Jim Neal stuns James Carville into silence at NC Young Democrats event

PUSH!!

Don't give up and don't let the rusty establishment tell you how its gonna be.

Stick it to the man, Jim!!!

OW!!

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by: Patrick @ Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 21:38:30 PM CDT

Good on Jim Neal!

It's nearly impossible to get James Carville to shut up, but when it happens it is a moment to be savored. Does anyone have video? The look on his face must have been priceless. There really was nothing he could say to that because Neal was 100% right and called Carville on it.

I wonder if he got "The Call" from the DLCC telling him to back off or a kitten dies...

Never try to train a pig. It's a waste of time and it annoys the pig.

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by: cali_techie @ Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 21:57:35 PM CDT

good for Jim!

because of course we do have coronations.  but they're harder to pull off when people are paying attention.  good for Jim on making people pay attention.

Lurleen on Twitter

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by: Lurleen @ Mon Mar 31, 2008 at 23:33:58 PM CDT

Coronations

Yes, I felt that until Iowa we were watching the rose petals (and some brickbats, admittedly) being scattered along the path for Queen Hillary to assume the ermined robes of state, the crown, scepter and orb.  We were told nobody had her fundraising potential, her connections in the establishment, her name recognition, and that her organization was combination of Napoleon's winning campaigns and D-Day.  She was a political genius, brilliant, and inevitable.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown."

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 07:24:50 AM CDT

This is why this election is so important

We have to shake the rule of the DLC establishment.

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by: janinedm @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 08:00:40 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Jim Carville won Two Elections for You People!

And now you're tossing him over the side because he won't join the Torchlight Parade past Barack Obama's Fuhrer's Balcony?

What's next, Loyalty Oaths to The Leader?

Speaking as a Republican, Jim Carville was one of the most respected and feared operatives the Democratic Party ever produced. Now, as the Democrats appear to be turning to its Cultural Revolution Phase, you're all putting a dunce cap on Carville's head and forcing him to undergo a Self-Criticism Session while he recites passages from the Little Red Book of the Thoughts of Chairman Barack.

There's a point at which this passes from becoming a parody of itself to deep, McCarthyite tragedy.

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by: section9 @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 09:10:55 AM CDT

tense

"Jim Carville was one of the most respected and feared operatives the Democratic Party ever produced."

Verbs have tense for a reason.

Kat

>^..^<

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by: KatRose @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 09:22:43 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You people?

Dear, dear.  We could have guessed this post was from a Republican even if s/he didn't admit it.  A Nazi reference and a McCarthy reference in the same post?  Talk about parody!  (And lest section9 forget, Joe  McCarthy was a Republican.)  Carville has never been much more than an unofficial court jester to the DLC, a kind of cornpone Karl Rove.  Who else would defend him from "us people"?

I am not interested in picking up crumbs of compassion thrown from the table of someone who considers himself my master. I want the full menu of rights.  -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

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by: QScribe @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 10:35:15 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Oops

I think we both forgot to mention Chinese Communist Oppression being thrown at us, too.

That's a trifecta: Nazis, Joe McCarthy, and The People of the Little Red Book!

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 11:00:12 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

plus

satan.

"blogtopia - yes! i coined that phrase!"

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by: skippy @ Wed Apr 02, 2008 at 22:40:02 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Jim Carville won Two Elections for You People and lost everything else

I can see why your Republicans are so upset that we are not in love with the DLC.  It's trangulation strategy that allowed Republicans to define Democrats, progressive and liberals was a boon for you, your idealogy and your candidates.

But it's been bad for the country

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by: clytemnestra @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 12:41:03 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Re: "You People"

Bear in mind that the most ardent posters on political matters here don't even self-identify as Democrats (and some didn't vote in those elections, anyway), just as you call yourself a Republican, so James Carville never actually spoke for either camp.

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by: Pollyanna @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 13:52:11 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Auk-waaaard!

As I'm in the picture, I can assure you we weren't laughing. I think it's the awkward smiling you see of "umm..."

Carville did seem to have a bee in his bonnet during the whole reception about something, it was actually kind of weird. Don't know what it was about.

Neal did have to respond to what Carville said, but ... I don't know, there's a way to do it, and I'm not sure he did it the right way. But, I understand it. Neal's behavior, though, does make me wonder about how he would function in the very reserved U.S. Senate. It's fine to be the noisemaker and shake things up...but if no one wants to listen to you or work with you, then you probably won't get anything done. For all his "shaking things up," even Sen. Jim Webb is very "senatorial."

I'm still on the fence on this race, being thrown to and fro everyday...and I still like Carville and the Clintons...

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by: captsfufp @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 09:57:45 AM CDT

I think that was the point

Carville is rarely challenged, and I don't know that there's a right way other than to be blunt, as he's become a bully.

After all, you're dealing with the man who called Bill Richardson "Judas" and has superdelegates afraid to declare support for Obama lest the Clinton machine come down on them.

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by: Pam Spaulding @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 10:15:41 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Sadly--

--most of the hacks and pundits aren't really challenged much on their basic assumptions or their wildest claims.

When I saw someone on MSNBC challenge everyone quoting polls (on a 4-person panel) as relying on worthless information this far before the election, I thought, "He's outa there."  And he was.  I've checked back and the guy hasn't been on that show.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 11:23:29 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

"Barack Obama's Fuhrer's Balcony"?

This is the kind of hateful rhetoric the campaign has spawned on all sides.  Obama's supporters especially seem to come in for invective: they're either cult followers believing in a false messiah or they're Nazis.

Could we at least have a moratorium at on the use of SS, Gestapo, Nazi et al. in our political discussions?  It's profoundly disrespectful of the tens of millions of people who were the victims in a war launched for Nazi world domination.  

As for Carville, yes, once upon a time he was a great strategist and now he sounds like a hack, and a cranky one at that, whenever I hear him on TV.  He scolded the poor little Hispanic boy for not being eternally grateful to the Clintons for picking him out of obscurity and making him a STAR.  What tripe.  Is he living in a Dickens novel?

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 09:59:28 AM CDT

...thank you

Lev, For jumping in/on and calming things down. It seems a very appropriate comment for Mr. Neal to make. I suppose you all wanted him to do a full campaign type speech around it, but that was not the context.  He could have just reiterated how he was officially in the running for the nomination, but I am sure most in the room knew it.

It's the Hammer of JUSTICE,
It's the Bell of FREEDOM,
It's the Song about LOVE between,
my Brothers and my Sisters
...All over this Land.

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by: Orion45 @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 10:10:22 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

You're welcome

I think we can make our points without resorting to comparing anyone to the Nazis.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 10:17:16 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Richardson responds to Carville

This is from the WaPo and as thoughtful as Carville's criticism was intemperate:

Loyalty to My Country

By Bill Richardson
Tuesday, April 1, 2008; 10:29 AM

My recent endorsement of Barack Obama for president has been the subject of much discussion and consternation -- particularly among supporters of Hillary Clinton.

Led by political commentator James Carville, who makes a living by being confrontational and provocative, Clinton supporters have speculated about events surrounding this endorsement and engaged in personal attacks and insults.

While I certainly will not stoop to the low level of Mr. Carville, I feel compelled to defend myself against character assassination and baseless allegations.

Carville has made it very clear that this is a personal attack -- driven by his own sense of what constitutes loyalty. It is this kind of political venom that I anticipated from certain Clinton supporters and I campaigned against in my own run for president.

I repeatedly urged Democrats to stop attacking each other personally and even offered a DNC resolution calling for a positive campaign based on the issues. I was evenhanded in my efforts. In fact, my intervention in a debate during a particularly heated exchange was seen by numerous commentators as an attempt to defend Sen. Clinton against the barbs of Sens. Obama and John Edwards.

As I have pointed out many times, and most pointedly when I endorsed Sen. Obama, the campaign has been too negative, and we Democrats need to calm the rhetoric and personal attacks so we can come together as a party to defeat the Republicans.

More than anything, to repair the damage done at home and abroad, we must unite as a country. I endorsed Sen. Obama because I believe he has the judgment, temperament and background to bridge our divisions as a nation and make America strong at home and respected in the world again.

This was a difficult, even painful, decision. My affection and respect for the Clintons run deep. I do indeed owe President Clinton for the extraordinary opportunities he gave me to serve him and this country. And nobody worked harder for him or served him more loyally, during some very difficult times, than I did.

Carville and others say that I owe President Clinton's wife my endorsement because he gave me two jobs. Would someone who worked for Carville then owe his wife, Mary Matalin, similar loyalty in her professional pursuits? Do the people now attacking me recall that I ran for president, albeit unsuccessfully, against Sen. Clinton? Was that also an act of disloyalty?

And while I was truly torn for weeks about this decision, and seriously contemplated endorsing Sen. Clinton, I never told anyone, including President Clinton, that I would do so. Those who say I did are misinformed or worse.

As for Mr. Carville's assertions that I did not return President Clinton's calls: I was on vacation in Antigua with my wife for a week and did not receive notice of any calls from the president. I, of course, called Sen. Clinton prior to my endorsement of Sen. Obama. It was a difficult and heated discussion, the details of which I will not share here.

I do not believe that the truth will keep Carville and others from attacking me. I can only say that we need to move on from the politics of personal insult and attacks. That era, personified by Carville and his ilk, has passed and I believe we must end the rancor and partisanship that has mired Washington in gridlock. In my view, Sen. Obama represents our best hope of replacing division with unity. That is why, out of loyalty to my country, I endorse him for president.

"In order to maintain an untenable position, you have to be actively ignorant."  The Colbert Report

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by: Lev Raphael @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 14:04:57 PM CDT

Carville ... the "crazy uncle" of the Democratic Party

Jimmy needs to know we had one Queen already (bush) we don't need another.

Someone needs to tap Carville's shoulder and tell him THE 90's are OVAH!
And so is sHillary's election possibility.

Oh and hello everyone, been awhile (problems with my  

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by: Juan @ Tue Apr 01, 2008 at 19:13:07 PM CDT