Brent Baker
Bernard Goldberg may be a “jerk,” but 60 Minutes commentator Andy Rooney conceded that Goldberg is on target about liberal media bias. “I thought he made some very good points,” Rooney told CNN's Larry King last week. Rooney admitted he has “a liberal bias” since “I'm consistently liberal in my opinions,” adding that he considers Dan Rather to be “transparently liberal.”
Near the end of CNN's Larry King Live on June 5, King raised Goldberg's book, Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News.
King asked, “What did you make of Bernard Goldberg's book, critical of television liberal bias, and especially harsh on some of your folks at CBS?”
Rooney replied: “I thought he made some very good points. There is just no question that I, among others, have a liberal bias. I mean, I'm consistently liberal in my opinions. And I think some of the, I think Dan is transparently liberal. Now, he may not like to hear me say that. I always agree with him, too. But I think he should be more careful. I think Goldberg, Bernie, he was a very good reporter, you know. He said some very true things. There's only one thing about it: He just has a great knack for being a jerk, Bernie Goldberg.”
King, chuckling: “Meaning?”
Rooney: “Well, you can tell it in the book. I mean, he was always that way. He was that way around the network. He had a very good reputation as a
reporter, but he was always sort of a jerk. And I liked him. I felt bad when-”
King talked over Rooney: “It's so hard drawing you out, Andy.”
Rooney: “-when he left.”
About the only person Dan Rather is not “transparently liberal” to is Dan Rather himself.
(This update courtesy of the Media Research Center.)
