October 13, 2024

James Carville watched a few minutes of the Biden/Trump debate, then turned it off, "ate two pot gummies and started listening to some Hank Williams."

"He said he realized at that moment that Mr. Biden would have to drop out. By every account, Mr. Carville’s decision to act against Mr. Biden came after extensive consultation with a network of friends he has been talking to daily for 30 years. 'I went into this with what you would call in the law malice and forethought,' he said.... 'I could have been embarrassed,' Mr. Carville said. 'He could have run and won. But it never occurred to me that I was wrong.' At this stage in Mr. Carville’s life, there was not much to lose and it is hard to imagine him remaining quiet. 'He can’t help it,' said Paul Begala, Mr. Carville’s partner on that 1992 campaign and one of his closest friends. 'It is who he is. His income does not depend on being hired by politicians. Nor has it been for 30 years. He can say whatever he wants.'"

Writes Adam Nagourney, in "James Carville on Aging, Edibles and His Anxieties About Harris/At 79, the Democratic commentator is the subject of a documentary that captures his musings — and his warning to President Biden — about the toils of age" (NYT).

What Hank Williams song did James Carville cue up?
 
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60 comments:

rehajm said...

You know, we were sold legal pot largely because of the mega new taxable cash stream but we were also lectured endlessly that pot would create a calmer, better more enlightened society but it doesn’t look like it does much for pumpkin head in that regard…

rehajm said...

You Win Again

This heart of mine could never see
What everybody knew but me
Just trustin' you, was my great sin

lohwoman said...

I Saw the Light.

Readering said...

Still waiting for the story of how that June debate was arrived at.

Kevin said...

Carville describes himself in a sentence: “But it never occurred to me that I was wrong.”

Mr. D said...

Settin’ the Woods on Fire

Comb your hair and paint and powder
You act proud and I'll act prouder
You sing loud and I'll sing louder
Tonight we're settin' the woods on fire

Breezy said...

+1

tim maguire said...

The Times trying to protect Pelosi from the fallout after Harris loses?

I didn’t guess on the Hank Williams song because I don’t know any.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Cold, Cold Heart

“There was a time when I believed that you belonged to me
But now I know your heart is shackled to a memory
The more I learn to care for you, the more we drift apart
Why can't I free your doubtful mind and melt your cold-cold heart?“

wild chicken said...

Mr D beat me to it.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It's malice aforethought not malice and forethought.

Sally327 said...

It doesn't specify, does it?, that Carville means Hank Sr. and not Hank Jr. or even Hank III, Jr.'s son, who is a professional singer-songwriter as well. Maybe he means the whole family.

Hank Sr. : I saw the Light
Hank Jr.: All My Rowdy Friends
Hank III: Low Down

Iman said...

“Move It On Over”… I feature Snakehead Carville always in the doghouse scratching fleas, with Mary Matalin.

PJ said...

I like it. Joe’s debate performance put a new spin on the phrase “doubtful mind.”

Kate said...

Aw, at least his mama must have sung "Hey, Good Lookin" to him.

I picked "Jambalaya" because I can imagine him eating some edibles and dancing about the parlor. Some part of him was glad to see Joe go. And when you're never wrong, you want to party.

Mikey NTH said...

That's the one I was thinking of.

Humperdink said...

The best and the brightest of the Commie strategists is on a steady diet of Gummies? Why am I not surprised? I suppose if I was trying to sell the unsalable I would need a mind altering drug also.

Curious George said...

It's assholes like Carville that are the problem. Not one word about his policies and their effect. Or his mental state. Just "can he win."]

Dixcus said...

"Red, White & Pink Slip Blues"

PeteDOC said...

Could you please balance this article about the irrelevant James Carville with one about the equally irrelevant Karl Rove or Newt Gingrich?

Bob Boyd said...

You're Cheatin' Heart

Mr. Forward said...

Who said it first? Tim Walz or Elmer Fudd?

"Shh. Do not make any sound. I am searching for wabbits. Huh-huh-huh-huh!"

""Oh my God, I have eventually come to know what exactly is wrong with my brain: nothing is right on the left part, and nothing is left on the right part."

Bob Boyd said...

Your Cheatin' Heart

Ann Althouse said...

"“Move It On Over”… I feature Snakehead Carville always in the doghouse scratching fleas, with Mary Matalin."

In my original draft of the survey, I had "Move It On Over" as an option (and the only other named option).

Big Mike said...

Some years ago I read an article whose author referred to Carville as “The Talking Skull.” Once you see it, you can’t unsee it! So that’s been my name for him ever since.

The Talking Skull is pretty explicit about the need for Democrats to hold onto power. Had anybody ever asked him why it is so important to them to hold onto power? Is it just the graft and corruption? Or is it the thrill they get from allowing biological males into women’s locker rooms? The sheer pleasure of sticking it to working men and women? The payoff that comes from helping the rich get ever richer?

For sure it’s not to help the ordinary citizens of the United States!

Aggie said...

+2

mikee said...

Carville, whose greatest accomplishment was winning the election of 1992 by keeping Bill Clinton focused on lying about the economy under GHWBush rather than just getting laid for the duration of the campaign, should not have had the power to do anything about Biden.

Aggie said...

I've been thinking that all of Carville's trash talk and caterwauling on the networks is because he doesn't have an 'in' any more with the movers and shakers. This story makes it sound like he does - I suppose that makes sense.

Doesn't it give all you Democrats a warm feeling that the back room still decides things for you? I mean, there's plenty of that in both of these P.O.S. parties, but, always the innovators when it comes to new dirty tricks, now the Democrat Machine has figured out a way to dispense with the whole 'who decides the candidate' mess and just get right down to it. Their vote counts, and yours doesn't - it doesn't even merit a second thought or a half-hearted effort to organize one. At least the smoke-filled room is gone though, now it's just a bowl of gummies. Another innovation.

Skeptical Voter said...

"Lost On The River Of Life"---Carville's mind and comment sense have departed. But it's a great song.

West TX Intermediate Crude said...

I thought of a Hank, Jr., song, "Family Tradition."
Joe, like Hunter, engaging in self-destructive behaviors, Joe following the smartest man he knew.

Steve said...

Debating Biden prior to the DNC might go down in history as one of the biggest political blunders of American history. Up there with Ford saying there was no domination of Eastern Europe and Lincoln saying “Mary Todd, would you like to see that new play?”

Narayanan said...

do they mean same?

Wince said...

Some Democrats and others are now suggesting that replacing Biden with Harris was the bigger blunder.

Yancey Ward said...

Carville is a white male and, if Harris does lose, he is going to get the blame for dumping Biden. Stories like this one sound to me like prepositioning of blame.

Yancey Ward said...

I would love to know who exactly wrote Biden's tweet endorsing Harris the day Biden withdrew from the race.

BUMBLE BEE said...

I Don't Know Why was Eric Clapton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnuEeq86TIA
Among others

Narayanan said...

The Haze persists

Big Mike said...

Oh, and the full opening stanza of “Jambalaya” is “Goodbye Joe, he gotta go, me oh my oh.” Kind of makes it even more explicit.

Saint Croix said...

“It strikes me that they are really good at big events. I don’t know how good they are at trench warfare, at the day-to-day news cycle."

I will second this comment, except to suggest that he does know how she is on the day-to-day news cycle -- horrible.

Kamala was really good at the debate and the DNC. If it's a staged event, and she has time to prep, she's not bad at all.

But she's horrible at improv, at answering on the fly. She's not a quick thinker or responder. And she avoids things. She is made border czar and she avoids the border. She gets asked a question and the she avoids the question. It's kind of insane that her campaign bused in a bunch of campaign staff for that time Kamala went into a restaurant. She avoids the voters!

Kamala is fearful, phony, and scripted. Hillary was angry, phony, and scripted.

Aggie said...

Plan A was to push Biden over the finish line, keep chipping away at Trump as long as the ammo held up, and then put Kamala into power using the 25th, when it became convenient, with nothing for anybody to contest.

Plan B was to go with Kamala and try to get her over the line, up front.

Plan C through Z - the honest alternatives - did not occur to them, I guess.

I think Carville has more or less just confirmed this, in his own way.

Saint Croix said...

I've always liked that Carville married a Republican in the Bush campaign.

AimHighHitLow said...

Move It On Over
[Verse 1]
Came in last night at a half past ten
That baby of mine wouldn't let me in
So move it on over (move it on over)
Move it on over (move it on over)
Move over, little dog
'Cause the big dog's movin in

[Verse 2]
She's changed the lock on our front door
My door key don't fit no more
So get it on over (move it on over)
Scoot it on over (move it on over)
Move over, skinny dog
'Cause the fat dog's moving in

[Verse 3]
This doghouse here is mighty small
But it's better than no house at all
So ease it on over (move it on over)
Drag it on over (move it on over)
Move over, old dog
'Cause a new dog's moving in

gadfly said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ann Althouse said...

"Oh, and the full opening stanza of “Jambalaya” is “Goodbye Joe, he gotta go, me oh my oh.” Kind of makes it even more explicit."

No such luck. It's not "he gotta go." It's "me gotta go":

Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh, my oh
Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the Bayou
My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh, my oh
Son of a gun we'll have big fun on the bayou

(This is my favorite Hank Williams song)

Maynard said...

(This is my favorite Hank Williams song)

One of my favorite YouTube clips is from 1975 (or so) with Willie Nelson and Leon Russell performing that song. Waylon Jennings makes a surprise appearance and sings the last verse.

Earnest Prole said...

I was just a lad
Nearly eighty-two
Neither good nor bad
Just a guy like you
But now I’m lost
Too late to pray
Lord I paid a cost
On the lost highway

Clyde said...

He’s a Democrat; what else could it be other than “Your Cheating Heart”?

Jaq said...

"Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh, my oh"

That goes better with Carville's story.

gadfly said...

Carville always opposed Biden running for a second term because of his age. So Hank Williams wrote and sang: "I'll never get out of this world alive" - containing the lyric "“Cause nothings ever gonna be alright nohow”.T

Iman said...

Hey, teh snake was on a crawl, don’t take that away from him.

Dogma and Pony Show said...

She was not "really good" at the debate. Her campaign conspired with ABC to limit her role to that of making a few well-rehearsed speeches and facial expressions, while leaving it to the so-called moderators to try to make Trump look bad through bad-faith questions and tendentious factchecks. Even with the event obviously rigged in her favor, all her campaign really got out of it was to survive and be able to carry on. The more lasting effect of the debate was to help solidify the country's impression of KH as a talentless stooge who can't think for herself or communicate extemporaneously.

Tom T. said...

This is just Carville trying to claim that he's still such a big guy that he's the reason Biden was forced out. This may backfire on him if Harris loses.

MadTownGuy said...

"Lovesick Blues," because he was so disgusted by Biden's failure to deliver in the debate.

Will Cate said...

Kaw-Liga

Michael K said...

Graft and corruption, definitely.

Lazarus said...

So, Serpent Head is a stoner? That explains a lot.

At first, I thought he was eating two pots of gummy bears, which is also something I could see him doing.

In the 60s TV was always preempting regular programs to show "Your Cheatin' Heart," the Hank Williams story. We kids always hated it. Who the heck was "Hank Williams" anyway? I've since grown to appreciate Williams, and I might even watch the movie someday (I did sit through "The Last Ride," the grim story of Hank's last days). But George Hamilton as Hank Williams? How does that work?

Rabel said...

"Six More Miles (To the Graveyard)"

RCOCEAN II said...

Carville's them song should be that old country song written by mel tillis:
"All the snakes crawl at night that's what they say
When the sun goes down then the sneaks will play
I watched that car pull right up into my driveway
Saw a shadow slip away from my house…"

He looks like a snake. I keep expecting his tongue to forked.

RCOCEAN II said...

Carville: Talk country - act Martha's Vinyard.

wsw said...

File under, "Behar." Carville's is a tired act.