Has any dismissal from a media gig ever been as richly earned as that of Dick Morris? He was officially dropped from the Fox lineup yesterday after a lengthy absence from the airwaves. But man, did he ever go out with a bang during the 2012 cycle, as summarized by Dave Weigel:
No single human made as many wrong, botched, bogus, and stupid predictions about the 2012 election as Dick Morris. Making fun of them, by campaign’s end, hardly seemed fair. The once-relevant strategist predicted a Romney landslide and a Republican Senate for reasons that seemed ludicrous at the time. My personal favorite Morris “analysis” was that Tom Smith, the already-forgotten energy company magnate who ran against Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey, had “powered to a small lead,” when no credible poll ever, ever gave a lead to Smith.
Having mocked Morris myself now and then during the cycle, I have to say I never for a moment believed the man believed his own “predictions.” At most he was an overzealous believer in the creed of self-confident spin actually affecting the results, a delusion that seemed to seize most conservatives (other than Sean Trende) at some point in 2012. But more likely he just figured he’d tell his viewers and readers exactly what they wanted to hear, and thought there would be no consequences.
Expect to hear some blather about Fox “moving to the center” because it’s gotten rid of Morris and Sarah Palin. Truth is, both of them are just eminently replaceable. You don’t need the kind of money Fox was paying Palin (and probably Morris) to get someone to spit venom at the president and/or predict total victory for The Cause.
