Political strategist James Carville is known for his often outlandish takes on issues, and even though he’s a fiercely partisan Democrat, he sometimes says things about his own side that actually make sense. In a Saturday interview with the New York Times’ reliably leftist columnist Maureen O’Dowd, the Ragin’ Cajun’ was in full-on quip mode as he took on the Democrats and their polling struggles.
He thinks Dem messaging these days is turning off half the population—men.
“A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females … ‘Don’t drink beer, don’t watch football, don’t eat hamburgers, this is not good for you,’” he said. “The message is too feminine: ‘Everything you’re doing is destroying the planet. You’ve got to eat your peas.’”
He said it, not me. Though I can’t say I disagree.
He went on to tell a story about how he got a bottle of champagne for a female student who had been admitted to the grad school of her dreams. Soon after he was visited by the dean and told such conduct was improper. Carville was disgusted:
“This was L.S. freaking U., not Oberlin,” he said. “It was terrible. I wouldn’t take the coeds to dinner after class. I would take the male students. I was scared to death in my job. I was like: ‘I don’t need L.S.U.’s money. I don’t need to drive up there and listen to that crap.’ I jus