Mark Penn is OUT!

One: The first news is the best. The Big Hill has FINALLY tanked the keeping his day job while campaigning, no-talent, chief-strategist Mark Penn. Apparently, though, this is not because he's done such a shitty job, it's because he lied to her. Two key grafts in the ABC News story:

"Penn realized that he needed to step down after it was discovered this past week that Penn, who also is chief executive of the lobbying and public relations firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, had been hired by the Colombian government to help secure a trade deal that Sen. Clinton has said she opposes..."

Penn's resignation was a result of "pressure from an angry Sen. Clinton, who believed that Penn had recused himself from any clients who might pose a conflict for her campaign."

The man sucked. I thought he was bad for her and the campaign. Typical strategist crap that caused Gore the selection in 2000, and Kerry the election in 2004. Being too cautious, too controlled, too driven by polls/focus groups. Good riddance to his fat ass.

Two: Per Drudge, it appears that Condi Rice is actively campaigning for the VP nomination under McCain. I remember posting about the possibility of her being the VP pick, but I honestly never saw that she would actively campaign for the job/post/call. I don't think much of her, personally. But, I think this will be a tough call for McCain. As I've written before, if Obama gets the Democrat nod, he should be able to beat the likely duo of two white, rich, old men. Thus, it would make sense for McCain to put some color in the lineup. However, attaching Rice, comes with it's own set of problems. As far away from Dubya as he intends to run, McCain will still be tangentially tied to Dubya through pictures of them kissing ass, not to mention having roughly the same policy in Iraq. By putting Rice on the ticket, McCain would be severely hand-cuffed by Dubya's record no matter how much Rice may insist she isn't the same.

At best, Rice played a key role in the Dubya administration, which led/duped a nation into a gigantic quagmire for no real reason.

At worst, Rice was a rollover dummy who was easily played, rolled, and/or ignored by all players in the Dubya administration. We cannot afford to have a light-weight VP for McCain considering his health and age.