FP: Dick Morris, welcome to Frontpage Interview.
Morris: Thank you Jamie.
FP: What inspired you to write this book?
Morris: Eileen and I are very concerned about the chance that Hillary could be president. We both feel that she is a lock for the Democratic nomination and that the demographics of the race militate for her election as president. We felt it was very important to start some momentum for Condoleezza Rice as the alternative since we feel that it is only Condi who can defeat Hillary.
FP: Tell us a bit about each of these potential candidates and why you think both might run for President.
Morris: Hillary has been planning to run for president ever since her husband was elected. Condi, by contrast, is focused on doing the job at hand and has given relatively little thought to her next post. She is definitely a one-job-at-a-time kind of person. Hillary will run no matter what. But Rice will only run if there is a real groundswell for her candidacy that convinces her that she has no choice but to run,.
FP: What is different about these two women? Explore and contrast for us their psychology, integrity and intellectual ability.
Morris: Everything Hillary has accomplished has come in the wake of her husband's achievements. She became a partner at the Rose Law Firm because Bill became Governor. She got health care reform because he became president. She got the Senate nomination in a state in which she had never lived without a primary and with $45 million for the race because he was president.
Condi has done everything on her own. She graduated near the top of her class at the U of Denver at the age of 19. A Masters Degree from Notre Dame, a doctorate from Denver. She became a tenured professor in her 20s. At 34, she was negotiating directly with Gorbachev hammering out the details of German reunification as the President's chief advisor on Soviet relations. She is fluent in Russian and French. A world class concert pianist. She has an incredible mind and will.
Hillary is not her husband's equal as an intellect by any means. She is not a creative person and performs tasks through memorization and dedication. She is a hardened advocate but not a subtle mind. She has great discipline but little intellectual curiosity. She is sincerely devoted to the ideals she stands for -- a vastly greater government role in health care, education, and the lives of people with a much greater tax burden to match. She is as close as we have to a genuine European Socialist in our politics. Her very idealism kindles a sense that the ends justify the means and permits her great latitude in her choice of political tactics, often sanctioning the most ruthless and unseemly in our politics.
FP: In terms of the “ruthless” nature of Hillary that you refer to, can you shed some light on that aspect? For instance, Candice Jackson has demonstrated how Hillary has been complicit in terrorizing the women whom Clinton had affairs with and then tried to destroy. Hillary is also, it seems, quite effective in stifling any criticism of her in the media. Can you shed some light on this phenomenon?
Morris: During the campaign in 2000, she used her Secret Service protection to keep reporters away and there are several instances in which reporters were roughed up for getting too close (see Rewriting History by us). But it was mainly through her efforts to destroy women who got in her and Bill's way that I came to this conclusion about her ruthlessness. Candice's book is very good and our book -- again Rewriting History --also sheds light on the stories.
FP: So if there really was a Condi vs. Hillary election, how important would it be? Tell us the positive and negative effects of either of the candidates' victory.
Morris: As President, I think Hillary would repeal all the Bush tax cuts, including the cuts on the lower and middle income people. I think she would revisit and push her health care reforms of 1993-4. And I believe she would cripple Welfare Reform by substituting a vague education or job training alternative as a way to fulfill the work requirement. I think she would be a left wing ideologue and would not be good for the country.
I think that Condi, by contrast, would pursue a more conservative fiscal policy and would give priority to creating a stable global environment. Her surer grasp of foreign issues and her understanding of how to keep our country safe from terrorism would lead to a wise foreign policy which would be well beyond Hillary's ability.
Most of all, I think that a Rice presidency would lead quickly to the end of the legacy of racism that has dominated so much of our history. The impact of an African American presidency would be to send a message to every black boy and girl in the country that there is no ceiling and that they can be whatever they want to be.
FP: The thought of a Hillary Clinton leading this nation and having to make tough decisions in the face of Osama’s and Zarqawi’s terror against us is frightening. How could Hillary Clinton possibly lead us to confront the Islamist threat? It would be a catastrophe, no?
Morris: I think she would be a dove. I do not believe her current posture of hawkishness. She was in favor of pulling out of Somalia, against bombing Bosnia, and against sending in troops after the settlement while her husband was president. I think she would be particularly weak on homeland security issues. Her person, Jamie Gorelick, was key in building the "wall of separation" which crippled anti terror investigations in the Justice Department and led to our failure to learn of 9-11 from Zacharias Moussoui, the twentieth hijacker who we arrested one month before the attack.
FP: I find it interesting that you say that Hillary does care about certain political issues. I always got the impression that, more than anything else, Hillary, like her husband, cares about herself and her quest for power – the issues come second (and leftist issues of course so she can feel good about herself). Could you give an insight here? What exactly does she really care about? I have always had an eerie feeling about her, especially throughout all of Clinton’s affairs, as there always appeared to be something more at stake for her than anything sacred or anything that had to do with notions such as integrity or nobility.
Morris: Opportunism is Bill's thing, not Hillary's. He wants to be liked and his issue agenda is just a means to that end. But Hillary is the opposite. Her goal is to advance her ideological causes which amount to creating a European style socialism here in the US. She wants national health care, cradle to grave social benefits, and a tax system to redistribute income and finance it all at far higher than we now have. Power is a means to an end for Hillary.
FP: Condi has said in unequivocal terms that she is not running in 2008. (She "pulled a Sherman" on several Sunday morning shows.) Why should she run? How could she change her mind?
Morris: No she hasn't. A "Sherman" is the statement "if nominated, I refuse to run and if elected I will not serve," the 1884 quote by Civil War General William Techumsuh Sherman. Asked by the Washington Times in March, 2005, if she would make such a statement, she said no, that it did not seem "fair." Rice does not want to run at this time. She shouldn't. To flirt with running would compromise the work she has to do for the country as Secretary of STate. But if we want her to run, it is up to US to build her candidacy by forming local Condi Clubs, raising money locally, recruiting supporters and, ultimately, running slates of delegates committed to Rice -- the same process Eisenhower's supporters used to draft him in 1952. If we build it, I am confident that she will run. She is not about to turn away from her duty or form a genuine call by Republicans and Independents throughout America to run and to save us from Hillary Clinton.
FP: Fair enough, so let us suppose that Condi did end up facing Hillary in the election. Who would the American people choose?
Morris: They would value a woman who made it on her own over someone whose success is entirely derivative. They would value her freedom from ethical compromises and they would welcome the idea of a black president.
FP: Mr. Morris, thank you for joining us here today.
Morris: Thanks Jamie.
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