Dick Morris almost makes it through a full paragraph without lying

If you're like me, you probably read Dick Morris columns largely out of a morbid curiosity about how far into each column he'll make it before telling his first lie. Today's answer: Nearly three full sentences! (The second sentence was a mere two words long, so some may dismiss this as stat-padding by Morris. Me, I'm always impressed when he makes it through his first sentence without lying.)

Here's Morris' third sentence:

Instead, he [President Obama] is moving to implement, through executive action, two of the most controversial items in his 2010 agenda — a carbon tax and pollution permit system and a ban on the use of secret ballots in union elections.

See the lie? Nobody is trying to “ban … the use of secret ballots in union elections.” The proposal to which Morris refers, the Employee Free Choice Act, would not ban secret ballots. Employees would still have a right to decide to use secret ballots -- but employers would not be able to force them to do so.

But when you describe the policy that way (which is to say: accurately) it doesn't sound horrible. That's a problem for a columnist trying to demonize both the policy and the President. Fortunately, Dick Morris is always ready with a solution to such problems: He lied.