You probably already know that Dick Morris is bad at political predictions and policy analysis and telling the truth and behaving ethically. But you may not know that Dick Morris is a lousy book reviewer, too.
Yesterday, Morris brought his usual blend of incompetence and outrageousness to a review of Bill O'Reilly's book, Pinheads and Patriots. (Morris didn't bother to disclose that he and O'Reilly work together at Fox News. Remember: Morris isn't good at behaving ethically.)
Let's start with the outrageous: Morris' review of O'Reilly's book implies that Barack Obama is actively and intentionally working against America's interests:
Is Obama a socialist? A Muslim? Anti-American? Pro-Palestinian? Or just a man who is right sometimes and wrong most of the time?
…
The intellect behind [Obama's] accomplishments must be staggering. But, if so, the mendacity must be as well.
[O'Reilly's] critique of Obama is one of the sharpest and most well argued ever written. But, somehow, it still begs the basic question: Is he on our side after all?
Next to Morris' nasty and false suggestion that Barack Obama may be a Muslim who is actively working against America, his assault on the English language is small change. Nevertheless: Dick Morris doesn't seem to know what adjectives are:
In a world fraught with invective, Bill focuses instead on programs, statistics, and facts. Abjuring adjectives, he speaks only in nouns and verbs.
Saying that Obama's “big-picture vision…remains to be seen,” he warns that “whenever a journalist like me tries to define a President, the situation gets complicated. Accurate analysis is challenging because outsiders (that's us) can never get all the facts about what goes on in the Oval Office.” Noting that he gets “interesting intelligence information,” he says that “confirming the validity of it is simply impossible.” So, in a world filled with invective, Bill focuses instead on programs, statistics, and facts. Abjuring adjectives, he speaks of Obama only with nouns and verbs.
Note that passage begins and ends with the assertion that O'Reilly does not use adjectives -- and that in between, Morris quotes O'Reilly using several adjectives. Small-scale sloppiness and hyperbole by Morris' standards, to be sure -- but also a reminder that Dick Morris doesn't know what he's talking about. Ever.
Note also that Morris contrasts O'Reilly with the “invective” all around. Morris goes on to write that O'Reilly's “style is refreshing in the world of national politics where any conservative is a 'sellout' and any leftist a 'traitor.'” Let me remind you of the title of O'Reilly's book: Pinheads and Patriots. The guy uses the word “pinheads” in the title of his book, and Dick Morris praises him for avoiding “invective.” (And don't forget that on television, O'Reilly likes to throw around Nazi comparisons.)
So let's go ahead and add “invective” to the list of words Dick Morris doesn't know. And “reviewing books” to the list of things Dick Morris is just terrible at.