Dick Morris

Anybody who has spent any time at all watching Fox News has seen Dick Morris at some point. He seems to be the go-to political analyst there, and can usually be seen giving his opinion on breaking political news. Given the respect that he is accorded by Fox News hosts, it would seem that he is a wise political sage, fair and balanced (of course), and blessed with an unusual degree of foresight.

He isn’t. Dick Morris has had one of the odder career arcs in recent political history, and it is one that probably shouldn’t end up with him given the respect due to an honest reporter. He teamed with the Clinton family as far back as 1978, and is credited with gaining Clinton re-election to the governorship. Clinton called for his help again after the 1994 Republican victory, and Morris soon became the most influential advisor Clinton had.

He was the mastermind behind Clinton’s 1996 victory (he introduced Clinton to the “triangulation” strategy, in which Clinton appealed to the center). Unfortunately for Morris, disaster struck when Morris was caught red-handed with a prostitute. Not being as clever as Clinton at getting out from under that sort of thing, Morris was forced to resign.

After he resigned Morris started hating the Clinton’s for some unexplained reason, and built himself a career attacking them. (Which is actually a pretty good career to get into. Ann Coulter started that way, too). He has become has started penning a weekly column, and has written a few political books. Not the best credentials for a supposedly unbiased reporter.

And his political predictions? Dreadful. He does not appear to realize that his dislike of the Clintons does not affect reality. Therefore, he is perpetually embarrassed when his doomsday predictions about the Clintons are proved to be unfounded. For example, he predicted that Hillary would drop out of her 2006 Senate race. Instead, she won overwhelmingly.

Morris’ worst embarrassment is his 2005 book Condi vs. Hillary, which suggested Condoleezza Rice for the 2008 GOP nominee. His reasoning went that Hillary may be a woman, but Condi was a woman and black, too, so she would win. This is the sort of stupid idea that everybody has at one point or another, but most people don’t write books about them. Condi vs. Hillary, or course, now reads like Michael Moore’s 2004 letter endorsing Wesley Clark for the Presidency. It didn’t even come close to what actually happened.

Dick Morris has a shady past, is clearly biased, and has a poor record of predictions. If Fox News wants to claim that they are “fair and balanced”, they should reconsider their relationship with him.