Greenwald: Douglas Schoen and Hillary's campaign

[illinoisprogressive]

In any event, the Hillary Clinton campaign certainly recognizes that, in light of how our mainstream press covers the presidential campaign, perception of polling success is one of the critical factors in determining how a candidate is discussed -- certainly far more important than the substance of what the candidate is actually advocating. That is why Clinton's campaign is dominated by the execrable pollster Mark Penn, who manages single-handedly to embody, all in one person, everything that is sickly and wrong with our political establishment.

Penn has the perfect long-time (now former) partner in Douglas Schoen, whose purpose in life is to argue that Democrats must accommodate George Bush and his radicalism (by, among other things, embracing Joe Lieberman) -- and repudiate their embarrassing and rabid base -- as much as possible if they want to succeed. One of the most disturbing aspects of a Clinton presidency is that individuals such as Penn and Schoen -- along with the likes of telecom lobbyist Jamie Gorelick and Iraq War cheerleader Mike O'Hanlon -- are highly likely to occupy critical positions of power in a Clinton administration, just as they did in the last Clinton administration.

But Schoen's problems go beyond mere establishment-perpetuating ideology. In light of the importance of perceptions of polling success for the Clinton campaign, Schoen -- ever since he left the Penn firm -- has been holding himself out as an independent polling analyst for Rasmussen Reports and other media venues, concealing his long-standing ties to the Clintons and writing one ostensibly objective analysis after the next which has no purpose other than to depict Clinton's candidacy as an inevitability.

Snip-


The issue here is Schoen's masquerading as some sort of objective polling analyst while concealing his long-standing ties to the Clintons. In an email exchange about this issue, I asked Scott Rasmussen why Schoen is held out as objective, and why they would use someone with clear ties to one candidate as their polling analyst, and Rasmussen said: "We expect to add other commentators over the coming months and will be adding a bio page for each. We should have put Doug's up before posting his commentaries and will move that up on the priority list." But there is a biography listed for Schoen, and it depicts him as an independent analyst, not a Clinton partisan.

Schoen is no longer a partner in Penn's firm and is thus frequently held out as though he is some sort of independent observer and polling expert. Clearly, though, his mission is to boost Hillary Clinton's presidency and depict it as inevitable, long before the first vote is counted. He is anything but objective, and basic integrity in how he is held out -- by Rasmussen and media outlets -- ought to disclose his long ties to the Clintons.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/09/27/schoen/index.html

[ElizabethDC]

1. Already posted.

I've notice you have a habit of posting things that have already been posted. Perhaps you could make a habit of scrolling down the page and checking to see if things are already there before you post them?