memeorandum: In Oregon, Clinton Makes False Claim About Her Iraq Record Vs. Obama's (Jaketapper/Political Punch)

8:50 PM ET, April 6, 2008

Top Items:

Clinton Chief Strategist Pushed Out — ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Jake Tapper and Eloise Harper Report: Mark Penn has been pushed out as chief strategist of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign after his work on a Colombian free-trade agreement that Clinton opposes, sources tell ABC News.

Discussion: Washington Wire, Talking Points Memo, Donklephant, Political Punch, Gateway Pundit, Wonkette and PunditGuy

Ari Melber / The Nation:

CLINTON DROPS PENN, SORT OF... After months of criticism and allegations of conflicts of interest swirling around Mark Penn, Hillary Clinton's “chief strategist,” the Clinton Campaign announced on Sunday that Penn is losing his title. A terse statement from campaign manager Maggie Williams says:

Discussion: Firedoglake and Crooks and Liars

Ben Smith / Ben Smith's Blogs:

Penn sidelined — The knives have been out in Hillarlyland for Mark Penn for years, but today they finally cut through. — In a statement, campaign manager Maggie Williams linked the departure to Mark Penn's meeting last week with the government of Colombia, a private client …

Discussion: The Swamp and TPM Election Central

Beth Fouhy / Associated Press:

Penn out as Clinton senior strategist — ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Mark Penn, the pollster and senior strategist for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid, left the campaign Sunday after it was disclosed he met with representatives of the Colombian government to help promote a free trade agreement Clinton opposes.

Discussion: michellemalkin.com, MyDD, NY Daily News and Associated Press

Jim Tankersley / The Swamp:

PENN QUITS CLINTON PERCH — Mark Penn is out as Hillary Clinton's chief strategist. — Penn is a pollster who has guided the campaign's message - and clashed over it with other top campaign officials - since Clinton announced her candidacy more than a year ago.

Discussion: Angry Bear

CNN:

Clinton's top strategist quits — WASHINGTON (CNN) — Sen. Hillary Clinton's chief presidential campaign strategist is quitting his post amid criticism of his public relations firm's contacts with the Colombian government over a pending free-trade deal, Clinton's campaign announced.

Discussion: TalkLeft and Balloon Juice

Michael Crowley / The New Republic:
Mark Penn Out — From the Clinton campaign:

Discussion: Marc Ambinder

John M. Broder / New York Times: Chief Strategist of Clinton Campaign Steps Down

The Trail:
Penn Out as Clinton's Top Strategist

Discussion: BuzzFlash.org and The Reaction

Jaketapper / Political Punch:

In Oregon, Clinton Makes False Claim About Her Iraq Record Vs. Obama's — In Eugene, Ore., Saturday. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., attempted to change the measure by which anyone might assess who criticized the Iraq war first, her or Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., by saying those keeping records …

Discussion: BlueOregon, Liberal Values, TPMCafe, The American Mind, Below The Beltway, The Reaction, Oliver Willis and Eschaton

Fernando Suarez / CBS News:

Fiery Clinton Fields Tough Questions at Campaign Rally — From CBS News' Fernando Suarez: — EUGENE, ORE. — During a campaign stop in Oregon, Hillary Clinton fielded testier questions from the audience, more so than she has in quite a while. It was a typical campaign rally …

Discussion: Comments from Left Field, The Carpetbagger Report and The Moderate Voice

Helen Thomas / Seattle Post-Intelligencer:
Clinton should hang in there and run a good race to the end

Discussion: NO QUARTER, Taylor Marsh and Associated Press

Nezua Limón Xolagrafik-Jonez / Jesus' General:
Hillary Clinton in Eugene, Oregon

Discussion: Wake up America, American Street, GINA COBB, Right Wing News, Balloon Juice and QandO

Robert Berkvist / New York Times:

Charlton Heston, Epic Film Star and Voice of N.R.A., Dies at 84 — Charlton Heston, who appeared in some 100 films in his 60-year acting career but who is remembered chiefly for his monumental, jut-jawed portrayals of Moses, Ben-Hur and Michelangelo, died Saturday night at his home in Beverly Hills …

Discussion: Weekly Standard Blog, Sister Toldjah, Stop The ACLU, Scared Monkeys, his vorpal sword, michellemalkin.com, QandO, Jules Crittenden, Yourish.com, Lawyers, Guns and Money, American Street and Los Angeles Times

Matthew Yglesias:
Charlton Heston, not a very good actor but in his way a great one, has died.

Discussion: American Power and The G Spot

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
Charlton Heston, “remembered chiefly for his monumental …

Discussion: TBogg

The Big Trunk / Power Line:
CHARLTON HESTON, RIP

Discussion: protein wisdom, Hot Air, Fausta's blog, The Huffington Post, The New Nixon Blog and Gateway Pundit

Agence France Presse:
Hollywood movie legend Charlton Heston dead at 84: family

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Pandagon

Nicole Belle / Crooks and Liars:

CNN Reporter Doesn't Know The Difference Between A Legitimate Question & Heckling, Defends McCain. Again. — It is such an indictment on the pathetic notions of journalism from a journalist-especially when it comes to dealing with media darling John McCain-that CNN reporter Jim Acosta …

Discussion: TBogg, Orcinus and Hullabaloo

Lindsey Ellerson / Political Radar:

Dan Senor: Condoleezza Rice Is Pursuing the VP Spot — ABCNews' Mary Bruce Reports: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is actively courting the vice presidential nomination, Republican strategist Dan Senor said. — “Condi Rice has been actively, actually in recent weeks, campaigning for this …

Discussion: The Strata-Sphere, The News Buckit, Patterico's Pontifications, American Street, Donklephant and Althouse

Ben Smith / The Politico:

Anti-McCain groups lag in fundraising — Democratic talk of an early, hard-hitting campaign to “define” and tar Arizona Sen. John McCain appears to have fizzled for lack of money, leading to a quiet round of finger-pointing among Democratic operatives and donors as McCain assembles a campaign and a public image relatively unmolested.

Discussion: Don Surber

David Saltonstall / NY Daily News:
Cancer-survivor McCain will get docs to say he's fit to be Prez

Discussion: The Fix, Wake up America, TPM Election Central, Don Surber and The Raw Story

Alec MacGillis / The Trail:
Obama Steers Clear of ‘Warmonger’ Talk

Discussion: JustOneMinute, Hot Air and FOX Embeds

Jonathan Leake / Times of London:

Coming soon: superfast internet — THE internet could soon be made obsolete. The scientists who pioneered it have now built a lightning-fast replacement capable of downloading entire feature films within seconds. — At speeds about 10,000 times faster than a typical broadband connection …

Discussion: Ed Driscoll.com, The Glittering Eye and The World Wide Rant

Ali / Think Progress:

McCain repeats false claim ‘Sadr declared the ceasefire.’ — Appearing on Fox News Sunday this morning Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) repeated the false claim that Muqtada al-Sadr declared the ceasefire in Basra last week, which he pointed to as proof that Sadr didn't “think he was winning” the battle in Basra.

Discussion: Crooks and Liars and Angry Bear

Frank Rich / New York Times:
Tet Happened, and No One Cared

Discussion: Informed Comment, VetVoice, protein wisdom, Corrente, Donklephant and Prairie Weather

Ben Adler / The Politico:

No campus surge for Obama in Pa. — With 159 colleges and universities and approximately 680,000 students, Pennsylvania's campus vote would appear to be Barack Obama's ace in the hole in the state's April 22 primary. — Yet in a tough contest where Obama will need every vote he can get …

Discussion: Patterico's Pontifications and The Page