Rewriting Rewriting History: On Fox, Dick Morris contradicted his own book on whether Clinton "may well have been" a communist in early '70s

Summary: On Hannity & Colmes, Dick Morris asserted that Hillary Clinton had worked as a "law student defending the Black Panther Party, and then she worked in a communist law firm." Co-host Alan Colmes then asked Morris, "Well, does it make Hillary a communist?" After Morris again stated that Clinton "was a supporter of the Black Panthers," Colmes interjected, "Wait a second. Does that make her a communist?" Morris replied: "No, at that time, at that point in her life, she may well have been." But Morris previously wrote in his book Rewriting History that "Hillary was no Communist, nor should her work in the ... firm imply that she was."

On the April 14 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, discussing Sen. Hillary Clinton's 1971 internship with the California-based law firm Treuhaft, Walker and Burnstein, syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Dick Morris asserted that Clinton was a "law student defending the Black Panther Party, and then she worked in a communist law firm." Co-host Alan Colmes then asked Morris, "Well, does it make Hillary a communist?" After Morris again stated that Clinton "was a supporter of the Black Panthers," Colmes interjected, "Wait a second. Does that make her a communist?" Morris replied: "No, at that time, at that point in her life, she may well have been." But Morris previously wrote in his book Rewriting History (ReganBooks, 2004) that "Hillary was no Communist, nor should her work in the Treuhaft firm imply that she was."

From Rewriting History (Pages 105-106):

Hillary biographer Joyce Milton notes that Treuhaft was "long known as Oakland's Red Lawyer." As she reports, "Treuhaft had defended Harry Bridges, the Australian head of the longshoreman's union, enabling him to avoid deportation even though, as is now thoroughly documented, he was a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party USA. Treuhaft and Mitford left the Party ... only because their chapter had lost so many members that it was 'ineffectual.' Their views remained fixed."

Hillary was no Communist, nor should her work in the Treuhaft firm imply that she was. But the fact that she chose this job out of all the summer jobs that might have been available, traveling three thousand miles for it, tells something about her orientation at the time. Just as the fact that she does not describe the firm's work or reputation says something about her today.

Further, in a November 26, 2007, article, New York Sun reporter Josh Gerstein quoted another one of the firm's partners, Malcolm Burnstein, on the topic of why Clinton worked for the firm. Gerstein wrote that "Mr. Burnstein said Mrs. Clinton was probably drawn to the firm by its civil rights work and not by the left-wing politics of its partners, though she expressed no disquiet about that. 'There was nothing revolutionary about Hillary, and I do not say that pejoratively,' he said. 'She was much more of a classic liberal than the rest of us.' "

From the April 14 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

SEAN HANNITY (co-host): All right. But now, there's two Barack Obamas: a guy who's been very politically astute on the campaign trail, but now starting with Reverend Wright; starting with Michelle Obama's comments; you know, the friendly relationship with an unrepentant terrorist, Bill Ayers; he appears at the Million Man March; he makes these comments at a mansion in San Francisco at a fundraiser. A very different image of this man has emerged. So the question remains, which do you think is the real Barack Obama?

MORRIS: Well, I think, to a certain extent, they're both. I don't think that Reverend Wright represents the real Barack Obama. And I don't think Ayers does.

HANNITY: You don't think so? Twenty years?

MORRIS: This comes --

HANNITY: Twenty years in that church?

MORRIS: I know, but listen. As far as I'm concerned, Hillary Clinton was a -- the legal student, law student defending the Black Panther Party, and then she worked in a communist law firm. I don't care that Barack Obama's kids play with a communist terrorist.

COLMES: Well, does it make Hillary Clinton a communist?

MORRIS: I care that his church --

HANNITY: You don't care about these things?

COLMES: Wait a minute, Dick. Is Hillary Clinton --

MORRIS: I care a lot more that Hillary was a supporter of the Black Panthers.

COLMES: Wait a second. Does that make her a communist? Are you calling her a communist?

MORRIS: No, at that time, at that point in her life, she may well have been. But it certainly is far --

COLMES: Is that red-baiting?

MORRIS: But it certainly is far -- I think that she has a lot to explain. Far more than of anyone does about their pastor, as to why, as a law student -- we're not talking about a 5-year-old kid.

COLMES: Wasn't she an intern?

MORRIS: She was a law -- well, an intern later. But as a law student --

COLMES: Right.

MORRIS: -- she was in court every single day as a volunteer, spotting grounds for appeal for the Black Panthers.

COLMES: As a learning exercise.

—M.B.B.