TPM: James Carville Emphatically Denies That He's Going To Work For Hillary (Fox "News" Lied)

[Renew Deal]

Fox News just reported that James Carville and Paul Begala will be re-entering the Clinton orbit by coming in to work for Hillary as senior campaign volunteers as early as tomorrow -- the idea being that they're being brought in to right Ship Hillary in the wake of her Iowa loss and possible New Hampshire one.

The storyline of choice here, obviously, is that Bill's Bad Boys of 1992 are riding back in to rescue his wife from electoral disaster.

I just reached Carville on his cell. Here's what he had to say about this:

"Fox was, is and will continue to be an asinine and ignorant network. I have not spoken to anyone in the Clinton campaign about this. I have not done domestic political consulting since President Clinton was elected. I'm not getting back into domestic political consulting. If I do go back, it would be safe to say that I'm the biggest liar in America."

Asked if he knew whether Begala would be coming back, Carville continued:

"To the extent that I know anything, as of nine this morning, no he is not."
<snip>

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/james_carville_emphatically_denies_that_hes_going_back_to_work_for_hillary.php

[Colobo]

1. Funny!

[Renew Deal]

2. Chaos in Hillaryville

They're out of control.

[mod mom]

3. I wish they had asked him if he passed Kerry strategy to his wife on the night

of the Nov 2 election like was recorded in Bob Woodward's book.

[Vanje]

4. 'Course not

He's working for Karl Rove.

[DURHAM D]

5. I assumed from the beginning this was

a rumor generated out of the Obama campaign.

Just for the record - this is politics and this is how it is played by everyone. No big deal.

[IndianaGreen]

12. CNN and MSNBC are quoting sources within the Clinton campaign

and at noon today, Terry McCauliff told Andrea Mitchell that they would welcome Carville and Begala into the campaign.

[Me.]

6. Biggest Liar In America

I can agree with him on that.

[Hieronymus]

7. OMG, Fox lied??

[IndianaGreen]

8. Terry McCauliff just blurted out Carville and Begala's names to Andrea Mitchell

Mitchell asked McCauliff on the rumours that Carville was coming onboard the Clinton campaign as early as Wednesday, McCauliff said the campaign would welcome Carville and Begala. He also denied they were hard pressed for money, but admitted they were trying to raise funds for Super Tuesday on Feb 5.

[Renew Deal]

9. Did he deny they were coming on board?

Or was it meant to mislead.

[IndianaGreen]

10. He didn't deny or contradict in anyway the report Carville and Begala were coming onboard

Last night I posted a thread after seeing a reporter on CNN's Anderson Cooper said that her sources in Clinton campaign had told her that Carville was taking over the campaign while keeping Mark Penn in an advisory capacity.

Since these stories are coming out from people in the Clinton campaign, it is also possible that Carville and Begala were asked, and at least Carville is annoyed because he didn't give a firm commitment.

We will know tomorrow for sure!

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. I doubt Carville at least would say "No" so clearly today

if he literally was planning to say "Yes" tomorrow. There are ways to be evasive that he could have employed if that were his intent. So it looks like a false rumor to me, or at least one that was spread by whomever without the person in question ever being fully on board.

[Renew Deal]

14. Here's a transcript. McAwful is full of shit.

From NBC's Andrea Mitchell
Staff and responsibility changes are in the works in the Clinton campaign. Several sources indicate that people will come in and layer several of the prominent staffers responsible for the Iowa and New Hampshire strategy. Those likely to be layered include Mark Penn, Mandy Grunwald, Patti Solis Doyle -- and possibly Howard Wolfson.

Clinton co-chair Terry McAuliffe hinted at upcoming changes in an interview on MSNBC at 12:30 pm, when I asked:

Q: Can you sit here today and tell us that your campaign will have the same players ... coming out of New Hampshire as going in?

McAuliffe: Everyone who is in the campaign today will be in the campaign...
Q: Will they have new bosses? James Carville? Paul Begala ? The dream team from 1992?

McAuliffe: I would hope James would come in. He's been making a fortune on CNN -- I'd love to get him on board. We want everybody who believes in Hillary to come in and help in this campaign.

Q: I'm smelling a shakeup in the Clinton campaign.

McAuliffe: We'll bring in more people to help us. We're about to head into Feb 5th, 23 states. From day one, this campaign, and Hillary, has given strict instructions: Anyone who wants to come in can help us. I think a lot of people now, seeing the situation we're in, love Hillary, adore Hllary, want her to be president, are going to come in and say, I'm going to come in and help Hillary. That's natural in a campaign.

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/08/559253.aspx

[Cha]

13. Yeah, that balloon

didn't get off the ground.