Carville & Begala Were Illustrating The Very Problem They Write About

[GR]

on yesterday's MTP. In their new book they say the democrats' problems are not idealogical but "anatomical." They need, say Carville and Begala, a spine transplant.

But during that very appearance on MTP, they were presented with a great chance to reinforce a democrat who has a spine, Dr. Howard Dean as follows:

MR. RUSSERT: Mary Matalin, you raised the House race for majority leader amongst Roy Blunt, John Behner and John Shadding. Howard Dean, the chairman of the Republican party weighed in and said this, “If you like Tom DeLay, you’re going to love Roy Blunt.”

MS. MATALIN: You know, in the words of Peggy Noonan, Howard Dean is a human helium balloon. He is completely ungrounded in rational talk. He’s a completely incompetent party chairman. He can’t raise money. He can’t make out a message because he says ridiculous things like that. So, this is a very interesting race and it is highlighting again, what conservatives came to Washington to do in the first place. And it’s all about fiscal issues and real reform and budget reform and not this, you know, $20 for lobbyists to pick up a funding call. Yes, we are terrified of another Clinton presidency. But we’re not terrified of Hillary. We would love to run against Mrs.

Clinton. She’s got all kinds of vulnerabilities.

And what did Carville and Begala have to say in support of the democrat with a spine...NOTHING NADA, NOTHING...

Then when Carville was presented with a specific case of waffling and wavering by Senator Clinton:

MR. RUSSERT: Do you think Senator Clinton’s position on the war in Iraq’s been clear, unambiguous, firm?

MR. CARVILLE: Yeah, I think so. I think she supported the resolution, she did not support kicking the U.N. inspectors out when they were there, and she’s, you know, trying to get some kind of a solution that works. She’s one of 40 Democrats that said it was time to put Iraq on a timetable. Look, it’s a very difficult thing that we’re going through in Iraq, you know, I suspect that this president’s going to start pulling troops back, and they’re going to do exactly the same thing that the Democrats that they’re accusing the Democrats of urging them to do.


Of course, Carville couldn't have believed what he was saying...Hardly evidence of a spine...

[LSparkle]

1. I agree -- they are hardly ones to tell Dems what to do ...

and I don't care what either said, I thought they were brought in at the last minute to help with Kerry's campaign (when it still had some momentum) and ran it into the ground. Especially if the Repugs' nominee is McCain, WHY IN OUR RIGHT MINDS would we run a woman with the kind of baggage Hillary comes with? I'm sorry, but especially post-9/11, no female candidate (who, regardless of her positions, is going to be AUTOMATICALLY perceived as softer on defense) can beat a male former POW ... We run her at our peril if McCain's the opponent (which is likely).

[dogman]

2. The same thing happened in '04.

Carville pushed his book "Had Enough?". Then ha failed to stand up on Crossfire for a candidate that followed many of the points in his book. I've had enough of Carville myself.

[LisaM]

3. First, Mary Matalin didn't answer the question

Russert had to try twice (not very hard, I'll admit) to steer her back to the subject of Roy Blunt. Next, she made a clear mis-statement - that Dean can't raise money - and neither corrected her.

They also made the ludicrous assertion that the Republicans "won" because they had a clear message narrowed to three issues. Then they showed Kerry's supposedly unclear message with - GASP!- FOUR issues. Are they saying the American people cannot juggle more than three issues at once when voting for President?

At the beginning, Russert stated it would be "two to one!" But it wasn't. Mary Matalin got to answer every other question, so got twice as much chance as either to respond. That really pissed me off. How many times have I seen panels that are THREE to one conservative to liberal - a lot. And the liberal doesn't get to answer every other question, that's for sure.

[tularetom]

4. It's time to retire the Carville Matalin freakshow

and take Beluga with them. You have put your finger square on the problem. These are DLC beltway whores who don't realize the depth of the dislike real dems have for their ilk and fear people like Dean because people respect and relate to him. The fund raising stories are bullshit thats already been debunked. These people have achieved nothing in their lives. Clinton won not because of their efforts - he won because he was Clinton, the supremo politician of his generation. Go back to you A-list DC cocktail parties James and Paul and let a real person handle things.

[RazzleDazzle]

5. DLC Stooges

I wrote Begala off years ago, thanks to his gutless performance on Crossfire. And Carville shit and sat in it for me when he went down to Venezuela to help the monied class try to oust Chavez.

[LSparkle]

7. OMG -- did Carville help with that coup attempt?

I've liked him the best of the Clintonistas but if he was down there monkeying around against Chavez, FORGET HIM.

[Totally Committed]

6. Disingenuous DLC a**holes...

the pair of them. They are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

TC

[chaumont58]

8. I second your resolution

The DLC is a cancer on the Democratic Party. The Democratic is fucked until the DLC is nothing but a bad memory.

[Doctor_J]

9. Why do you think they're alowed on TV?

they don't do a thing to counteract the GOP.