You won't be surprised to hear that Dick Morris is butchering the facts to smear Hillary Clinton, but this one's so egregious and dishonest that it really deserves a look. In a column on Clinton's recent appearance on The View, Morris singled out this quote from Hillary: "We've never had a mother who ever ran or was elected president..." He then used that one quote to spin out an elaborate theory on how Clinton is cynically hewing to a poll-tested and scripted "Mom Strategy" in her quest for the White House. Wouldn't you know it, but Morris left out an inconvenient fact that would have blown his theory into smithereens if he'd included it: He didn't tell his readers that the subject of motherhood in the context of politics, indeed the very idea of a "mom" as President, had been set entirely by Clinton's questioners, and not by Clinton herself. More after the jump.

Here's Morris' column:

Hillary's New Strategy: The Mom President

December 21, 2006 -- "We've never had a mother who ever ran or was elected president..."

That was Hillary Clinton speaking earlier this week, when she appeared on the television show The View. Don't think for a minute that she was just making an interesting historical observation. No, Hillary doesn't work that way. She never says or does anything that hasn't been perfectly scripted and endlessly polled beforehand. She had a message, a new strategy to try out. So look for the new "Mom Strategy" to be the anchor of her presidential run.

Forget Soccer Moms and Security Moms; now it's going to be all Moms all the time -- with Hillary as the biggest Mom of all...

Now Hillary is seeking to run for president as America's Mom -- pro-peace, pro-family, pro-children. And it started last week on The View. Stay tuned.

The entire column dissects Clinton's alleged "mom strategy" in these terms, going on and on about how cynical and calculating it all is.

Okay, then -- let's roll the tape and look at the quote Morris cites. If you watch the You Tube above, you'll see that the women on the set were asking Clinton questions about motherhood and politics for at least three minutes before the exchange in question:

QUESTIONER: Do you find that that is -- like, being a mom and having worked as a mom and being able to multitask, does that give a would-be President kind of an edge up on, say, a male rival?

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, you know, nobody's ever been in a position to ask that question, 'cause we've never had a mother who ever ran for or held that position --

UNIDENTIFIED VOICE: Well, we need one soon!

HILLARY CLINTON: Well, but I think -- [APPLAUSE DROWNS OUT ANSWER].

As you can see, the question of a "mother" running for President -- as opposed to a "woman" running -- was entirely determined by the questioner and the general topic of conversation, and not Clinton herself. Morris, however, didn't quote the questioner or even mention the context of the discussion, instead singling out the one allegedly revealing quote.

Morris knew all about the above facts and context. But he went ahead and omitted them, anyway. Indeed, he blithely went ahead and made the singled-out quote the basis for an entire column, even telling his readers that it revealed Clinton's entire strategy, even though he had to have known that this was completely false. That's pretty dishonest -- even by Morris' extraordinarily base standards.

Get used to lots more like this. From the Dick Morris-es and the "respectable" commentators alike.