Recently, former Clinton adviser and toe-sucking enthusiast Dick Morris appeared on Hannity's Fox"News" program to tout this rather dubious claim that Bill Clinton was forced to reappoint Janet Reno to the AG position in his cabinet because he was directly involved and responsible for what transpired in Waco, TX.
Even before Morris started his walk-back on this topic, one of conservatives favorite bloggers voiced his concerns that this claim was rank speculation and had little, if any, value.
I'm not one to agree with Ed Morrissey on anything, but I'm fairly certain that he did this out of a purely damage control reflex.
I find this less than compelling for a couple of reasons. First, Morris doesn’t have the best reputation for credibility, and this story relies entirely on his recollection. Morris doesn’t even know the “big secret.” Second, Clinton had already won the last election he would ever contest — so what was the danger in kicking Reno out?
And here's Morris this morning on Fox And Friends
Morris' lack of credibility doesn't appear to be a problem with the execs at Fox"News", as he is continually peddling his bitter anger over being removed from the Clinton administration all those years ago. But that certainly fits right into a specific portion of the mission statement of Fox - blame Clinton for everything as often as possible.
The broader point of this is that conservatives, and Fox"News", can't let it be shown that the Tea Baggers are in fact enraging specific demographics within the conservative realm, those being militia groups and lunatic-fringe gun-rights activists. They have a vested interest in altering American's perceptions of the Tea Baggers.
Morris has a unique position in the broader landscape of Fox"News" because of his connection with the Clinton administration. And that is one of the reasons why he is continually allowed to drool out this inaccurate and inflammatory nonsense. However, there had to have been some amount of push-back or else he wouldn't have altered his statement.
I tend to look at Fox And Friends as the conservative media "news dump" show. While they likely have a higher viewership than other morning shows, they don't have near the power that Beck or Hannity do, so it's a safe program to do damage control with, as it will largely be ignored. You know, conservatives have to have some background noise in the morning while they are sipping their Ensure and eating oatmeal.
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