O'Reilly hosted former tax delinquent Morris to criticize Geithner's tax failure
SUMMARY: On The O'Reilly Factor, Dick Morris repeatedly criticized Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner for his failure to pay Social Security taxes several years ago. But Morris has his own history of tax delinquency; USA Today included Morris in an April 2008 report on "[b]ig names" who are tax delinquents.
On the January 21 edition of the Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly hosted syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Dick Morris, who repeatedly criticized Treasury Secretary-designate Timothy Geithner for his failure to pay Social Security taxes several years ago. Morris stated, "I have a huge problem with Geithner," later adding, "How could you trust him?" However, during the broadcast, neither O'Reilly nor Morris acknowledged Morris' own history of tax delinquency. Indeed, USA Today included Morris in an April 2008 report on "[b]ig names" who are tax delinquents:
Dick Morris: The former political adviser to Bill Clinton is a Fox News analyst. The IRS filed a $1.5 million tax lien against him in 2003. The state of Connecticut reports Morris owes $452,367 in back taxes and penalties.
Morris says he's reached an agreement with Connecticut and his name will be removed from the next delinquency list. He says he is committed to paying his taxes: "Following a difficult period in my life, I fell into arrears. But since then, I have paid almost $3 million in state and federal taxes."
According to the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services (DRS), Morris owed the state $443,915 as of November 1, 2007, making him the state's sixth-biggest tax delinquent at that time. He was also listed as one of Connecticut's 10 biggest tax delinquents as of October 1, 2007, and April 1, 2007. Morris is not cited by DRS on its recent list of "The Top 100 Delinquent Income Taxpayer Accounts" in Connecticut as of November 1, 2008.
From the January 21 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor:
O'REILLY: All right. So, Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state: You don't have any problem with it.
MORRIS: No.
O'REILLY: OK. Geithner -- Geithner is the big money guru --
MORRIS: I have a huge problem with Geithner.
O'REILLY: -- didn't pay his taxes.
MORRIS: To have the head of the IRS collect compensation earmarked for paying his taxes from the IMF and then keep it and not pay it in taxes --
O'REILLY: He says it was a mistake --
MORRIS: -- and then pay two years, but not four years, 'cause the statute of limitations --
O'REILLY: So are you --
MORRIS: -- had run on the two years.
O'REILLY: Do you think he's a crook?
MORRIS: No, not in the sense that --
O'REILLY: Why -- why would -- here's my question to you.
MORRIS: I think he consciously --
O'REILLY: Wait. Listen to me. Why would a guy at that level nickel-and-dime like that? I mean, it's just -- it's little, little stuff. It's not like huge -- it's not like Marc Rich. Why would he risk everything, nickel and -- he says it was a mistake. He takes credit for the mistake, but he didn't do it on purpose.
MORRIS: Yeah. He inadvertently deducted his kids' --
O'REILLY: Are you not believing him?
MORRIS: -- Bill, he inadvertently deducted his kids' sleep-away camp on his income taxes, claiming it --
O'REILLY: All right.
MORRIS: -- was a business expense.
O'REILLY: So you don't trust this guy at all?
MORRIS: He made a mistake?
O'REILLY: You don't trust him?
MORRIS: No. How could you trust him?
O'REILLY: OK. What if he's a genius and helps with the economy? Does it --
MORRIS: God bless him, but he shouldn't be running the IRS.
O'REILLY: So -- but he's going to get in. You know he is.
MORRIS: Of course.
O'REILLY: Because it's a one-party system now, and all of them --
MORRIS: Absolutely. Sure. Anybody's going to get confirmed.
Why didn't this creep O'Reilly complain about the "one party" system when the torturers were in power?
I know, seriously. One-party system. What a jerk. He was looking like the reasonable one there for a whiel too, seeming to give gientner the benfit of the doubtG
Of course Morris forgot to pay..he was busy spending the money on hookers who'd let him suck their toes...
I'd rather the GOP just quietly went off into the dark and died so then the extremely fragile coalition of wide political beliefs now known as the Democrats could finally splinter leaving the country could a real choice of multiple major parties.
O'REILLY: Because it's a one-party system now, and all of them --
Interesting comment/complaint from a shill for the party whose stated goal beginning in the mid-nineties was to establish a "permanent Republican majority."
One-Party system...And let's keep it that way..
Dick Morris is up for Treasury Secretary?
He's not. However it certainly strains the creibility of the speaker when he is guilty of exactly the same sort of behavior he is criticising. That would be like a notoriously politically biased cable news network constantly editorialising about the opposing bias of a competing cable news network.
Oh. Wait.
IT's like this: If a liberal doesn't pay his taxes he's a hypocrit because liberals <3 taxes. If a conservative doesn't pay his taxes he's a hero fighting evil tax-and-spend liberals who want to steal your hard earned money. Or maybe he's the victim of a witch hunt because everybody knows liberals are never the victims of witch hunts. Or the IRS is drunk with power...or the Clintons are after him... WHich reminds me-whatever happened to that Clinton hit list and why did Dick Morris stop keeping his identity secret? Isn't he in bodily danger every day?
Does anyone really think Geithener accidently forgot to pay his taxes? He signed all kinds of forms saying he knew he had to pay taxes. The average american could never get away with this. This is the man who will be in charge of the IRS and he can't even understand that he has to pay taxes? And they say this guy is brilliant? Wasn't he involved in the financial meldown of Citigroup? And what about Charlie Rangel who also broke numerous tax laws and happens to WRITE the tax laws. These are America's best and brightest who will save our economy? Can we use the same excuses as these men and not be penalized for not paying our taxes?
I thought he did pay interest and penalties. Was there more penalizing that should have been done? Perhapas he should have been forced to let Morris suck his toes.
He's being hired for a "big picture" post, not a tax preparation specialist at H&R Block. That doesn't excuse his connections to PART of the meltdown. The meltdown was born in the policy decisions of conservatives who think less regulation is good for the markets, which is code for "greed is good", the only line the conservative nabobs took away from the movie Wallstreet.
Randy
This was in response to 'fishergirlusmc'... sorry.