John Berman Asks if Tom Steyer is ‘Peeing on the Campfire’ With Negative Ad

CNN anchor John Berman got Friday morning off to a good start by asking if billionaire Tom Steyer is hurting the Democrats with his new ad attacking rivals like former Vice President Joe Biden, Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, but in much more colorful terms.

On Friday morning’s edition of CNN’s New Day, Berman played a portion of a Steyer ad that takes swipes at Biden as “another insider” and Buttigieg as an “untested newcomer who doesn’t have the experience to beat Trump on the economy,” while obliquely attacking Sanders by saying Trump will portray Democrats as “a bunch of socialists you can’t afford to vote for.”

“So we just did Tom Steyer’s job for him by playing more of the ad than we probably should have in full,” Berman said following the clip, then noted “This is the first negative ad where you’re putting a picture of another candidate up there.:

He added “For me this isn’t about Tom Steyer,” and asked panelist and CNN contributor Jess McIntosh “What does this say after the Iowa caucuses, where the turnout was not high?”

“I think it is about Tom Steyer,” McIntosh said, and added “I think if you’re a billionaire running in this race, then you have an obligation, you know the campsite rule, right? Leave it in better condition than you found it.”

“Tom Steyer is not going to be our nominee so he needs to leave this race in better condition than he found it, and that ad certainly does not do that,” she continued, adding “So I think at this point whatever little support he has is going to bleed pretty quickly, who knows where it goes. But it will be interesting to see it leave.”

“You’re saying he’s peeing on the campfire?” Berman asked, to awkward laughter.

“I’m saying he’s not leaving it in better condition,” McIntosh drily replied.

“Isn’t it too early for that analogy?” co-anchor Poppy Harlow said with a laugh.

“It’s actually before the kids start tuning in,” Berman said.

Watch the clip above via CNN.