This is a partial transcript from “Hannity & Colmes,” February 26, 2007, that has been edited for clarity.
SEAN HANNITY, CO-HOST: “The Washington Post” is reporting the Clinton camp has warned rivals that nothing should be mentioned about Bill’s impeachment or anything leading up to it. But can Hillary stop the presses from opening up Pandora’s box?
Joining us now, former Clinton adviser Dick Morris. By the way, don’t forget. You can get Dick’s column on DickMorris.com.
What’s fascinating about this is “Newsweek” has a piece on it, the “Washington Post” has a piece on this. Their talking points was revealed to the “New York Post.” This is the sensitive issue for them.
DICK MORRIS, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Yes, well, there’s a new mortal sin in America: Thou shalt not criticize Hillary Clinton. It’s somewhere in between mortal and venal.
But what is ridiculous here, Sean, is she says the economy, Bill and me, balancing the budget, we did it together, welfare reform, both of us, even though she wanted a veto, capital gains tax cut, we did it, even though she opposed it, stimulate the economy, the two of us.
But the pardons, we never talked. Impeachment, nothing to do with each other. The travel office, I had nothing to do with it. So, look, she said — her whole campaign is based on the concept that “I was in the White House for 8 years.” Well, so was the pastry chef in the White House for eight years.
The point is that I can tell you that, in 1995, 1996, and 1997, none of the accomplishments of the Clinton administration during that period had the remotest thing to do with Hillary Clinton and, on most of them, she was opposed to them.
HANNITY: There’s something that’s developing here, though. I think in the round against Obama with Geffen, Obama hit back hard and won the battle. But, more importantly, Soros has gone over to Obama. The Kerry money people have gone over to Obama. Streisand is hedging her bets. The Hollywood crowd is hedging their bets. It seems now what was once inevitable may not be so inevitable.
MORRIS: Well, I think a couple of things. First, I think Obama did handle it right.
HANNITY: He did.
MORRIS: But I think if he’s won the battle, he’s in danger of losing the war.
HANNITY: Why? Because they’re so good at it?
MORRIS: Hillary’s job in that was to mess him up, even at the price of messing herself up. Nobody is going to notice an extra spot of mud on Hillary. She’s caked on it from the private detectives, the negatives, the whole bit, she invented it. But Obama…
HANNITY: What’s the alternative though, not to respond?
MORRIS: He doesn’t have alternative. Obama is Mr. Pure. And now everybody is saying Obama and Hillary were throwing mud at each other. Obama wasn’t, but Hillary made it look like he was.
HANNITY: But Obama hit back so hard, and I thought it was fierce and effective. First of all, he pointed out that, hey, you didn’t mind Geffen when he was giving you $18 million bucks. You invited him to the Lincoln bedroom. Oh, and, by the way, this guy that has this racist point of view, why don’t you distancing yourself from him that’s supporting you financially?
MORRIS: I think that was all great. But I think that Obama at some point has to stop running on his philosophy and his background and has to start talking about issues.
And Hillary brought him down off that pedestal, and this was no coincidence. She was waiting for Obama to hit her. And when Obama didn’t, she had to pounce on the next best thing.
HANNITY: Do you really think it’s that strategic?
MORRIS: Oh, yes. They had a meeting. They discussed it. And Mark Penn, my replacement there, said this guy is getting credit for being a non-politician politician.
HANNITY: Pull him in.
MORRIS: You pull him down. Get him down to your level. Get him in the mud. And you may mess yourself up a little bit in the process, but that’s not a problem.
(CROSSTALK)
ALAN COLMES, CO-HOST: Hey, Dick, I’ve got a question for you.
HANNITY: I love your line.
COLMES: Here’s my question. You, I know, would not like to see Hillary become president. You would like to do everything in your power not to do that. Why not wait until she gets the nomination? If you want to strategize, and keep tearing her down, and then that hurts her so that Obama or somebody else gets the nomination…
MORRIS: Man, I didn’t think she should be senator from New York.
COLMES: I think we know how you feel about her. But why tear her down now?
MORRIS: Because I’m not really a partisan.
COLMES: You’re not?
MORRIS: No. I, for example, have always felt that Al Gore could have defeated Hillary. I think Obama did a gross disservice by keeping Gore out of the race. I’ve told you that I voted for Gore in 2000.
HANNITY: Big mistake.
MORRIS: And I think Gore would have been an excellent president.
COLMES: He still may be.
MORRIS: I think that Hillary Clinton is — there is nobody in America who can look at themselves in the mirror and say this woman would be running for president if her husband weren’t already president. Obama made it on his own. Edwards made it on his own. Her career is entirely derivative.
COLMES: All right, Dick, would George W. Bush be running…
MORRIS: And George W. Bush…
COLMES: … were it not for George H.W. Bush?
MORRIS: Absolutely not. And I think that Bush is the same thing. But at least, in that case, there’s some DNA.
COLMES: You agree with him. You agree with him.
MORRIS: At least in that case they’re related. In the case of Hillary and Bill, they’re not only not related, they’re total opposites.
COLMES: All right, do you think she’s the easiest to beat?
MORRIS: No, the hardest to beat. I think it will be almost impossible to beat her.
COLMES: If she gets the nomination. Who do the Republicans have…
MORRIS: Because she brings in these new voters, which no other Democratic candidate does.
COLMES: All right. But who do the Republicans have who’s not either a flip-flopper like Romney or, you know, someone who supports the war, which is unpopular with the American public?
MORRIS: The toughest opponent to Hillary, the only one out there of the current candidates with a chance to win is Rudy Giuliani.
COLMES: How can he get the nomination being pro-gay, pro choice?
MORRIS: Because there is a new maturity, it seems, on the moderate right wing of the Republican Party. There are still a lot of NRA-types that hate him. But there’s a new maturity that says, as long as he’s going to appoint conservative judges and oppose partial-birth abortion and oppose Medicaid funding, we can live with that.
COLMES: This is a guy — when Michael Long, the head of their Conservative Party, asked him to go against partial-birth abortion, he wouldn’t do it.
HANNITY: But now he is.
COLMES: Then he’s flip-flopping.
MORRIS: But that was then — before 2006. 2006 has humbled the Republican right wing.
HANNITY: We’ve got to run. Do you think Hillary’s evil?
MORRIS: No. I think that she thinks she’s good. And I think that the problem with Hillary, she’s so darned convinced that she’s good that she’ll do anything to get political power.
COLMES: Maybe we’ll find out that she’s good.
HANNITY: All right. Thanks, Dick. Appreciate it. Good to see you again. Thank you.
MORRIS: Thank you.
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