David Corn

David Corn is Mother Jones' Washington bureau chief. Until 2007, he was Washington editor of The Nation.

He has written for the Washington Post, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, Boston Globe, Newsday, Harper's, The New Republic, Mother Jones, Washington Monthly, LA Weekly, the Village Voice, Slate, Salon, TomPaine.com, Alternet, and many other publications.

He is the co-author (with Michael Isikoff) of Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War (Crown, 2006).

His book, The Lies of George W. Bush: Mastering the Politics of Deception (Crown, 2003) was a New York Times bestseller. The Los Angeles Times said, "David Corn's The Lies of George W. Bush is as hard-hitting an attack as has been leveled against the current president. The Washington Post called it "a fierce polemic...a serious case....[that] ought to be in voters' minds when they cast their ballots. A painstaking indictment."

His first novel, Deep Background, a political thriller, was published by St. Martin's Press in 1999. The Washington Post said it is "brimming with gusto....As clean and steely as an icy Pinot Grigio....[An] exceptional thriller." The Los Angeles Times called it "a slaughterhouse scorcher of a book you don't want to put down" and named it one of the best novels of the year. The New York Times said, "You can either read now or wait to see the movie....Crowded with fictional twists and revelations." The Chicago Tribune noted, "This dark, impressive political thriller...is a top-notch piece of fiction, thoughtful and compelling." PBS anchor Jim Lehrer observed that Deep Background is "a Washington novel with everything. It's a page-turning thriller from first word to last...that brings some of the worst parts of Washington vividly alive."

Corn was a contributor to Unusual Suspects, an anthology of mystery and crime fiction (Vintage/Black Lizard, 1996). His short story "My Murder" was nominated for a 1997 Edgar Allan Poe Award by the Mystery Writers of America. The story was republished in The Year's 25 Finest Crime and Mystery Stories (Carroll & Graf, 1997).

He is the author of the biography Blond Ghost: Ted Shackley and the CIA's Crusades (Simon & Schuster, 1994). The Washington Monthly called Blond Ghost "an amazing compendium of CIA fact and lore." The Washington Post noted that this biography "deserves a space on that small shelf of worthwhile books about the agency." The New York Times termed it "a scorchingly critical account of an enigmatic figure who for two decades ran some of the agency's most important, and most controversial, covert operations."

Corn has long been a commentator on television and radio. He is a regular panelist on the weekly television show, Eye On Washington. He has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity and Colmes, On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Crossfire, The Capital Gang, Fox News Sunday, Washington Week in Review, The McLaughlin Group, Hardball, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, and many other shows. He is a regular on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show and To The Point and has contributed commentary to NPR, BBC Radio, and CBC Radio. He has been a guest on scores of call-in radio programs.

Corn is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brown University.

Currently

  • Fred Thompson, Neocon

    July 26, 2007 Subscribe

    He has a strong claim on the neoconservative heart, and if he ends up in the White House, the moribund neocons will rise again.

  • George Tenet's Evasions

    May 2, 2007

    His new memoir proves how hard it is to tell the truth about oneself but how easy it is to blame others.

  • Trying to Stay Out of Iran

    April 9, 2007

    Does Congress have the strength to prevent Bush from going to war with Iran?

  • Cheney on Trial

    March 8, 2007

    The Libby trial exposed the truth about who really pulls the strings in the Bush White House.

  • Scootergate: The Trial

    January 18, 2007 Subscribe

    In the case against Scooter Libby, the Iraq War is not on trial. But the integrity of the White House is.

2006

  • The Waiting Game

    December 14, 2006 Subscribe

    Expect a flurry of hearings on Iraq when the new Democrat-controlled Congress convenes. But no real action from lawmakers or the President is likely to be taken.

  • The Evil Abstraction

    November 9, 2006

    Before Bob Gates's confirmation as CIA chief in 1991, the man now designated as Bush's Secretary of Defense was charged with forcing intelligence reports to conform to a tough anti-Soviet line.

  • And Now, Iraq

    November 9, 2006

    The election is over; the war is not. And George W. Bush is suddenly in one tight corner.

  • Who's Running Afghan Policy?

    October 16, 2006

    Even if the United States has the will to do the hard work necessary to rebuild Afghanistan, there are few signs that senior Administration officials are engaged.

  • Woodward, Revised

    October 9, 2006 Subscribe

    Bob Woodward is late to the party: His new book, State of Denial, catches up to the story of the Iraq debacle that other journalists have been reporting for years.

  • The Culture of Leaks

    October 2, 2006

    The political culture of Washington is fueled by gossip, intrigue and leaks. It was a combination that turned toxic in the Valerie Plame Affair.

  • Plame's Role at the CIA

    September 7, 2006 Subscribe

    Valerie Plame was no CIA paper-pusher. She was searching out intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.

  • What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA

    September 6, 2006

    Valerie Plame was no mere analyst or paper-pusher at the CIA. She was an operations officer working on a top priority of the Bush Administration: searching out intelligence on Iraq's weapon's of mass destruction.

  • Gore Warms Up

    May 25, 2006

    Al Gore is trying to save the world by stirring a nation in denial over global warming to meaningful action. The pity is that this is a job for a former politician, not a current one.

  • The Leak and the 'Truth'

    April 17, 2006

    If President Bush wants to tell the truth to the American public, he can make Cheney, Rove and Libby come clean about their role in the Plame affair.

2005

  • This Time, Rove's Tactics Failed

    November 9, 2005 Subscribe

    Democrats celebrate electoral victories in Virginia, New Jersey and California, they shouldn't waste time gloating. They need to find effective candidates like Tim Kaine and Jon Corzine who will build momentum.

  • After the Libby Indictment

    November 2, 2005 Subscribe

    The CIA leak scandal has revealed the Bush crew's dishonesty and hypocrisy. But don't expect the Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald or Bush to ever explain what really happened.

  • Can Dems Say 'Finito' to 'Scalito'?

    October 31, 2005

    If the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court becomes the titanic battle that both sides in the judicial wars have been anticipating for years, Democrats must create a new playbook. If they stick to the same old strategies, they could end up wishing that Harriet Miers had fared better.

  • Did Cheney Know Plame Was Undercover?

    October 31, 2005

    The indictment of I. Lewis Libby indictment casts Vice President Dick Cheney in a key role in the CIA leak investigation: It suggests Cheney had reason to suspect Valerie Wilson was a covert officer.

  • White House Plame-Out

    October 20, 2005 Subscribe

    Indictments or not, what America knows now about the outing of Valerie Plame is that Bush Administration officials deliberately leaked information that potentially damaged the nation--then lied about it.

  • The FBI Fails (For Now) to Grab Subpoena Powers

    September 22, 2005

    The FBI--with apparent White House approval--continues to seek the authority to bypass the court system in pursuit of evidence against terror suspects.

  • Anatomy of Rove's Leak

    July 14, 2005 Subscribe

    Team Bush has hunkered down and ignored press inquiries, hoping the storm surrounding Karl Rove will pass.

  • How Deep Throat Fooled the FBI

    June 13, 2005

    During the most heated moments of the Watergate scandal, W. Mark Felt was assigned the mission of unearthing and stopping Deep Throat.

  • Stem Cell Wedge?

    June 2, 2005 Subscribe

    The fight over stem cell research has divided Congressional Republicans.

  • DeLay's Grab for NASA

    April 21, 2005 Subscribe

    When it comes to ethics violations, the sky is no longer the limit.

  • Missing WMD Report

    March 24, 2005

    When is a priority not a priority? When it's after the election.

  • It's My Party and I'll Whine if I Want To

    March 3, 2005

  • Negroponte: Unfit to Lead

    February 24, 2005

  • Democrats & Withdrawal

    February 10, 2005

  • Waxman: Democrats' Eliot Ness

    January 27, 2005

    His headline-grabbing investigations are enough to give the GOP heartburn.

2004

2003

2002

2001

2000

1999

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