Reporter: Obama's Press Corps Can't Help But 'Lose Their Minds' and 'Swoon' When They're in His 'Presence

Rolling Stone reporter Michael Hastings, joined MSNBC's Martin Bashir on Thursday to discuss his book on the 2012 campaign. He revealed that journalists who covered President Barack Obama during the campaign became so overwhelmed by his presence at times that they would "lose their minds" and even "swoon" over him.

Hastings said a Wall Street Journal reporter once even tried to conduct an interview with Obama using a "sock puppet," showing just how cozy the president is with some in the media.

"We know, journalists like ourselves tend to like a drink. Was she drinking somewhere?" Bashir said, not joking when he referred to himself as a "journalist."

“But that’s the presence of Obama, even on the press corps – even on the people who follow him every day – when they’re near him, they lose their minds sometimes,” Hastings said. "They start behaving in ways that are juvenile, and amateurish, and they swoon."

Hastings admitted that he too gets caught up in Obama's "presence."

“Oh, I do,” Hastings conceded. "Oh, man."

Hastings, who first met then-Sen. Obama in Iraq in 2006, consciously decided to ask the president "soft" questions instead of the hard ones.

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Watch the segment via MSNBC/Mediaite: