Piers Morgan tries name-calling to stop phone hacking accusations.

[RandySF]

Former tabloid editor Piers Morgan accused media and bloggers of being "lying smearers" Wednesday after a 2009 interview surfaced in which he appeared to admit that hacking phones for reporting purposes was tolerated on his watch.

Morgan, who edited Rupert Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World in the mid-1990s and went on to edit rival The Daily Mirror, was asked by the BBC's Kirsty Young how he felt about "dealing with people who rake through bins for a living, people who tap people's phones, people who take secret photographs."

Morgan, who replaced interviewer Larry King on CNN this past January, began his answer by saying that "not a lot of that went on," but then acknowledged that newspapers he worked for used information obtained by these methods.

"A lot of it was done by third parties rather than the staff themselves. That's not to defend it because obviously you were running the results of their work," he said in an excerpt of the 2009 interview posted on the BBC's website on Wednesday.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43907072/ns/world_news-europe/?gt1=43001

[spanone]

1. how dare people quote him!!! bwahahahahaaa

[Broderick]

4. From his book nonetheless I think

[ejpoeta]

2. hey, is that nbc show live? what is that.... america's got talent... because he might have a

problem if he keeps it up.

[Metta]

3. Distract & deflect. That's what people do when they have nothing of substance to say.

Happy karma, Piers.

[Supersedeas]

8. he's never had anything of substance to say

[Metta]

10. Yeah, I got the impression that he was all show and no go.

He's a very armored, afraid, unnecessarliy defensive individual.

[Hepburn]

5. I cannot stand him.

I watched America's Got Talent last night, and he is just one smarmy asshole.

Love Sharon and Howie, but Piers has gotta go!

[AngryOldDem]

6. Did you see the show last week?

Piers had uncharacteristic praise for a group that Howie likes. When it came time for Howie's comments, he said, "I don't know, but I think Piers must have **hacked** into my thoughts about this group."

Smoke was coming out of Morgan's ears. It's clear that Howie and Piers don't get along and that Howie lives to piss Piers off.

Poor Sharon -- there's a reason she's sitting between them.

Piers is such a tight-ass on that show. It's a talent show, not high theater.

[Kaleva]

9. When Howie squirted Piers with a squirt gun...

I thought Piers was going to slug Howie.

[geardaddy]

7. He's a piece of human garbage.

[MouseFitzgerald]

11. Isn't he completely fucked?

After reading that interview, it seems like there is no way he isn't going to end up in jail. I just dont get why he flat-out admitted to breaking the law multiple times in a public interview.

I'm also not understanding why he thinks he can just bitch about the situation and somehow that will will make the interview not exist anymore. I think he knows hes in trouble and is beginning to lose his mind.