a lot of those voters, particularly the downscale voters who saw Hillary Clinton as a champion for them, are looking for someone who's going to be able to champion their cause, particularly in the economic area. And I think that's the best way for him to win them. I think that the Republicans are trying to get him involved in the crossfire of personal issues. And I think the best thing to do is to get out of that.

CBSNews.com: Some Obama supporters have said those people were never going to support him. They were essentially anti-Obama voters in the primary. They weren't even pro-Hillary. How do you respond to that?

Mark Penn: The question now is, are they going to support McCain or Obama? What we're seeing here in the polls is, after his convention, Obama went up to 50 percent. After the Republican convention, McCain got close to that. It shows that there is a swing group of voters here. I think a substantial number of them would have been Hillary voters, who are open to both candidates, and enough voters open to both candidates to take the race either way.

CBSNews.com: During the primaries a number of Clinton aides said that the worry about Obama is that he wouldn't be able to handle the “Republican attack machine” that would hammer any Democrat in a general election. Do you think that warning was prescient?

Mark Penn: I think it is a very strong campaign that has survived considerable ups and downs. And we had a considerable number of sideshows during the primaries as well. I think the big difference now is that his campaign is not working against other Democrats.

He is working against a Republican and swing voters willing to vote for a Republican. And those are a very different pool of voters with very different concerns. They don't care what the New York Times had to say. They don't care what Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd have to say. They don't care what "elite" opinion is.

CBSNews.com: To what extent do you think Palin's appeal to a lot of swing voters means that they vote for McCain? Or is the old adage still true that people vote for the top of the ticket?

Mark Penn: I think, at the end of the day, people do vote for the top of the ticket. The question is whether or not Palin has given people a better view of the top of the ticket and more and more confidence in terms of what he would fight for.

I think she clearly has energized the Republican Party in a way that they were not energized and that party members were very worried that McCain was going to choose somebody who wouldn't have the more conservative values that the mainstream of the Republican Party has. Whether or not she's really going to play or is playing a big role with swing voters, that remains to be seen. I think that's a lot less clear.

CBSNews.com: Your former colleague Howard Wolfson argued that you all unintentionally paved the way for Palin by exposing some of the unfair media coverage that Hillary Clinton received. And, therefore, a lot of the media may now be treating Sarah Palin with kid gloves. Do you agree with that?

Mark Penn: Well, no, I think the people themselves saw unfair media coverage of Senator Clinton. I think if you go back, the polls reflected very clearly what "Saturday Night Live" crystallized in one of their mock debates about what was happening with the press.

I think here the media is on very dangerous ground. I think that when you see them going through every single expense report that Governor Palin ever filed, if they don't do that for all four of the candidates, they're on very dangerous ground. I think the media so far has been the biggest loser in this race. And they continue to have growing credibility problems.

And I think that that's a real problem growing out of this election. The media now, all of the media — not just Fox News, that was perceived as highly partisan — but all of the media is now being viewed as partisan in one way or another. And that is an unfortunate development.

CBSNews.com: So you think the media is being uniquely tough on Palin now?

Mark Penn: Well, I think that the media is doing the kinds of stories on Palin that they're not doing on the other candidates. And that's going to subject them to people concluding that they're giving her a tougher time. Now, the media defense would be, "Yeah, we looked at these other candidates who have been in public life at an earlier time."

What happened here very clearly is that the controversy over Palin led to 37 million Americans tuning into a vice-presidential speech, something that is unprecedented, because they wanted to see for themselves. This is an election in which the voters are going to decide for themselves. The media has lost credibility with them.

CBSNews.com: Joe Biden said this week that Hillary Clinton might have been a better pick than he was. Do you think that's true?

Mark Penn: Ask Joe Biden.

CBSNews.com: Well, that's what he says. What do you think?

Mark Penn: I'm going to leave that one where it is.

[DC_Runner]

Let us hope she isn't resigning to cash in on fame and run for president. But yes I do agree that the media has been too harsh on her!!

She does have positive traits as a strong woman, a mother of 5, and let us not persecute her because we don't share the same political views as she does. I did not and will never vote for her but that's where it stops for me. NO ONE IS PERFECT--LOOK IN THE MIRROR you have your own flaws. P.S. I thought Letterman was distasteful.

Here check this article out to see a different side of her...AND YOU THOUGHT SHE DIDN'T HAVE ANY OTHER INTERESTS ASIDE FROM SHOOTING MOOSE!!!


http://www.examiner.com/x-16036-DC-Trail-Running-Examiner~y2009m7d9-Sarah-Palin-Runs

[billarynfl]

he has had ONE interview arranged by the McCain campaign w/hand picked interviewer.

Posted by mart7lin

By all reports and comments I saw or read she did rather well. The only ones that really complain about her are the ones that are worried about making the libs look bad. As usual, the libs can''t offer anything of substance, just fear, name calling, mud slinging, and character assassinations. Why don''t you wait until Barack Hussein Obama starts debating issues with the other side instead of hiding like he has for the last several weeks. Then you can comment on the issues which would actually be productive.

[mart7lin]

The press can not talk to Palin. How are they being hard on her. She has had ONE interview arranged by the McCain campaign w/hand picked interviewer. When Gibson did his job, they got mad.

[billarynfl]

If these major financial institutions keep failing due to all the deregulation pushed through by the Republicans none of these debates will matter

You might want to get your facts straight. It''s the democrats that pushed to make loans available to all Americans, even if they were bad risks. They promoted the push encouraging people to live beyond their means. It wasn''t a responsible idea as lib ideas usually aren''t, but they figured it would get them more votes from the lower income groups. As usual the dems do things in a way to make it look like they care about the poor person, but in reality they just use them to gain more votes. People have to start be more responsible for their actions, you can''t blame your mistakes on someone else or your never going to get ahead in life.

[clovisbuford]

Tough talk from Mr Penn who is actually credited with the one being most responsible for Ms clintons loss and the total dysfuncional campaign it was . Vanity Fair online has a great article on it by Dee Dee myers ,Bill''s former press secretary. Penn you hve proved your own ineptitude , shut up and wait for the obama supporters to pay back the debt that will actually give you the millions you were over paid , while you continue to try to disaparage the party and candidate that made your living and for your ego show to be still relevant ... a very good living I might say .. 7 million for this campaign,over 10 million? from salon.com "Clinton spent nearly 9 percent of the $138 million she''s burned through in the race on Penn''s firm alone. " and I am not too sure when this was written. Another hack like Bob Shum , sir you got your *** handed to you,and your response is to bite the hand that has fed and fed you .

[ioweign]

Anti-Palin rally

http://mudflats.wordpress.com/2008/09/14/alaska-women-reject-palin-rally-is-huge/

[ioweign]

The Real McCain:

John McCain has not yet released his medical records to the public. McCain is 72 years old, and has been diagnosed with invasive melanoma. In May of this year, a small group of selected reporters were allowed to review 1,173 pages of McCain''s medical records that covered only the last eight years, and were allowed only three hours to do so. John McCain%u2019s health is an issue of profound importance. We call on John McCain to issue a full, public disclosure of all of his medical records, available for the media and members of the general public to review.

You can sign the petition at The Real McCain to ask that McCain disclose his records properly. Granted, I''m not 72 years old, but I have had some fairly serious medical issues in my time and am the owner of a not insubstantial medical record myself. The very fact that his medical records for the last 8 years alone total over 1,000 pages gives me pause. It absolutely is in the public interest to know exactly what his health outlook is over the next four years.

[notbymight]

Yes they are treating her and McCain unfairly. They look hard to claim that everything she says is false, spinning much of the time. Like declaring she lied about selling the governor''s jet on eBay, because when she said in her speech that she "put it on eBay," that implied she sold it there (the Chicago Tribune claimed that). On the other hand, Biden can claim that the Republicans are against stem cell research, and no one in the media corrects him. The liberal media claims to highly value the public getting "accurate" science information, so much so that it''s okay with them to decide that the idea that God might have created the universe is strictly and permanently out of the question. Yet there''s been no push to set the record straight on Biden''s stem cell comments, even though the simple truth is well-known in the media. ALL stem cell research is not opposed by Republicans, only embryonic stem cell research - the stem cells from a developing human. The other stem cells - cord blood and adult - have showed great promise, and don''t raise any moral objections.

By the same token, the media has never rushed to call Obama''s statements heavily downplaying his relationships with former Weather Underground leader Bill Ayers and his former pastor Jeremiah Wright false or misleading or outright lies, even though they are.

[boycot-china]

Freedom is worth the fight. Please watch the link and pass it to everyone you know. I have posted this link on 50 different sites today. Do the same.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TG4fe9GlWS8

God bless our Vets

[notbymight]

Yes they are treating her and McCain unfairly. They look hard to claim that everything she says is false, spinning much of the time. Like declaring she lied about selling the governor''s jet on eBay, because when she said in her speech she "put it on eBay," that implied she sold it there (the Chicago Tribune claimed that). On the other hand, Biden can claim that the Republicans are against stem cell research, and no one in the media - who claim to highly value the public getting accurate science information, so much so that it''s okay to decide that the idea that God created the universe is strictly and permanently out of the question - no one sets the record straight, even though the truth is well-known among them. ALL stem cell research is not opposed by Republicans, only embryonic stem cell research - the stem cells from a developing human. The other stem cells - cord blood and adult - have showed great promise, and don''t raise any moral objections.

[prestonhlewi]

I really don''t understand why 2 important issues are never discussed. Our $700b yearly bill for foreign oil and our shipping jobs and $ overseas to Asia. To me, those two issues are more important than anything else. If we didn''t buy oil and overseas goods, we''d have more jobs and better employment/economic prospects here at home. Why does no one discuss why we''re sending so much cash abroad while costing us jobs?

[oneamerican4]

See the Democrat''s secret campaign strategy revealed in YouTube video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWP5ljQV79s

[nordeck52]

The media is all biased on everything anyway. This is nothing new. Pity people are dumb enough to actually believe everything the media says. Notice my lack of saying its just SOME people here.

[mjb1136]

I believe that Charles Gibson deliberately threw Sara Palin a curve with his question about the Bush DOCTRINE to make her appear dumb, when she%u2019s not. I think, in his effort to help BO, he intentionally misnamed the Bush POLICY. Below are the Webster definitions of a few words:

DOCTRINE:

That which is taught; a body or system of teachings relating to a particular subject; a particular principal taught or advocated; a tenet or dogma.

POLICY:

The principals on which any measures or course of action is based; prudence or wisdom of governments or individuals in the management of their affairs, public or private.

MANIFESTO:

A public declaration of objectives, by a government or political faction. (Which the Democrats have been fighting to make law in the USA. In his Manifesto Marx described the following ten steps as necessary steps to be taken to destroy a free enterprise society!!)

Go to: http://www.criminalgovernment.com/docs/planks.html for full text.

You may be surprised and disgusted with BO%u2019s party.

[mjb1136]

Of course the media is treating her unfairly...She is running against their boi obammalammadingdang...


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Posted by no2zeebas at 05:07 PM : Sep 14, 2008

What''s going on here? This post, in my computer, is taking up all but two different post? Is the web site stuck and getting repetitious?

[mjb1136]

When BO saw that the polls were going up in favor of his opponents, and correctly realized that Palin was the big reason, he began having hissy fits. In doing so, he revealed his true personality - that of a mean, viscious Tasmanian Devil. Anything goes in order to get his own way. He''s hidden from the public most things that can tell us who he is but that personality breakthrough is very telling - and a complete turnoff! He should have maintained his phony deceptions so the sheeplike Dumocrats couldn''t see him for who he really is. So sad, I''m glad. Bye, Bye Obama!

[billarynfl]

No wonder the US is on the verge of total collapse.

Posted by tuckerndfw

We''re a long way from that, especially as long as we can contain the harm your kind causes with your blind liberal hate. You just pop off without ever making any points, just bad mouthing, because you have no points, just hate. You should try actually doing something, not just having a negative attitude.

[billarynfl]

Excerpted from the NYT''''s article CBS linked to about Sarah Palin:

Posted by tuckerndfw

Again with the cbs link, anything they say is biased to bein with, the media has no credibility anymore. You''ll have to see the actual video and make up your own mind these days, as you really can''t trust the mainstream media as they no longer report the news, they make it up as they see fit.

[billarynfl]

Excerpted from the NYT''''s article CBS linked to about Sarah Palin:

Posted by tuckerndfw

Again with the cbs link, anything they say is biased to bein with, the media has no credibility anymore. You''ll have to see the actual video and make up your own mind these days, as you really can''t trust the mainstream media as they no longer report the news, they make it up as they see fit.

[billarynfl]

Yes, why is the media being so hard on Sarah? I mean, just because she was a failure as a mother, and ended up with a daughter who couldn''''t keep her legs closed and didn''''t understand how birth control works, that''''s no reason to be so hard on poor Sarah.

Posted by Voltaire777

Typical lib mentality. Let''s not forget who''s responsible for poisoning the minds of our young people today, it''s the libs in hollywood, the rap industry, filth on tv that promotes everything that that ruins a lot of these kids lives or severly sets them back in life with hurdles to overcome that should never have been there. And I''d think it would be interesting to see how your family tree was doing at this time, probably a lot worse, but being a lib you''ll never admit it. To even say something like that proves a lib should never be allowed anywhere near the kids in this country. Your pathetic.