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.
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