The Hill recently published two falsehood-filled columns by Dick Morris suggesting that President Obama will subjugate the United States to the United Nations.
In a column posted yesterday, Morris claimed that "[s]ecretly, behind closed doors, the nations of the world are negotiating a treaty -- initiated by Russia and China -- to regulate the Internet through the United Nations" that will be signed in December in Dubai. Yet Morris conveniently omitted one relevant fact: The United States opposes any such regulation.
The White House has repeatedly said it “opposes the extension of intergovernmental controls over the Internet” and has “vowed to block any proposals from Russia and other countries that they believe threaten the Internet's current governing structure or give tacit approval to online censorship.”
Indeed, Reuters reported that the U.S. has been “trying to drum up support, both domestically and internationally, to preserve a decentralized Internet” and quoted an unnamed State Department official stating: “This is one of those circumstances where I think it's fair to say there's absolute unanimity. I don't believe you'd find any dissent at all to the view that we would like to keep the Internet free of inter-governmental controls.”
Morris previously claimed during a Republican fundraiser that Obama has “secret plans particularly to force UN regulation of the Internet.”
In a separate Hill column posted on October 8, Morris claimed that Obama “will invite the United Nations to tax Americans directly” and claimed that “Obama, Hillary and the U.N. are planning” to enact a “U.N.-imposed tax on billionaires all over the world” that would somehow “gradually grow downwards to cover more and more Americans.”
However, the U.S. Mission to the United Nations has stated that it opposes global taxes. A spokesperson told FoxNews.com: “The United States opposes global taxes because we believe that any source of revenue should remain under the control of national authorities. This is an idea that has been kicked around for years. Fortunately, it hasn't gone anywhere, nor will it.”
Furthermore, as Reuters noted in a July 5 article, the “United Nations has no authority or mechanisms to enforce an international tax and can only urge its 193 members to do so.”
Morris added that by allegedly allowing the U.N. to tax Americans, “Barack Hussein Obama will, indeed, realize the dreams of his father” -- a nasty nod to the conservative conspiracy theory that Obama is trying to enact revenge against the West for imperialism.
It should also be noted that Morris' column -- headlined, “Obama's second-term plan: Let the UN tax Americans” -- is predicting what Obama will do with “his lame-duck Senate” following the November election, and predictions are not Morris' strength.
In addition to his book, Morris has peddled his UN-Obama theories on Fox News, where he once remarked: “Those crazies in Montana who say, 'We're going to kill ATF agents because the U.N.'s going to take over' -- well, they're beginning to have a case.”
Factual inaccuracies aren't the only problems with Morris' Hill columns. Media Matters previously documented how Morris analyzed political groups or races in which he had a financial interest. In these cases, neither The Hill nor Morris disclosed his financial connections to readers. The Hill was criticized by media ethicists and CNN host Howard Kurtz over Morris' disclosure-free columns.
Now Morris is using his Hill perch to sell books with false global conspiracy theories about the Obama administration. Morris' two columns contain no fewer than seven mentions of his book Here Come the Black Helicopters.
If The Hill can't count on Dick Morris to get his facts straight, or write free of ethical conflicts, why is it publishing him?