Dick Morris Can't Handle The Truth

Writing in the New York Post on May 24th Dick Morris attacked Senator Hillary Clinton over her extension for filing her financial disclosure statement as a Presidential candidate. Mr. Morris, who has a recent history of smearing Ms. Clinton, claimed falsely that Ms. Clinton had not offered a reason for the extension and further suggested that her motives were to 'cover-up' a connection between her husband and a telemarketing firm currently under investigation.

Last week, Hillary Clinton sought and obtained an extension of time to file her financial-disclosure statement for the presidential race. This will tell us more than her Senate statements - she's required to list not just the sources of Bill's income but exactly how much they paid him. While Sen. Clinton offered no reason for the postponement, we can't help suspecting that she hopes to conceal InfoUSA's payments to her husband while the company is under fire.

In fact Ms. Clinton has provided a reason for the extension, it would be impossible to receive the extension without a reason. Ms. Clinton was granted the extension for the same reason as Senator John McCain and former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romeny. As reported by the AP on May 18th all three candidates requested more time in order to open their blind trusts as ordered by the Office of Government Ethics.

The Office of Government Ethics won't comment publicly about their disclosure requirements. But the candidates' lawyers cited the demand to open the blind trusts as the reason for seeking extensions to file financial disclosures statements. Clinton, Romney and McCain all received a 45-day grace period to submit their paperwork.

Mr. Morris either enjoys lying to his readers or he was to lazy to perform a google search. Regardless of his motives, Mr. Morris' baseless and false attacks on Ms. Clinton coupled with his disregard of the exact same actions taken by Republican candidates are emblematic of the troubling and shoddy reporting that beleaguers Presidential candidates and obfuscates the truly important issues at hand.

The disturbing continuation of the war in Iraq, the failed pursuit of al Qaeda, and the myriad of domestic problems facing our nation are all topics on which the public needs to be informed of the candidates positions, we do not need to know how much they spent on a haircut or if it will take them a bit longer to complete their financial disclosures.

We live in serious times and we deserve serious journalism.

(Media Matters has more)