Dick Morris, one of the most influential behind-the-scenes
players in American political history, addressed members of the Lipscomb &
Pitts-sponsored “Breakfast Club” group at the Botanic Gardens on Friday and
treated them to what was a highly idiosyncratic — one might say
“neo-conservative” — view of history. In Morris’s reckoning, for example, the
primary onus for the Great Depression of the 1930s lay not on the stock market
crash of 1929 but on a 1932 decision by President Herbert Hoover – “that idiot”
– to raise taxes.
The diminutive consultant, whose clients range across
national as well as political boundaries, may be best known for devising the
theory of “triangulation,” whereby Democrat Bill Clinton, after a landslide
Republican win in the 1994 congressional elections, was able to play both
ideological ends against the middle, thereby salvaging his presidency and going
on to win a second term in 1996.
It got no mention at Friday’s meeting of the breakfast
group, which brings together organizations from across the local civic and
business spectrum, but Morris’ advisory relationship with both Bill and Hillary
Clinton came to a crashing end at the moment of his greatest influence. That
came just before the Democratic National Convention in 1996 in Chicago. when
Morris was embarrassingly exposed as having had a toe-sucking relationship with
a prostitute, whom he had allowed to listen in on his telephone conversations
with the president.
McCain’s Error
From that point on, Morris’ politics, already
rightward-tending, grew progressively more so, leading to a political as well a
personal estrangement from the Clintons — whom he has since denounced in
several books and articles – and to an ultra-conservative credo which he shared
with his breakfast audience on Friday.
In Morris’ view, for example, Republican presidential
candidate John McCain ‘s short-lived recent “suspension” of his presidential
campaign would have made sense only if McCain had gone to Washington to campaign
against the emergency bailout package that, supported tacitly by both McCain and
Democratic candidate Barack Obama, was subsequently adopted by both houses of
Congress.
“Capitalism on the way up, socialism on the way down” was
how Morris characterized the likelihood of increasing government control over
the economy. He saw the financial crisis of October as having nullified the
slight edge McCain had earned over rival Obama with his naming of Alaska
governor Sarah Palin as a vice-presidential running mate.
As readers of an account of Palin’s selection in the
current New Yorker know, Morris had become one of the prime movers of
Palin’s rise to prominence after meeting her last year. Crediting her with
“Intuitive integrity, independence, courage, and self-confidence, ” Morris said Friday,
“An absolute star was born in American politics in Sarah Palin.”
The ‘Head-Fake’
Grinning wide, Morris termed McCain’s unexpected selection of Palin as “the greatest head-fake that has ever been pulled in the history of American politics.” He explained it this way: After word was carefully put out that McCain would be going with former rival Mitt Romney, Obama had then shied away from “‘her,’ and you know who ‘her’ is, Hillary Cliton,” and was trapped into giving the nod to the “dull” Joe Biden. “It was so cool!”
Morris expressed misgivings about the prospect of Obama
becoming president – warning against what he saw as the Democrat’s openness to
imposing additional taxes and against Obama’s putative disposition, “as a
constitutional law professor,” to modify provisions of the Patriot Act. The
Brooklyn Bridge might have been demolished by terrorists but for clandestine
federal wiretaps that allowed authorities to smell out and defense an organized
plot against the bridge, Morris maintained.
Equally vexing to Morris was the prospect that the current
government intervention in the economy might become permanent. Morris conceded
that some sort of government action was necessary but cautioned, “The Fire
Department has to get back to the firehouse.”
Morris suggested that whoever wins the presidency will end up having to function
essentially like a trustee in a bankruptcy. Post-election, both houses of
Congress are likely to be the most liberal since the time of Lyndon Johnson’s
Great Society and they’ll want to spend freely but won’t be able to, he
said. “The money walked out of the house two weeks ago.”
