Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

Fight them, without becoming them!

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Republicans got rid of McCarthy. Democrats chose not to save him.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

I have other things to bitch about but those will have to wait.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It’s all just conspiracy shit beamed down from the mothership.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

In my day, never was longer.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

The Giant Orange Man Baby is having a bad day.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

You are here: Home / What Do Bob Shrum and Dick Morris Think, Though?

What Do Bob Shrum and Dick Morris Think, Though?

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I understand why Arianna would publish this nonsense, but I guess what I don’t understand is how these folks like Mark Penn completely and totally lack any and all self-awareness. Does he honestly not realize what people think about him? Does he think people have forgotten the shit-show fail parade that was the Clinton campaign? Why would he offer unsolicited advice? Can’t he be smart enough to continue quietly buckraking at Burson-Marsteller?

Reader Interactions

74Comments

  1. 1.

    lacp

    Christ, he makes it sound like Obama will be running against Prince Charming instead of one of the Seven Dwarves.

  2. 2.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    As nutty as this country is and you have to wonder why Penn keeps shoveling it out?

    Because there are people stupid enough to believe his bullshit, that’s why.

  3. 3.

    Mark S.

    Only two Democrats in the last 90 years have been reelected to a second term — Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton. The rest of the Democrats have seen their presidencies cut short, and so the historical odds of Obama winning a second term are at first glance not encouraging.

    That’s a tad misleading. One could also say: Only one Democratic incumbent has lost in the last ninety years.

    (It’s even longer than that, but I don’t feel like looking up when Grover Cleveland’s first term ended.)

  4. 4.

    MattF

    “The Republican field doesn’t look so challenging right now,” he says. In fact, I expect that the Republican field will soon publish a collective op-ed in the Washington Post entitled “Why I Stopped Taking My Medication.”

  5. 5.

    Maude

    Penn may want to run the next Hillary presidential campaign and is trying to burnish his image.

  6. 6.

    Punchy

    Do I have to Urban Dictionary “buckraking” and possibly get sent to HR for having on my work computer, or can someone just tell me what that means?

    Edit: Shall I guess it means stealing from his employers? Like a five-finger discount or 100%-off sale?

  7. 7.

    Sentient Puddle

    I don’t want to read the full article and thus might be missing some context, but…

    @Mark Penn via Mark S.:

    Only two Democrats in the last 90 years have been reelected to a second term—Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.

    While technically true, that’s selling LBJ a little short, innit?

  8. 8.

    joe from Lowell

    Mark Penn is quite possibly the single most incompetent campaign manager in American history. The only thing I want to read from him are analyses of how he got it so wrong. That would be interesting.

  10. 10.

    Ash Can

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: And there are people who, for whatever reason, are willing to give him column space instead of ignoring him, and laughing in his face if he approaches them with an offer to write something for them. I suppose that once you’ve made a name for yourself, there will always be somebody somewhere out there who’ll take you seriously.

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sentient Puddle: To say nothing of Harry Truman
    @MattF:

    Do I have to Urban Dictionary “buckraking”

    I’m gonna say “political and/or corporate whoring without taking off your thousand dollar suit”

  12. 12.

    The Political Nihlist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    @MattF:

    Knowing our media and electorate though, that would easily be interpreted as said op-ed writer being fiscally conservative and a ‘belt tightener’, cutting out all that excess fat from their personal budget. All the more reason to elect them because they can BALANCE THE BUDGET! SLASH THE DEFICIT! KILL THE DEMOCRA-I mean, RESTORE HONOR TO THE NATION!

  13. 13.

    patrick II

    Only two Democrats in the last 90 years have been reelected to a second term—Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.

    Yeah, but FDR was reelected three times. That’s gotta count for something.

  14. 14.

    Legalize

    Sigh. It doesn’t matter what anyone outside the Beltway echo chamber things of Mark Penn or anyone else. Inside the Beltway, Penn is a very serious king-maker / rain-maker. His rancid influence makes money for all the right people.

  15. 15.

    The Political Nihilist Formerly Known as Kryptik

    *grumblegrumble* Moderation…teach me to misspell my name posting from an alien computer.

    @MattF:

    Knowing our media and electorate though, that would easily be interpreted as said op-ed writer being fiscally conservative and a ‘belt tightener’, cutting out all that excess fat from their personal budget. All the more reason to elect them because they can BALANCE THE BUDGET! SLASH THE DEFICIT! KILL THE DEMOCRA-I mean, RESTORE HONOR TO THE NATION!

  16. 16.

    MattF

    @Kathryn:

    Yeah, people forget that Truman was President from 1945 to 1952, which is two terms by the rules of ordinary arithmetic.

  17. 17.

    cmorenc

    Meanwhile, a recent money quote from Glen Beck:

    Beck wants more in a candidate: “The last thing the country needs is a showboat…I would hope we could get serious candidates who could shake things up by not saying provocative things, just by stating the truth of what’s going on.”

    Here’s the link

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @Mark S.:
    It’s more than a tad misleading. It requires you twist the meaning of “reelection” to ignore incumbents who were elected VP and became president when the previous one died in office. I’d like to see Penn provide a good explanation for why we should ignore Truman and Johnson before paying attention to anything else he says.

  20. 20.

    bkny

    well, that’s because you’re a dirtyfuckinghippie and you’re not one of the chosen beltway wonderwonks whose bank account depends upon your total and complete ignorance and shamelessness.

    oinkoink

  22. 22.

    Joey Maloney

    Inside the Beltway, Penn is a very serious king-maker

    Well, he played a pretty big role in kinging Barack Obama. That has to count for something.

  23. 23.

    Roger Moore

    @Ash Can:
    As long as they aren’t paying him money for that dreck, I don’t see what the problem is. Electrons are cheap, and trolling your readers is a proven way of attracting eyeballs. It’s not as if Huffpost has much credibility to lose.

  24. 24.

    fasteddie9318

    @Mark S.:

    That’s a tad misleading. One could also say: Only one Democratic incumbent has lost in the last ninety years.

    To be fair, he did say that their terms were “cut short,” not that they lost their reelection campaigns. So Nixon and the Bushes capping JFK counts.

  26. 26.

    Stillwater

    Why would he offer unsolicited advice?

    Campaign season is right around the corner, innit?

  29. 29.

    Judas Escargot

    No matter who wins or loses, Mark Penn will never know hunger.

    No matter who wins or loses, Mark Penn will never be homeless.

    No matter who wins or loses, Mark Penn will never have to die for lack of health insurance.

    No matter how long we’re stuck in Iraq or Afghanistan, Mark Penn will never have to fight or die.

    And, no matter how incorrect he’s proven to be time and time again, Mark Penn is still a Very Serious Person. Objective facts are for the Little People.

    So, from the very bottom of my dark little heart: A sincere “Fuck you, Mark Penn”.

    And Fuck the rest of the Beltway, also, too.

  30. 30.

    PurpleGirl

    @Punchy: Courtesy of the Free Dictionary:

    The practice of accepting large sums of money for speaking to business or special interest groups, especially when viewed as compromising the objectivity of journalists.

  32. 32.

    jwest

    I think it’s unfair to classify Mark Penn as the biggest idiot as long as Bob Shrum is still around.

  33. 33.

    GregB

    Even the very popular John F. Kennedy wasn’t re-elected.

    The Democrats will obviously have a tough time.

    Even Democrat front runner Robert Kennedy didn’t make it past the primaries.

    Proof that the electorate doesn’t like Democrats.

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    What Do Bob Shrum and Dick Morris Think, Though?

    Lanny Davis and Susan Estritch are seriously pissed that even in snark, they’re B-list.

  36. 36.

    RP

    This is an amazingly self-aggrandizing piece. In addition to the nonsense about few dems getting reelected, he also says that Obama has to overcome “low approval ratings.” This is standard inside the beltway nonsense. His approval ratings are pretty decent compared to Reagan, Clinton, and Bush at similar stages of their admins.

  38. 38.

    shortstop

    I feel like I really want to invite him to my monthly girls’ poker game. We’d pick him clean.

  42. 42.

    kdaug

    @GregB: QED. RIP doesn’t negate electoral failure.

    But Penn? Guy just viscerally makes my skin crawl. Not to go too much on aesthetics, but he seriously comes across as someone who’s held a grudge since first grade.

  43. 43.

    Davis X. Machina

    @RP: If you think about it for a second, looking at Clinton’s term two approval ratings, at this point Obama’s only one intern away from Roosevelt v. Landon, II — and on the Roosevelt end.

  44. 44.

    singfoom

    I like how the Republican candidate doesn’t even seem to matter. Hmm, Democrats have a President that has at least tried to solve some of the problems facing our nation (if in a way I disagree with a lot of the time)

    The Republican candidates? Crazies and grifters who spend most of their time fighting the culture war without adding anything meaningful to the national conversation.

    Sure, he won’t have the momentum of 2008 and he’s disappointed a bunch of people, but the crazies can’t get independents….

  45. 45.

    shortstop

    Now I know! Anyway, I would like to play P with him. He’d put it all on a pair of deu.ces and look you right in the eye while he did it. Fortunately his tell can be spotted several states away.

  46. 46.

    Maude

    @stuckinred:
    He was in the last comments thread. He’ll prolly show up either later or soon. I didn’t see you in comments or I would told him you were looking for him. He had said he would be off line for a bit cause he was busy. He seems to be back.

    Edit, spell fail

  47. 47.

    Bob Loblaw

    @lacp:

    Christ, he makes it sound like Obama will be running against Prince Charming instead of one of the Seven Dwarves.

    I would totally vote for President Sneezy.

  49. 49.

    shortstop

    @singfoom:

    I like how the Republican candidate doesn’t even seem to matter.

    That’s the worst of this. The jerk plays Twister games around Truman and LBJ to make a tortured point about Democratic incumbents and there’s nary a word about the opposition. Perhaps he thinks Obama will be running against Reagan in 1980.

  50. 50.

    jonas

    @cmorenc: By “truth”, however, Beck means a whole boatload of completely batshit insane, fever-swamp, conspiratorial nuttery.

  51. 51.

    singfoom

    @shortstop: Well, to be fair, Obama is running against Reagan-inspired zombie ideas.

    I think you’ve got something there. Maybe not for 2012, but some election after that. Resurrect Reagan and then the Republicans can run Zombie-Reagan for President.

    WIN ANOTHER ONE FOR THE GIPPPER…..BRAIINNNNS

  53. 53.

    salacious crumb

    @Odie Hugh Manatee: agreed. and you know what, the Clinton’s will hire him to run Chelsea’s next Senate and Presidential campaign. They are still in love with the guy.

  55. 55.

    jrg

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I for one will not be clicking on any HuffHo links, thank you very much.

    No kidding. I could not understand why I did not see a link in the article above, until someone mentioned it is huffpo… I installed blocksite specifically to avoid that place.

  56. 56.

    Zifnab

    Only two Democrats in the last 90 years have been reelected to a second term

    The first thing I thought when I read that was, “Sweet Jesus LBJ, what were you thinking?” Johnson made a lot of mistakes as President, but failing to run for a second term – and handing us over to the jackal Nixon – was definitely near the top of the list.

  58. 58.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    I guess the genuises at AOL who paid the big bucks know what they are doing, eh?

    LOL at ads on the side of Caltrain (commuter rail here) that are by AOL and say “come work with us before your boss does.”

    Seriously, I can’t imagine working for a company that paid 9 figures for the Huffington Post.

  59. 59.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    @Zifnab:

    Probably, cause even if he dies, you still have President Humphrey, and probably a different GOP field in 1972. Certainly helps to stem the efforts of the Southern Strategy.

  60. 60.

    Tim, Interrupted

    Penn is clearly a douche, but he is no less accomplished in the field of unself-awareness than are you, Cole.

    There are many days when the content of your posts might lead one to believe your entire “reborn,” Bush-psycho-wingnut-to-Obama-psycho-sycophant-to-something-sometimes-approaching-healthy-skepticism-on-certain-days schtick is, oh I don’t know, a…schtick.

  61. 61.

    OzoneR

    Only two Democrats in the last 90 years have been reelected to a second term—Franklin Roosevelt and Bill Clinton.

    Considering there have only been five Democratic Presidents in the past 90 years, and one was killed and his VP finished his term and was elected to his own, those odds are pretty good.

  62. 62.

    OzoneR

    @Zifnab:

    Johnson made a lot of mistakes as President, but failing to run for a second term – and handing us over to the jackal Nixon – was definitely near the top of the list.

    There was no way LBJ was getting reelected in 1968…no way.

  63. 63.

    Comrade DougJ

    Fuck Arianna. Opportunist scum. She’ll be a conservative again if she can make a buck doing it.

    Mark Penn is an idiot. He didn’t even know the rules for delegates in 2008. Fuck the Clintons for ever listening to him.

  64. 64.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @OzoneR: There have been seven D presidents in the last 90 years. FDR died in office and Truman finished his term and was elected to his own as well.

  66. 66.

    water balloon

    Yeah Truman was 3 months shy of a full 8 years. To not count that as a second term is a dishonest way to credit Clinton as the savior of the party. They’ve been saying that since ’96.

  67. 67.

    Roger Moore

    @Bob Loblaw:
    Fortunately, most people didn’t want to vote for Grumpy and Dopey, which is how we wound up with Obama in the first place. I guess Ron Paul would be Doc, but I’m not sure who the other Dwarfs are. I can’t imagine any of the Republican figures being Bashful.

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @water balloon:

    a dishonest way to credit Clinton as the savior of the party. They’ve been saying that since ‘96.

    Ding ding ding ding ding ding. That’s Penn’s whole article reductio ad the heart the of the horseshit. I wonder if they still owe him money for the stellar work he did and he wants to stroke them before sending an accounts due letter.

  69. 69.

    Pamela F

    @water balloon:
    “Truman was 3 months shy of a full 8 years”. Penn’s only goal was to burnish his credentials via his work for Bill Clinton.

    Why any progressive goes to Huffington Post is beyond me. If there was ever a republican business model, i.e., get people to work for free and reap the benefits-in spades-that’s Arianna. I was starting to wonder a couple years ago when I, pretty mild-mannered, couldn’t post in the comments but the wingnuts were there full throttle.

  70. 70.

    Christian Sieber

    Yeah, I stopped reading after the line about the Democratic president re-election thing. Then I thought about it for a while and complained to my girlfriend about what an dishonest person Mark Penn appears to be.

  72. 72.

    Zifnab

    @OzoneR:

    There was no way LBJ was getting reelected in 1968…no way.

    I think you underestimate the Democrats’ political machine and the sheer volume of clout an incumbent President can wield.

    If Bush Jr could win in ’04, LBJ could have won in ’68. Maybe it would have been more a Truman style victory than an FDR style victory, but he could have done it.

  74. 74.

    shortstop

    @Zifnab: I think you underestimate how despised he was by very large segments of his own party in ’68. He didn’t bail because he thought he couldn’t make it through the general. He bugged out because he didn’t think he could get through the primaries — or at the very least, that he’d be mortally wounded by them going into November. The “Democratic political machine” was highly, highly splintered at that time over Vietnam.

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