Liberal Journalist Carl Bernstein Joins CNN As Contributor
CNN's John Berman revealed on Monday's Anderson Cooper 360 that former Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein is becoming the newest contributor to the cable news network. Berman turned to the liberal journalist for his analysis about the recent disclosure that Hillary Clinton once called Monica Lewinsky a "narcissistic looney toon."
Bernstein will be a good fit at the liberal network, which also just hired Obama supporter Michael Smerconish as a host. The Hillary Clinton biographer has a long history of slanting to the left. Here some of the most prominent examples of Bernstein's liberal bias from the archives of the Media Research Center: [video included below for select quotes]
"It is often said that, during Watergate, the system worked. But in dealing with its spiritual stepchild - Iran-Contra and the continuing constitutional criminality of the Reagan-Bush years - it is now painfully apparent that the system has failed....The escalating criminality of the Bush-Reagan era - in which the breaking-and-entering of Bill Clinton's passport records has become emblematic, just as the break-in of Daniel Ellsberg's psychiatrist was a symbol of the Watergate era - refuses to go away, like some dark stain on the national conscience."
- Bernstein in the January 10, 1993 edition of the Los Angeles Times.
"To say that these [conservative] elements have engaged in a vendetta against Clinton since Jan. 20, 1993, is to understate the facts. No U.S. President since Franklin D. Roosevelt has faced such virulent opposition, and the venom of the Clinton-haters, in and out of Washington, from Rush Limbaugh to the New York Post, from Pat Robertson to Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), has poisoned the American political well at the expense of decent civic discourse."
-Bernstein in a September 27, 1998 Los Angeles Times op-ed.
"The real issue in this campaign has become the Republican Party in Washington, that it's a radical party such as we've never seen in a presidential race before, that Mitt Romney has become a captive of it....In Washington, there has been by Republicans in Washington since the McCarthy era, a hunt for so-called 'radicals' on the other side. There's never been a really radical Democratic party, but now we have in Washington a truly radical Republican Party way outside the mainstream of even the Ronald Reagan party."
-Bernstein on the September 27, 2012 edition of MSNBC's Jansing & Co.
Bernstein likened congressional Republicans to Joe McCarthy on two occasions in less than a week in October 2013:
"Eric Cantor and his Republican Party are the most dangerous demagogic force in American politics since Joe McCarthy. And that’s what this is about. And it’s about the parts of the Republican Party that are willing to appease this awful force. And I think what we’re seeing is a redefinition and understanding of Barack Obama’s presidency, which is to protect the national security from this dangerous demagogic element that is on the precipice of really having a kind of power that’s ruinous in America and ruinous to democracy."
-Bernstein on the October 2, 2013 broadcast of MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"This is about the Republican party and what it's going to be. Is it going to conduct a fact-based, philosophical argument in our political system or is it going to be a nihilistic, hateful, asymmetrical in terms of facts and the truth part of the party, as in Joe McCarthy? This is about media as well....We need to start covering this story – not 50/50, this much on this side, that on the other – we need to cover it factually. Because there are facts here that will show what this event is about, and where, in fact, is this anger, hatred of Obama coming from? What is the root of this?"
-Bernstein's take on the partial government shutdown, October 8, 2013 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe.
"You know, she [Hillary Clinton] is the biggest star of all, in many regards, in Washington except for the President of the United States....What's so interesting here, though, Obama now gets the wisdom — and Bill Clinton has real wisdom when it comes to foreign policy — of Bill Clinton in this deal. Not only will Clinton not be sidelined, carping from the sidelines, he will be giving his thoughts about what he is strongest at."
-Bernstein on President-Elect Barack Obama choosing Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, December 3, 2008 broadcast of MSNBC's Morning Joe.
The veteran journalist again slanted towards Hillary during Monday's Anderson Cooper 360:
JOHN BERMAN: ...What was Hillary Clinton going through when she said that – calling Monica Lewinsky a 'narcissistic loony toon?'
CARL BERNSTEIN: Let's back up a little and take a look at what these supposed revelations are, because almost all of what I've read so far is not very revealing in terms of new information. What we have here is a lack of context in the presentation of this material today, particularly by right-wing websites; by Clinton acolytes coming out to defend Hillary. So, we're back into combat, and without too much context and without too much helpful information. So, I think we've got to put everything in that light, and then, go on from there.
'Looney toons' – if you read my book; if you read other accounts; Hillary was quite voluble on the subject of Monica Lewinsky. She called her narcissistic – I don't know if I used that word in my book; I'd have to go through the whole book – but she called her a stalker. That's what Bill had told her originally – that she was stalking him. You know, Hillary Clinton believed her husband up until two days before the special prosecutor interviewed him many months later. She believed that Bill Clinton had not had sex with 'that woman,' and he continued to tell her that.
BERMAN: So, it's not just these documents which are being dredged up again in some cases, or seen for the first time in other cases here. There are people talking now about both Clintons fairly actively. Republicans, like Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who's talking about the Lewinsky affair again – saying that Hillary Clinton shouldn't accept money in some ways from Bill Clinton; that Bill Clinton – what he did is tantamount to being a sexual predator in the White House. You're starting to see Republicans talking about this now. Are you saying that that will make the Clintons wary about maybe another run?
BERNSTEIN: First of all, it's inevitable and very useful for Republicans to be making that kind of talk. And also, I believe – and I've talked to some people about this – that one of Senator Paul's objectives might be to try and keep Hillary Clinton from running by getting this stuff out there now, and making things uncomfortable for the Clintons, and making them confront these questions now very early – with the hope that she wouldn't run, because she's obviously, in many ways, the most formidable Democratic candidate.
— Matthew Balan is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center. Follow Matthew Balan on Twitter.
