War Games

"Even before his ill-fated sit-down with the Colombians, Penn's work at Burson (which services such controversial clientele as defense contractors, drug companies, Big Oil, and Big Tobacco) frequently served as a lightning rod for bad press and attacks from the Democratic base. And as Hillary's primary fortunes faltered, Penn's storied message savvy also came under fire, with the baying for his head growing ever louder inside the campaign and from outside donors . . .

"And so, ironically felled by his own PR blunder, Penn finds himself exiting center stage to a chorus of catcalls. This is not to suggest that he won't still hold sway with the Clinton. (The smart money says he will.) But whatever influence he wields will be from a less exalted and decidedly less public perch. Perhaps out of the spotlight and proscribed from mucking around in the rest of the campaign team's business, Penn will be able to once again work some magic for his most valuable and enduring benefactors. If not, much of Hillary's failure will likely be laid at his feet."

But can so much blame really be dumped on one hired gun? Dick Polman doesn't think so:

"I am less interested in Penn than what Penn's rise and fall tells us about Hillary Clinton herself, and about the boneheaded fundamentals of her campaign. Penn has not been the source of her woes, only a symptom. Ever since her campaign was launched, she and Bill have condoned and tolerated Penn's dubious dual role. They appeared not to understand their own problem, that it might be difficult to sell Hillary as the candidate of 'change' when their own chief strategist was so enmeshed in the special-interest world of Washington."

Politico quotes the head of the Phoenix NAACP as saying that McCain "has pretty well zero relationship with the African-American community that I know of."

The Condoleezza Rice chatter won't die down, despite State Department denials, but Weekly Standard blogger Richelieu dismisses it:

"This Condi for Veep hype is political madness. Whatever Condi's impressive attributes, picking her for VP would be a lunatic move:

"1) It is the perfect way to make the general election an endless re-hash of the Bush Teams many mistakes in Iraq. By picking her McCain would endorse those epic fumbles.

"2) She would pull exactly 14 black votes away from Barack Obama.

"3) She has no special state where she could change the Electoral College math; she is a political non-entity in her home state of California.

"4) Condi is a policy person, not a candidate type professional pol. Beware first timers playing in the World Series."

Blogging is hard work, I say from experience, because you're never really off deadline. (Used to be, if you were a newspaper hack, you'd go home at night, the presses would roll, and you'd be done until the next day.) But I never thought of it as particularly hazardous, except for the bloodshot eyes.