No more needs to be said about the drivel squeezed out by Democratic Party barnacle Mark Penn (with an assist from convicted white-collar criminal Andrew Stein) and inexplicably published on the New York Times op-ed page last week. “Back to the Center, Democrats” was greeted with an instant barrage of criticism from all directions, its incoherent and reactionary premises torn to shreds by anyone with a pulse.

Penn and Stein’s advice to the Democrats seemed to come from an alternate reality somehow even dumber and more venal than our own. Hopefully there will be nothing to be learned about the future direction of the Democratic Party in “Back to the Center, Democrats,” but plenty about its past.

Penn may be an unemployable laughingstock these days (although he still has a disturbing hold on influence through his ownership of powerhouse DC political consulting firm SKDKnickerbocker), but his career as a highly sought-after Democratic campaign guru exposes the shambolic vacuity of America’s ostensible left party. Penn promoted bad ideas that got worse results and was rewarded with increased status and financial compensation at every turn. He spun corporate ties, marketing hogwash (his book Microtrends is the Necronomicon for PR slugs), and general strategic incompetence into electoral failure.