Hillary in Butte, Montana.  Brought to you because it took a glancing blow at the trade deficit.

Her language was also more exhortatory in a traditional Democratic sense, using tropes that are always guaranteed to get Democrats on their feet. A line about borrowing money from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis drew particularly strong response, as did her declaration near the end of the speech that “one thing you know about me is that when I say I’ll stand by you, I’ll stand by you.” 

Well.  No solutions.  But I like to report when they get close. 

I heard Obama gave a strong China speech early last week, but have not seen it reported. 

Charlie Rangel does not yet get it.  Free trade is a loser.  Public rejection of free trade helped him gain the chairmanship of the House Ways and Means Committee in 2006.  But he thinks it was Iraq.  Or something else.  So he keeps pushing stupid trade deals based upon the 15 year old failed NAFTA model.

Mark Penn now gets it.  I mean he really got it.  He lost his very high-profile, and very lucrative, job heading the Hillary Clinton campaign.  Ten million buckaroos, apparently, to do the job. His boss stated opposition to the Colombia FTA.  But Penn, in his day job, is the head of Burson-Marstellar, an international consulting firm.  He has a $300,000 contract with the Colombian government to help secure passage of that FTA. 

Last Monday, he met with the Colombian ambassador to strategize.  It could not have been the first meeting... but it was the first meeting the public found out about.

A person within the Clinton campaign said Sunday that Mrs. Clinton was “disappointed” that Mr. Penn had taken on Colombia as a client and had met with Colombian officials to advise them on how to win passage of a pact she has publicly denounced.

Mrs. Clinton was said to be furious when she learned that he was employed by and consulting with the Colombians on the trade treaty.

He was employed by the friggin' Colombia government.  A foreign government.  And he lost on the that side too.

Mr. Penn apologized Friday and said the meeting had been a mistake. The Colombians, offended by what they called an insult from a hired lobbyist and spokesman, fired him and Burson-Marsteller on Saturday. 

Too bad.  The Colombian government apparently took the "mistake" language personally - having a hissy fit as Maureen Dowd may say.  The Colombian statement:

But his apology annoyed the Colombian government - which issued a statement calling Penn's remarks a "declaration of a lack of respect towards Colombians, which is unacceptable".

He apparently has yet another gig, as head of the polling firm Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates - and will continue a polling contract with the Clinton campaign.

One foot in and one foot out of the campaign.  A clean break would probably be better.

The Colombia FTA is an outsourcing agreement.  It is designed, like its sister FTA's, to enable multinationals to relocate there and sell their products back here.  The deal continues divesting our domestic government of the power to make laws, because foreign corporations are granted the right to sue our state, local and federal government for laws that infringe upon their "right" to make a profit, or affect their investment expectations.

Maybe this event will reveal that free trade is a loser.  The Very. Serious. People. in DC will probably editorialize with another baloney op-ed preaching Economics 101 (and editorials like this one from the NY Times).  But Congressman and Senators need to pay attention to their employers.  The voters.  And the voters are not buying "Economics 101" anymore.

[p.s. Penn's firm also represents Countrywide Financial (can you say subprime mortgages?) and Blackwater Worldwide.] 

I discussed a poll showing a big Udall lead here, but expressed skepticism.  Rasmussen is one of the two most accurate polling firms, and has Udall up 46-43% over Schaffer, which spread is within the 4.5% margin of error.

Mark Penn met with Colombia's ambassador to the U.S. four days ago to strategize on promotion the Colombia FTA.  Bad news.  Bad, bad news.

Mark Penn is Clinton's campaign chief.  Not an "advisor."  He his her campaign chief.  With pay.  $10 million of pay so far. 

I had worked to give Clinton the benefit of the doubt on NAFTA.  She promoted it, but now criticizes it and claims to never have promoted it... the latter of which is untrue.  But I'll take converts in any form.  She could have told the truth saying she promoted it and was wrong.  Clinton criticizes NAFTA - true - though vaguely with words like "renegotiate" and insufficient topics like "labor and environmental provisions.  She also claims to oppose the Colombia FTA - but not on the substantial grounds that these are outsourcing agreements that decrease our democracy and increase our trade deficit.

The Wall Street Journal article by Susan Davis ("Clinton Aide Met on Trade Deal"), which you'll can view if you have a subscription, says this:

Attendance by the adviser, Mark Penn, was confirmed by two Colombian officials. He wasn't there in his campaign role, but in his separate job as chief executive of Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, an international communications and lobbying firm. The firm has a contract with the South American nation to promote congressional approval of the trade deal, among other things, according to filings with the Justice Department. (Please see related article.)

Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, Mr. Penn's campaign-consulting firm, received more than $10 million in payments from the Clinton campaign as of the end of February, according to federal election filings.

Mr. Penn declined to comment. Howard Wolfson, communications director for Sen. Clinton's campaign, said in an email that "Mark was not there on behalf of the campaign" and referred further questions to Burson-Marsteller. "Sen. Clinton's opposition to the trade deal with Colombia is clear," Mr. Wolfson added.

Clinton will be judged on how she responds to this.