On Hannity & Colmes, Morris touted Clinton film without bringing up his reported ties to it
SUMMARY: On Hannity & Colmes, Dick Morris touted "a film coming out ... being produced by Citizens United ... that's probably going to come out early next year, maybe early January, I think," that will purportedly expose Hillary Clinton's "use of private detectives in the aggressive way that she's done." But during the segment, no one raised the issue of Morris' reported former role as a co-producer of the film with Republican activist and discredited former congressional staffer David Bossie, nor did anyone note that he will reportedly be an interview subject in it. Further, in a Newsmax column, Morris and Eileen McGann described Clinton as "the commander of the Clinton secret police" and called Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson a "KGB enforcer look-alike."
On the November 19 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, syndicated columnist Dick Morris stated: "I think that obviously, one of the -- I mean, the main thing that I have against [Sen.] Hillary [Rodham Clinton (D-NY)] is her use of private detectives in the aggressive way that she's done." Morris continued: "And there is a film coming out sponsored -- being produced by Citizens United ... [president] David Bossie, that's probably going to come out early next year, maybe early January, I think. And they have an interview with Jared Stern, a former Marine, who told a congressional investigator that he was hired to investigate Kathleen Willey by a former CIA operative, Bob Miller, during clandestine nighttime meeting. He won't disclose what he was hired to do, but it made him so uneasy, that he then called Willey using an alias and told her that she was in danger." Morris was referring to the film, Hillary, The Movie, a "full-length feature documentary about Senator Hillary Clinton" that, according to the film's website, "aims to expose the truth about her [Clinton's] conflicts in the past and her liberal plot for the future." However, neither Morris nor his hosts noted reports that he once served as co-producer of the film with Bossie and that he still remains an interview subject in it.
Morris made his comments during a discussion of Robert D. Novak's November 17 nationally syndicated column, in which Novak wrote that "[a]gents of Sen. Hillary Clinton are spreading the word in Democratic circles that she has scandalous information about her principal opponent for the party's presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama [D-IL], but has decided not to use it."
Further, Morris and Eileen McGann wrote in a November 19 column at the conservative website Newsmax repeating Novak's claims: "Are the Clinton secret police back on patrol? It looks like they may be making a late campaign comeback." Morris and McGann also claimed that Clinton was "the commander of the Clinton secret police" and called Clinton campaign communications director Howard Wolfson a "KGB enforcer look-alike." On Hannity & Colmes, apparently referring to that column, Morris said that Clinton "use[s] ... private detectives." Co-host Sean Hannity then said to Morris, "Secret police, you call it." Morris replied: "Secret police."
A February 17 Gannett News Service article reported that Morris and Bossie -- a Republican activist and discredited former congressional staffer -- "are trying to raise $3.5 million to produce a movie critical of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, aiming its release for October or November -- just ahead of the 2008 presidential caucuses and primaries." In a March 23 post on his Politico blog, Politico senior political writer Ben Smith reported that "Clinton apostate Dick Morris appears to have scaled back his involvement in 'Hillary, the Movie,' which had earlier been described as a collaboration between him and David Bossie, the longtime Clinton foe who runs Citizens United." Smith added: "Bossie hasn't returned my calls on the subject, and Morris didn't respond to an email seeking comment." Smith later updated his post, stating that, in an email, Morris said he "had to pull out as the producer" due to scheduling conflicts, but that he would "certainly appear in [the film] for a segment and wish[ed] the project well." According to a second update to Smith's post, Bossie had emailed to say that "There is no debt associated with the project and, in fact, substantial funds have been raised for the movie."
In addition to his involvement with Bossie's film, Morris served as an adviser and had offered "his treasure trove of files, documents and artifacts" to the "Counter Clinton Library," a now-defunct project headed by Newsmax columnist John LeBoutillier with a stated mission of, as Media Matters noted, serving as "the headquarters of the Stop Hillary Now campaign."
From Smith's March 23 Politico blog post:
The latest: Clinton apostate Dick Morris appears to have scaled back his involvement in "Hillary, the Movie," which had earlier been described as a collaboration between him and David Bossie, the longtime Clinton foe who runs Citizens United.
As recently as last month, Morris spoke about the project in the first person plural.
The blurb on the left is from Google's cache two days ago. The one on the right is from the site today. And Morris is no longer listed as a producer, only as an interview subject.
Bossie hasn't returned my calls on the subject, and Morris didn't respond to an email seeking comment.
UPDATE: Morris emails: " I have decided that my other time commitments -- a new book -- Outrage [HarperCollins, 2007] -- which Eileen [McGann] and I have coming out at the end of May, a new book we are writing, our 3 columns each week, TV appearances, my new daily radio show, an upcoming new web site, and three foreign campaigns we are running -- make it impossible to take on the task of producing a full length movie this spring and summer, for a fall release date. There are just so many hours in a day. I found that I was holding up the production schedule and having constantly to cancel meetings, so I asked to be excused from producing the film.
"I'll certainly appear in for a segment and wish the project well, but I had to pull out as the producer."
UPDATE 2: David Bossie emails that business is still good in anti-Hillary land. "There is no debt associated with the project and, in fact, substantial funds have been raised for the movie. My organization is not in debt.
From the November 19 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:
HANNITY: All right, let me go to the Robert Novak column, because this goes to the heart of something you have discussed on this program and other programs at length. And the bottom line here is he reported that agents of Senator Clinton are spreading word in Democratic circles that they have -- she has, in particular, scandalous information about Barack Obama and she decided not to use it. The nature of the scandal is not being disclosed. But the word is it would make Obama look vulnerable, and she looks prudent by not releasing this.
Now, I interviewed Robert Novak earlier today. He used the term "Nixonian" in describing the tactic that she's using. What are your thoughts?
MORRIS: Well, his reference there was that Nixon would always say, 'I'm not going to make an issue of the fact that John F. Kennedy is Catholic." But I think that obviously, one of the -- I mean, the main thing that I have against Hillary is her use of private detectives in the aggressive way that she's done.
HANNITY: Secret police, you call it.
MORRIS: Secret police. And there's a film coming out sponsored -- being produced by Citizens United --
HANNITY: David Bossie.
MORRIS: -- David Bossie, that's probably going to come out early next year, maybe early January, I think. And they have an interview with Jared Stern, a former Marine, who told a congressional investigator that he was hired to investigate Kathleen Willey by a former CIA operative, Bob Miller, during a clandestine nighttime meeting. He won't disclose what he was hired to do, but it made him so uneasy that he then called Willey using an alias and told her that she was in danger.
We have this. We have Jack Palladino being hired for $100,000 of taxpayer-funded campaign contributions in '92 to go after women. We have Linda Tripp's personnel file being outed by the White House so that the feds had to pay a $600,000 judgment to her. We have [former Clinton administration adviser] Sidney Blumenthal peddling that Monica Lewinsky was a stalker to Christopher Hitchens. We have Linda Douglas hearing about the [former Rep. Henry] Hyde [R-IL] impeachment, the Hyde scandal --
HANNITY: You believe this?
MORRIS: Of course I believe this.
ALAN COLMES (co-host): All right, Dick, I've got a lot of cleaning up here to do on some of the things -- first of all, Kathleen Willey was on this show, acknowledged that she hadn't told the truth. In her own book, she said she didn't tell the truth. Her credibility --
MORRIS: Oh, I'm not quoting Kathleen -- I'm not quoting -- I'm not quoting Kathleen Willey. I'm quoting Jared Stern --
COLMES: OK.
MORRIS: -- who said, who said, having nothing to do with Willey, that he was hired to investigate Willey. Now, who do you think would want to hire somebody to investigate Willey?
COLMES: I don't know. Do have any proof that Hillary had anything to do with it? Do you have any proof of that?
MORRIS: Oh no, none at all, Alan.
COLMES: Oh, do you?
MORRIS: Total coincidence.
COLMES: I'm just wondering if you have any proof.
MORRIS: Isn't it incredible, Alan, how Henry Hyde has an affair and the Clintons get wind of it? Monica Lewinsky is a stalker, and the Clintons peddle it. Jack Paladino happens to be hired for $100,000 --
COLMES: I just wonder -- all I'm asking for is some evidence that what you're saying has some links to Hillary Clinton.
MORRIS: The whole -- well, Jack Palladino, it was the Clinton campaign that hired him.
From Morris' and McGann's November 19 Newsmax column:
Are the Clinton secret police back on patrol?
It looks like they may be making a late campaign comeback.
In a week-end column, Robert Novak alleged that "agents" of Hillary Clinton are "spreading the word that she has scandalous information" about Barack Obama, but decided not to use it. (How considerate of her!)
Obama has come out swinging, accusing the Clinton campaign of trying to swift-boat him and demanding that Clinton either release the information or admit that there is none.
The Clinton camp is shocked that anyone would ever think that it would use such tactics!
Clinton campaign Communications Director (and KGB enforcer look-alike) Howard Wolfson claimed that the campaign had "no idea" what Novak was talking about. Absolutely!
And, as usual, Wolfson tried to turn the embarrassing issue for Hillary into a problem for Barack, claiming he was naive for believing what was in the Novak column.
"A Republican-leaning journalist runs a blind item designed to set Democrats against one another. Experienced Democrats see this for what it is. Others get distracted and thrown off their games," Wolfson said.
Does anybody really believe that Hillary hasn't been gathering dirt on her opponents? Anyone with any experience in politics knows one thing for sure: Hillary Clinton plays the game rough and dirty -- and she has a sordid history of using private investigators to find scandals in the background of anyone who gets in her way.
While Hillary righteously lectures the candidates about mudslinging, her boys in the back room are readying the dirt to leak when she's not doing too well.
Remember in the 1992 campaign when Gennifer Flowers and other women were harassed by private detectives? The Clintons used campaign money to pay over $100,000 to private investigators to scare off the women. (Now they've learned to bury their investigative costs in lawyers bills.)
And does anyone think it was a coincidence that Republican speaker of the House and the chairman of the Judiciary Committee were outed for extra-marital affairs just at the time that the impeachment vote was about to take place?
Or that there were off the record calls to journalists from the White House accusing Monica Lewinsky of being a stalker?
And what are the odds that the recent rumors about John Edwards came from Clinton operatives?
That's how the Clintons try to obliterate their opponents, with Hillary at the helm. As she runs for commander-in-chief of the United States, she's already the commander of the Clinton secret police.
Ah, yessssssssssss. Let the fun begin. They aren't even going to wait to see if Hillary wins the nomination; the GOP Manure Spreaders will be running at full speed from here on out.
GOP swiftboats armed with manure cannons, to be precise.
I predict a critical flop, but based only on this...
When they have to plea on the front page of their website for material from the public, it reeks of desperation, a lack of investigative skill, or just plain sloppy, lazy film making.
But, we shall see.
I can't wait to see the outcry if they are unable to get it screened at any festivals.
I notice that they refer to Morris as a "renowned Clinton expert".
How pathetic is that?
$#*%!!
An expert in tax evasion is more apt.
Oh gee, one certainly needs this disclosure from Morris to cement anymore of his irrational seething hatred for all things Clinton, as if that changes anything, really.
Who cares? Anytime Morris opens his mouth it's either to brush his teeth or spit out Clinton. Isn't that all we need to know?
He brushes his teeth? I never knew that, tommy!
Noun Verb Bash Clinton...noun verb bash Clinton...noun verb spread lies about Clinton.
The funny thing is Morris was actually telling the truth when he said "I don't have any evidence at all." He just said it in a way to make it appear he did have it when in reality he got nothin'
Morris' snide "PROOF" is that, gosh, WHO ELSE might be hiring private detectives to investigate things that might produce dirt on the Clintons?
Gee, Dick. Only a thousand rightwing smearmerchants, like Richard Mellon Scaife or the Swift Boat lunatics, would ever do such a thing!
Your presentation of "PROOF", Dick, that has a thousand reasonable (and proven PROBABLE) OTHER suspects, is the epitome of how frame-jobs are manufactured.
As a previous poster noted, Morris has NOTHIN', but that never prevents the rightwing from ginning up yet another "scandal-gate" based on nothing at all.
Here it comes again.
That is a reasonable point. Journalistic ethics demand that if you are talking about a film you were involved in you disclose that but anyone marginally informed on the cast of characters here knows better than to expect such ethics from Morris or expect anything from him on all things Clinton but attacks.
I think it's obvious by now that MMFA prefers to take something along the lines of the old fashioned "5 W's" approach.
Whereas you apparently believe that everyone already knows everything there is to know about everybody. Therefore, there is nothing to be learned by reporting something that few people know about someone that everyone should already know everything about.
"I think it's obvious by now that MMFA prefers to take something along the lines of the old fashioned "5 W's" approach.
Whereas you apparently believe that everyone already knows everything there is to know about everybody. Therefore, there is nothing to be learned by reporting something that few people know about someone that everyone should already know everything about."
YES. Based on tommy's logic, there's no point in MMFA reporting on anything since "we all know" everything.
Hell, based on Tommylogic, we could just as easily dismiss everything he posts here. After all, everybody knows he's just a dimwitted and dishonest contrarian with absolutely no comprehension of the basic rules of logic and debate. By his standard, every time he posts his nonsense, instead of countering it with truth and logic, we should just shrug it off and say, "Well, it's Tommy, what do you expect?" And that way he would be free to spout his idiocy unhindered by pesky things like facts and logic.
I don't think its fair to call Tommy dimwitted, Clams. He's anything but that. I think that he has repeatedly shown himself to be shrewd, tenacious, & extremely resilient.
The rest of what you said about him, however, is right on the money.
"I don't think its fair to call Tommy dimwitted, Clams."
I think he just proved you wrong in his post below. He's completely incapable of grasping the simple point I was making.
What's really the underlying comic element here is that you can't honestly believe that any of your posts would ever have enough intellectual weight to stop me from continuing, do you? Much less challenge their content.
Besides, considering many of yours are peppered with vile insults that the moderators have yanked them fast and often, and you know that's absolutely the truth, many of them aren't around long enough to do much of anything, now are they Pumpkin?
Speaking of pumpkins, have a wonderful Thanksgiving......muah!
Your arguments are shot down on an hourly basis here, day in and day out, by myself and many many others. Just as it serves everyone who cares about the truth to call Dick Morris on his lies and nonsense, it also serves the readers of MMFA to have your lies and nonsense countered with facts and logic. I understand that you're delusional and that you continue to post here because you're convinced that you've won every single argument you've ever gotten into, but that's ok...keep at it. It does serve a purpose.
For example, your repeated lie about my posts being deleted only serves to remind me how utterly dishonest you truly are. The fact that you lie so easily and so frequently (and yes, I will gladly post links to some of your most embarrassing lies if you so wish) only shows everyone how desperate you are to defend the indefensible. The facts are not on your side. They rarely are. It's only natural that you need to lie in order to defend your fact-challenged "opinions."
So, yes, your dishonesty will continue to be exposed and challenged by myself and everyone else here who cares about the truth. You are a useful idiot.
Yikes!
I do see your point now, Clams, and quite plainly. Tommy is demonstrating that he is quite capable of embracing his delusionality to the point of complete dimwittedness. Its like listening to someone smugly boast about how he pummeled someone's fists with his head.
The obvious question is why do you feel so compelled to answer posts of a dimwitted, dishonest contrarian who lacks any debating skills, is without logic, and whose posts are riddled with pesky idiotic nonsense?
I believe that says far more about your skills and debating "prowess" if you stoop to "my level" instead of finding a more worthy adversary.....or is it because in order to feel more secure about your arguments, you feel the need to degrade mine to your level? Of course, that's it.
Well, I don't like it down there Clams......I prefer it up here where strong arguments can withstand sunlight, not weak ones that lay buried in the sand.
Remember that every time you respond to me.
Have a nice holiday...
<i>"The obvious question is why do you feel so compelled to answer posts of a dimwitted, dishonest contrarian who lacks any debating skills, is without logic, and whose posts are riddled with pesky idiotic nonsense?"</i>
And here we have a sterling example of you completely missing the point. What you're failing to comprehend is that I don't adhere to the rules of Tommylogic, and therefore I know that ignoring people like you and Morris does no good. It only allows you to spout off unhindered. Do you get it now?
(lol)
If you consider your personal attacks a hindrance to my posts, well they aren't, what they are is a telling indicator of the depths you'll go too so as not to ignore "pesky, idiotic nonsense from a dimwitted and dishonest contrarian". If your ego has you believing otherwise, then let me work up a little pity your way, among the overwhelming feeling of indifference that is already there.
Let me spell this out for you in plain terms: Dick Morris fails to disclose his role as co-producer on a film that he's promoting, and your reaction is, "Who cares?" You could have just posted, "I don't care," and there would be no reason to respond to you. But instead you chose to project your opinion and claim that since everyone already knows what Morris is about, nobody should bother pointing out his deceit. You are very simply wrong about this. Everyone doesn't know who Morris is and what his m.o. is. Once again, you're arguing from a fact-free position. You've taken your opinion and you've turned it into an easily debunked statement of "fact." There are no two ways about it. You're wrong.
And THAT is a good counterargument
Better that Hillary command her secret police. Rudy let Bernie Kerik handle the job and you see how well that worked out.
Fox News - All slime, all the time.
I take anything that Dick Morris says as a lie.
Oh man - what a can of worms they've opened now! The personal attack ads aren't enough? Now it's gonna be full length movies?!?!?!
OK, so lets all play fair. I can't wait for "Giuliani, The Movie" - hope my Cub Scout popcorn order comes in by then!
OK, Dick is in love with Bill and very jealous of Hillary. Is it not obvious that little Dick hates women in general and Hillary above all others? The only gig he can get on the tube is with Hannity, what does that tell us? The horror is that millions of not too bright americans think he actually knows something.
His name is "Dick" and it suit him well.
Get with the Hillary Program. She is out to destroy anyone that get's in her way.
Likeable Hillary? Don't think so.
She will not win in Iowa #1. Then she will attack some more. She will lose in New Hapshire. Then the Democrats are going to have to make a decision. But knowing their track record that will be difficult.
And who has Hillary attacked thus far in this campaign? Care to provide some examples of some personal attacks that she has lobbed at anyone?
I know that there have been a ton thrown at her thus far, mostly from republicans.
Mag, were you actually able to make enough sense of that to respond with questions?How many Iowa's are there?
Then the Democrats are going to have to make a decision.
Lucky they have good choices. Not like the republicans who can't anybody appealing to run.
Tax Delinquent Midget Morris is nothing but a former disgruntle Clinton employee, and he is using this film to get back at Hillary. This fool pollutes the Fox News studio air everytime his short, fat behind shows up.
Instead of a film about Hillary Clinton, a producer should make a film about the past lives of Midget Morris and his mentally deranged buddy Sean (especially between the ages 16-23). I can guarantee that you will find sordid details about these two fools' personal lives. Of course, the film would have to rated NC-17.