Cooper fires back at critics of ‘liar’ remarks during Egypt coverage

Joe Pompeo
·Media Reporter

After returning from the protests in Cairo several weeks ago, CNN's Anderson Cooper caught flack for repeatedly using the word "liars" when referring to the embattled regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. James Rainey of the LA Times went so far as to tally the number of times Cooper "heaped the pejorative on Egypt's leaders" (14) during a single episode of the anchor's prime time show, "Anderson Cooper 360."

Cooper got a chance to defend himself on "The Daily Show" last night.

"When you started saying, Mubarak is lying, it actually caused controversy," said Jon Stewart.

"Yeah, which I was really stunned by," Cooper replied. "It was really weird. ... I'm not big on calling people names. I try not to take any political stance. But just based on facts, the guy's lying. What he's saying is just demonstrably untrue."

Cooper, no stranger to reporting from foreign war zones and disaster areas, also mentioned he "would like to go to Libya," where Western journalists have been arriving in recent days to cover the bloody revolt against dictator Muammar Gaddafi.