“Why Cain Will Overcome”: Dick Morris Continues His Pathetic Prediction Record

If Dick Morris says it'll be sunny, you better bring an umbrella.

In recent days, the Fox News “political analyst” predicted that Herman Cain wouldn't depart the race anytime soon and would remain a viable presidential candidate. Over the weekend, Cain suspended his presidential campaign amidst accusations of sexual misconduct.

Morris is infamous for his awful political prognostication. Morris penned a book about the 2008 presidential elections called Hillary vs. Condi; he predicted that McCain won't “ever be nominated” by Republicans; and more recently, Morris said of Donald Trump, “I think he's going to run ... he could beat Obama.”

Morris' predictions about Cain aren't just wrong, they're also mired in ethical problems. Over the past few months, Dick Morris has conducted a series of softball interviews with Cain for DickMorris.com. At least eight of the emails to Morris' mailing list promoting the interviews have been “paid for” by the Cain campaign -- a fact that went undisclosed on Fox News.

Here's a brief look back at Morris' recent Cain predictions.

“I don't think he's going any place very quickly”

On November 30, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Morris where voters will go if Cain leaves the race. Morris responded by predicting that Cain would not leave the race. (h/t: Jonathan Martin, Alex Burns)

MORRIS: Well, first of all, I don't think he's going any place very quickly. I think that, you know, he's not a politician. He's a business-type. And when something new happens, he reassesses his business plan. I think that it's not at all clear he's dropping out, and apparently I've heard that he's gotten tons of emails to stay in. Even if people don't like him, many people do, and I do, but even if people don't like him, they're saying don't let this kind of garbage determine who the next president is, for God's sakes.

“You cannot count out” Cain

On November 28, Morris appeared on Fox News' Hannity, where he discussed the allegations against Cain. Morris said “you cannot count out at this point Herman Cain and Michele Bachmann ... I don't think that this is going to be very serious. I think voters are going to say, 'so what?'” (Morris has also sent out two emails that were “paid for” by the Bachmann campaign. Bachmann previously rented Morris' list in June to send out a fundraising appeal.)

Morris added: “I do not think that Herman Cain has been fatally damaged.”

Following the 2010 elections, Hannity told Morris that he was “overly enthusiastic” and “over-exuberant” in his election predictions. Still, Morris is a frequent guest and prognosticator on Hannity and Fox News.

“Why Cain Will Overcome”

In a November 10 blog post, headlined, “Why Cain Will Overcome,” Morris predicted that Cain “would survive” the allegations, writing:

We are mired in the worst economic condition in eighty years and will not tolerate more talk about who invited whom up to their room and for what. We don't care. We don't want to know. We want you to go away and let us choose a president based on the serious and grave issues we are trying to consider. We think the media is a distraction and we want it to stop its drumbeat coverage. Pro-Cain or anti-Cain is irrelevant. We want the issue to go away!

This third dimension of public reaction was evident when the CNBC reporters in last night's debate tried to ask Cain about the accusations. The crowd would have none of it. When the reporters tried to couch the questions as relating to managerial ability or the character required of a CEO, they still hooted down the question. In that moment, I realized that Cain would survive for the same reason Clinton made it - we have more important things to worry about.