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Update: C&L has the Carville/Buchanan Festival of Sages here.
James Carville has spent the past six years happily sequesterd in the gimp closet, visited occasionally by Dick Cheney and the angular harpy he refers to as his wife, Mary Matalin. Now that the Democrats have retaken the House and the Senate, he is apparently allowed out on furlough for more than just occasionally servicing Tim Russert. He has managed to reclaim a bit of the spotlight once again as he tilts irrelevantly at windmills and carps about Howard Dean.
In his performance on The Situation Room today today he was a skeletal rack of twitching indignation, castigating Dean for not giving Rahm more money to light his cigars with give to Democratic congressional candidates ("my heart bleeds for them" he laments with the melodrama button cranked all the way up to 11). I wanted Bay Buchanan to offer him a hankie tell him not to worry, Rahm would only have flushed more money down the shitter to follow the $4 million he threw after losers Diane Farrell and Tammy Duckworth, but she just nodded with a bobbling wag of angular features that made me think she could be auditioning for the role of his Second Missus.
Anyway, Bowers has a post up about how much money Carville and other consultants lose when Dean insists on spending money to finance infrastructure rather than letting Rahm burn through it with commercials for poorly-chosen candidates. And as for Carville's suggestion that if Dean had only handed more money over to Rahm the Dems would have picked up more House seats? Well, Bowers has been a busy bee and also provides an analysis which indicates that given the success of Democrats in state house races (where people generally just vote straight party ticket without much thought about individual candidates), that Democrats at the national level actually underperformed. And that suggests, at the very least, that Rahm's choices might have been poor and that he did not do his best to take advantage of the climate of the times.
Carville's cartoon cracker schtick has been usurped almost wholly within the party by Mudcat Saunders, who has actually managed to win a few races in this century. So it's been a while since Carville got shitcanned by Big Dog but every once in a while it's nice to see him crawl out of his hole and and reminds us why.
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FITZ! And FDL!!
Almost… Hello all! Long time no chat. I’ve been away dealing with family stuff but I’m coming back online today.
Great piece about Carville by the way. This guy is quickly turning himself into a punchline. I just wonder how long it will take the media to “get the joke”. If ever…
It’s time the Dems saw the light and chained him up in a cave somewhere. We don’t need him whispering strategy and secrets in his wee wife’s shell pink ear in the deep still watches of the night.
Mr. Mary Matalin !
EPU’d:
punaise @
85
Snarkalicious as always, JH. Carville’s descent into irrelevance is almost sad to watch. Thanks for making it funny, too.
Every time I see Carville I cannot suppress thinking of “Alien.”
_
hey Nate!
wrt “Rumsfeldian:” Mr. Matalin seems to have aced that Projection 101 class offered to GOP spouses. I bet his study partner is Lynne Cheney.
Seems like you’ve all had enough of Carville.
;>)
The difference between Rumsfeld and Dean is the difference between failure and success.
Carville is the caricature that has doomed the Dem party since ‘94. These consultants need to take a hike.
I have been told, “If you build it he will come”.
Can we agree on, “If you don’t listen to them, they will go away”.
punaise @ 8
Aloha punaise… Always good to see you.
So did I miss anything this week? :)
Leave a birthday greeting/thank you for Howard Dean by clicking the Birthday Flat Howard here.
hey Carville: “It’s the ignominy, stupid!”
Here’s the Austin Statesman link to “Rumsfeldian” for those who’d rather skip the Glenn Beck ad that’s the admit price to Salon today:
http://www.statesman.com/blogs.....ays_d.html
Loads kinda slow, but beats watching Glenn….
Nate @ 12
oh, you know, little bit of this, little bit of that.
Fun trivia: James Carville is from Carville, Louisiana. The town’s other claim to fame is that it was home to the last hospital in the US that specialized in the treatment and care of people with leprosy (Hansen’s disease). The hospital is now closed (sometime in the early 90’s, iirc) but there’s a museum there related to the disease.
Where do you find these photos? I would never have thought of darth vader playing the squeezebox. Abramoff vieleicht, but not Mr. Matalin. Squeezebox, isn’t that what Hillary’s campaign reform is trying to erlimerlate?
Terry in Maryland @ 17
coulda sworn he was from Bumfuck
darkblack @ 10
Dude, so right on! And the illustration completely rocks.
Bye bye Piss poor Democratic “Strategists” even if you are from Louisiana.
TSF’s Paradox: Having a new darkblack favorite every single day!
punaise @ 19
I thought that was in Egypt… :)
Hey, don’t diss Mary Matalin like that. She’s made camel-toe popular again.
Yeah, James has been off the reservation for quite some time. Living with the she-devil has gotten to him. I happened to see Carville on Connecticut Avenue when I was visiting last April (I grew up in DC–Bay Buchanan was my best friend in high school–obviously, no longer). Anyway, my sister had to pull me away from the domed-one–I really wanted to tell him off. What a waste he is–a total sell-out to the Sally Quinn cocktail and weenie crowd. DC is certainly a good place to be from.
Sparkles the Iguana @ 24
What, between the eyebrows?
;>)
TeddySanFran @ 15
sorry ’bout that!
Best post in awhile Jane. Damn, I can’t stand Carville. The Gimp visual is perfect!
Sparkles the Iguana @ 24
More mind bleach, STAT!
oh, darkblack, you rascal….
scory @ 20
Great stuff DB. Gonna have to borrow that one for a later post about this nitwit if he keeps gassing up the airwaves.
By the way, in the same LoR spirit, did you see the picture for Lord of the Roots?
It sure puts Carville and Dean’s roles in this election in perspective.
“Rumsfeldian in its competence”…Why, that’s almost Coulterian in its hyperbole.
;>)
LOL darkblack
Bustednuckles @ 29
I can make it worse: Carville picking up the morning papers in a shorty robe, his stovepipe legs whiter than the terrycloth.
I’ve lived with the image for ten years now. I just had to share.
Terry in Maryland @ 17
Do you mean a Hansen’s Disease museum, or a James Carville Disease museum?
Nate @ 31
That was a good one indeed, Nate…And I certainly can’t take credit for originating the Carville-as-gollum meme … Mr. and Mrs. Carville, will you stand up, please?
;>)
I need a score card I agree with Jane, Carville, and Rahm are jerks but do these guys still speak for Bill? I thought that FDL and the rest of the blogs met with Bill to agree on a plan? Are Carville and Rahm playing for their own team? is Bill calling the shots? Where does Hilary fit in all this? All I really care about is getting our troops out of Iraq and Healthcare for everyone! I’m tired of games!
So you’re Mary Matalin?? Or just the next door neighbor?
darkblack @ 36
That would be Mr. Morgoth Carville and Mrs. Sauron Carville, of course.
oops: watertiger link
punaise @ 40
OT: is it just me, or does Mary Matalin talk without moving her chin. What is that, too much make-up, or is her jaw wired shut?
Totally O/T -
First clear paparazzi pic of Madonna’s new adopted African kid.
_
Dean downs Carville on Fox @ C&L:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/.....silliness/
scory @ 34, please, not right before the dinner hour!
Carville and Matalin are all about the wonders of Carville and Matalin. Thank God they found each other and spared the rest of the known universe.
They both specialize in orchestrating crisis and looking to profit from it.
And speaking of orchestrating, slightly OT, does anyone else notice an increasingly dark undercurrent of racism in Fox programming? I mean, some’s obvious, the Cops handcuffing black guys as routine in their episodes. But whazzup with the pimping of O.J.’s If I’d'a Done It? Sick.
It’s a given that Fox is the WH infomercial network, is this more of the propaganda to divide the “lower classes” and reinforce the power of the Bushes and Murdochs of the world?
not to be an Aravosis basher, but on the Chuckles matter he offers this pearl of wisdom:
dude: it wasn’t about the money….
punaise @ 2:39 pm (#46)
When you’re out of straw, build a moneyman.
kemo @ 42
Neither. Her muscles are merely exhausted after a long session trying to rouse le petit Dick Cheney.
darkblack @ 36
with a little help from fdl friends…
punaise @ 46
I’m sorry, but I thought Lieberman was not only a millionare, but actually scored most of his millions while in the Senate. Besides, Holy Joe took plenty of cash…FROM THE REPUBLICANS. So what the fuck is Schumer talking about?
Here’s a better question, Chuckie: With a limited pool of money, who should get it, assuming both have an equal shot at winning - the Democratic candidate chosen by the Democratic party’s Connecticut voters in August, or the ex-Democratic candidate for a party named after himself who lost said primary and didn’t have the couth to just admit it and go home?
wrt Hill&Bill, I still believe it’s a two-fer. I believed it when Bill said it while seeking the Preznitcy. I still do. Bill has an immense, mogul-laden playpen in which to do good (CGI) but anything he says or does related to American politics is motivated by and cleared first by Hill. It’s her turn now, in their family dynamic. He will do nothing to impede, and anything to advance, her steamroll ride to the White House. If it’s what she wants.
The blogger party was part of this, for the Clintons. The bloggers got a whole lot out of it, too, including a breast kerfuffle, which must have tickled Bill no end. Hill, too, I bet. These people have a sense of humor. How could they not?
But, hindsighting the blogger party as an attempt to control, or co-opt, or subsume the bloggers misunderestimates Peter Daou and HillBill. Everybody came away with something, even the uninvited (who got to carp about Jessica’s breastthrusting). Cast back to the landscape of 2000, or 2002, or 2004. Isn’t 2006 a very different electoral dynamic because of, and despite, the bloggers? Bloggers are here to stay, and evolution in humanpower and technology being constantly forward, the hive mind can only grow, expand, and further affect the electoral dynamic. Who knows, today, what that dynamic will produce? One constant we know will be there is Hillary, Another constant is the presence, in an evolved new form, of “the bloggers.”
Don’t stop thinking about the future — it is ours.
Via Froomkin,
In keeping with the newfound atmosphere of bipartisanship, in addition to John Bolton, Bush is also nominating winners like Andrew Biggs a Social Security privatizer to be deputy commissioner of Social Security and Kenneth Tomlinson who got chased off the board of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for his attempts to politicize it (and also because he had his hand in the till) to be chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors which oversees the VOA and Radio Free Europe, etc.
Hugh @ 52
In keeping with the newfound atmosphere of bipartisanship, Bush is likely to get his own bronzed ass handed to him on a platter come January.
He didn’t send money to Joe, either. But this whole topic is a side show, a diversion, a purposeful irrelevancy.
As Tagaris made clear, they needed the party to renounce Joe with statements. They didn’t. Also, Tom Swan has not yet spoken on the matter, and he dealt more directly with the DSCC than Tim did. Tim reports he expects Tom will be making some statements at some point before long.
Hugh @ 52
Bidness as usual for Chimpco.
F*ckers.
punaise @ 46
He said all that with his head up his ass? Amazing.
Who pays Carville to appear on CNN for Dems?
I still think it’s a pity — I really liked Carville’s We’re Right, They’re Wrong. He really explained well, among other things, how Democrats are better for business than supposedly “pro-business” Republicans. From it I developed one of my political mantras, “Republicans give business what it wants, Democrats give business what it needs.“
Hugh @ 52
If these positions are subject to confirmation by the lameduck session, perhaps our Senate Dems should get a clue from their Texas Lege counterparts during DeLay’s illegal redistricting session: Run for the hills, hide out, junket away!
Eureka Springs, AR @ 57
CNN, I should suppose.
TeddySanFran @ 51
I believe the phrase you coined was ‘boobie crisis of Harlem‘, Teddy.
;>)
Hear, hear
TeddySanFran @ 59
Filibuster. And then filibuster some more. Make Christmas 2006 a season of fir trees and filibusters. What are the ‘Thugs going to do…go nuclear?
Carville reminds me of Terry Bradshaw…
They are both clownish…
Jack
Redshift@ 58 good mantra there are way to many republicans who think corporate welfare and government contracts are the way to run a business. Producing a good or service that people want better than the next guy seems to have been forgotten.
EvilDrPuma @ 62
pine the sky
It takes a real asshole to try to fracture the party after stunning wins of both Congressional Houses. He is still a wannabe but is a has been. He just hasn’t realized it yet. If it wasn’t for Dean’s 50 State Initiative, all those seats Carville says they could have won would not have been in play. The fruits of Dean’s effort will bear when the State legislatures won redistrict after 2010.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 57
Carville’s been appearing FOR Dems?
Bay State Librul @ 2:53 pm (#63)
Bradshaw was good at what he did. He still isn’t all that bad at what he’s doing now. Clowning’s more fun to watch in those circumstances.
kirk murphy @ 2:56 pm (#67)
He likes to think so …
Carville reminds me of TerryBradshaw…
They are both clownish…
Jack
Terry’s is an act.
Carville is like that old country tune, “How can I miss you if You Won’t Go Away.”
Uncle Lou Dobbs promises an interview with UN non-Ambassador Bolton this hour!
When, when, when will W crash through 30% JAR?
Shakespears Sister weighs in on Carville.
I like her point at the end.
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/
Well we have a new Dem congressman, Joe Courtney in CT. Simmons conceded. Via Hartford Courant. . Also via CTBob. Chris Shays was the only one who slipped by. Why Joe?
TeddySanFran @ 73
A week from Friday. (was thinking about that yesterday)
Steve Gilliard:
Bustednuckles @
74
That is an excellent finish…especially since Mary’s been known to tell a few fish tales.
Sparkles the Iguana @
24
Yeah, but hers is an actual camel’s toe…
oddball @
11
I used to think that way too…until the swiftboating of John Kerry. I think the media will wash, rinse and repeat many times to make this propaganda sink in. I don’t think it all stopped with the election.
Just checked out the Bowers article: Carville’s consultant con. It’d be nice to get rid of the Carvilles, the Dickie Morris’, the HoJoes and the Schumers. I think the trick is taking away the lure of entrenched power within the party or something, over say, just plain old good public service. Gotta think about that one. I’m never too clear what goes on in subterranean channels of politics.
TeddySanFran @
73
When the first hearings start–if they’re covered by the media straight up. I’m hoping for single digits by late summer, although I think the bottom may be around low-mid 20s if Nixon at his worst is any indication.
But, we all know that Bush far outpaces Nixon in the sleaze department, so the next few months will be a real test of the lower end of the wingnuttery scale. How many diehard Bush lovers are there, really? Inquiring minds want to know. :)
I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed reading a post more than this one. He so soundly deserves it.
James has always been a winner. Who else could executive produce a film about Huey Long staring some of the best actors in the biz and come up with the BIGGEST turkey of the year.
Go away James!
BobbyG @
7
I think in Louisiana the problem is with nutria or coypu and not “aliens”.
James makes me think of Judge Doom from Roger Rabbit…
“When I killed your party I talked JUST LIKE THIIIIIIIIS!!!”
della Rovere @ 85
For those not familiar with a nutria, think BIG rat. Kind of like a beaver without the flat tail.
For those not familiar with a nutria, think BIG rat. Kind of like a beaver without the flat tail.
in nearby GA the problem is Newt-rhea
Chauncy Gardner @ 84
You’re right. He was exec producer on All the King’s Men, which was a huge bomb, both critically and financially. He also played a prosecutor who prosecuted Larry Flynt in The People vs. Larry Flynt. He showed his true right wing colors on that one.
Judith Regan of ReganBooks is a creep.
http://www.startribune.com/484/story/813423.html
Carville is not animal or mineral. He is a plant.
(in the operative sense)
In my district, CA 44, Democratic candidate Louis Vandenberg received 38% of the vote, with no campaign to speak of. Not a single ad, no lawn signs, no mailings, nothing.
In spite of the districts conservative voting history, this would have been a winnable seat with relatively minor investment, but apparently DCCC didn’t deem it to be so and was not willing to commit any funds. The republican incumbent Ken Calvert is a corrupt moron, had been caught with a prostitute, has a history of shady real estate deals, etc, etc, and there is enough ammunition for negative ads against him to last a decade.
Why DCCC was not willing to help is beyond me. The only explanation I can think of is that Vanderberg might be too liberal for Rahm Emanuel’s taste.
I’m not well-skilled at analyzing political races or anything but the Duckworth candidacy and heavy support for such seemed to me more a “brand” or “symbol” than you are giving it credit for. It wasn’t money wasted by any means. She was on the news everywhere like the optimum poster child for a war gone bad but gosh darn-it the soldiers are going to keep fighting, even if that means campaigning for change on two artificial legs. Honestly she’s more akin to Barbaro for how people care about how her story turns out, and pumping money into her race means even more people, those who can’t vote for her, get to hear it. Just my 2c.
punaise @ 91
Yet another good arguement for more stem cell research.
punaise @ 88
Cobb County’s very own STD….
Oklahoma kiddo @
90
the Viewladies were all over her this morning for this, especially Rosie. Barbara said very little; I bet she’s a Regan pal. Babs did say she was offered the OJ interview before Fox, and turned it down.
PS to TRex — Rosie’s on the sleep apnea dealie, now, and did a great segment on it with her doctor. After her kids started complaining about her snoring from the other end of the hall, she said she finally went to the MD after her partner videotaped her sleeping. Prior, Rosie denied she had a problem. She said she noticed improvement “the very first day” and has more energy after two weeks than she ever had before. Scary to think of Rosie with more energy, but there you are!
So, do only gay people come out about their sleep apnea and wear the mask on teevee?
Send Carville back to the bayous. We will teach him how to behave.
Was listening to “All Things Considered” and missed the introduction to a commentator speaking on Lott’s rehabilitation as Minority Whip. Kept thinking as he was spouting self-important drivel and diminishing the racism implicit in Lott’s downfall, “who is this twit?”
Doughy Pantload hisself.
Scoreboard
James Carville - you are a loser. Let’s look at the scoreboard
1992 DLC took control
1994 Dems lost the House
1996 Dems lost the House
1998 Dems lost the House
2000 Dems lost the House
2002 Dems lost the House and the Senate
2004 Dems lost the House and the Senate
2005 Dean named DNC Chairman
2006 Dems WON the House and the Senate
That’s Scoreboard - Gollum - now sit down and STFU!
Get ready for a Lott of Newt-rhea coming our way.
-GSD
Louisiana Girl @ 97
I bet you will!
LOL
Can you throw Mary into a swamp a few times in honor of her boss, Dunker Dick?
Tony @
6
LOL—oh yeah! Was going for sad, but whe-e-e-e, just missed! Hopefully he won’t notice those barbs until he’s irretrievably discredited himself.
john in sacramento @ 99
That’s a nice summary. If folks SPOTLIGHT this or other Jane posts on Carville, it would make sense to include that summary in the comment — or in the post itself. The bottom line message: Carville is not a respected Dem strategist and does not represent the views of any credible group of Democrats. He should not be invited on CNN or other shows in a “Democratic spokesman” slot.
Crooks and Liars with Carville. “Cult of the DNC. Tey’re hearts are broken. . . Schumer and Emanuel lived with them and died with them.”
& with Deans response. I like Howard Dean. Having volunteered for the Lamont campaign, I’m just not feeling Carville’s emotion over Schumer’s lost races.
punaise @ 88
Very much like a rat. The folklore goes that the famous McIlhenny family of Tabasco fame brought them up from South America. The pen of rat like creatures broke free and they have been a curse on the Louisiana swamp ever since. I have heard stories of problems as far north as Virginia.
A sheriff in neighboring Jefferson Parish, Harry Lee had his deputies killing them with rifles in the middle of the main street in Metairie, Louisiana because they are such pests. Of course the locals complained that they didn’t want their children witnessing such acts and the killing stopped.
The problem is they eat the roots of plant life in the swamp and contribute to erosion of the swamp and marsh. I am sure you all have heard plenty about how we need our swamps and marshes for hurricane protection. Well add nutria to the list of dangers.
Oh and my sister was in Argentina last week and her husband’s family there apparently had a big BBQ with Nutria.
The louisina Department of Agriculture has been trying to promote Nutria in Japan for a while. I am not sure if they have had any success since I am no longer in the industry. I can see the promos now:
RAT it’s what’s for dinner! Yum!
Peace…Anna
Suddenly Boo Radley McCain is a big fan of holding the military accountable.
For God’s sake John, announce you are going to run for Prez. again so that the rightwing can get back to swifboating you into oblivion.
-GSD
john in sacramento @
99
[edit: the Repubs also had control in the Senate in 1994 thru 1998, which reinforces my point]
Oh my!
LOLOLOL both MsAnnaNOLA and GSD!
john in sacramento @ 107
In terms of electoral record, they also failed to achieve a majority in the Senate in 2000. It was only Jim Jeffords’ defection which changed the balance to the Dems.
Well, Congress is back in session. Yesterday, a motion to invoke cloture and move to a vote on S. 403 to prohibit taking minors across State lines in circumvention of laws requiring the involvement of parents in abortion decisions failed 57-42. Sixty votes were needed for the motion to pass.
Democrats who voted for cloture:
Byrd (D-WV), Johnson (D-SD), Landrieu (D-LA), Nelson (D-NE), Pryor (D-AR), Reid (D-NV)
Republicans who voted against cloture:
Chafee (R-RI), Snowe (R-ME), Specter (R-PA)
Not voting: Kennedy (D-MA)