Responding to Media Matters, Morris acknowledged "pushing very, very hard" for GOP group that pays him to run ads

During the November 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, while purporting to respond to questions raised by Media Matters for America, Fox News political analyst Dick Morris did not deny Media Matters' central contention about him: that over the last two months, he has accepted thousands of dollars in ad revenue from a group he repeatedly promoted and fundraised for on television and in his columns without disclosing his financial relationship. Indeed, Morris said: "I've been pushing very, very hard for a group called GOPTrust.com that is running $1 million of ads in Georgia to elect [Sen. Saxby] Chambliss and defeat the Democrat. Now, in the last couple of days, some of the liberals have lashed back at me, claiming that somehow I'm getting paid by this group, but the fact is that all they've done is buy ads on my website, like they buy ads in The New York Times." Morris added, "I'm no more in cahoots with them than The New York Times is. And this has all been fully disclosed in their disclosure statements." But there is at least one key difference between Morris and the Times in their acceptance of payments from advertisers: the Times does not routinely run editorials touting its advertisers and urging people to buy their products or contribute to them, as Morris has.

As Media Matters documented, between October 27 and November 17, Morris mentioned GOPTrust.com during at least 13 Fox News appearances and asked viewers to "give funds to GOPTrust.com," the website of the National Republican Trust PAC. Morris also has promoted GOPTrust.com in his Creators Syndicate column and columns published in or by the New York Post, The Hill, Newsmax.com, and his personal website, DickMorris.com, without disclosing that the group has paid him thousands of dollars to run its ads. Media Matters found that the National Republican Trust PAC has paid a firm affiliated with Morris at least $24,000 since the beginning of October.

From the November 24 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

HANNITY: There's a very important runoff December 2nd in the state of Georgia. If Al Franken -- and I argue -- and I have all of these different ballots that he's questioning that clearly are Norm Coleman ballots, clearly --

MORRIS: Right. Right.

HANNITY: -- and he's questioning them because he's trying to litigate his way into the Senate seat. And my question is: So, if Saxby Chambliss doesn't win in Georgia, this gives them their magic number of 60.

MORRIS: Yeah. The Republican Party is dead at that point. It has no role at all to play because you won't have 60. You'll have 60 votes in the Senate for the Democrats. And I've been pushing very, very hard for a group called GOPTrust.com that is running $1 million of ads in Georgia to elect Chambliss and defeat the Democrat.

Now, in the last couple of days, some of the liberals have lashed back at me, claiming that somehow I'm getting paid by this group, but the fact is that all they've done is buy ads on my website, like they buy ads in The New York Times. And I'm no more in cahoots with them than The New York Times is.

And this has all been fully disclosed in their disclosure statements. But I won't be intimidated by those groups. It is crucially important that every American who cares about the free enterprise system go online as soon as this show is over and [co-host] Alan [Colmes] makes his announcement, and get online to GOPTrust.com and give Chambliss the money he needs to win. Your whole future depends on it.

COLMES: But are you fundraising for Chambliss by doing that?

MORRIS: Yes, darned right I am, and give to Chambliss, too. When the whole future of the country is at stake on this, darned right I'm fundraising for him.