WP op-ed: Disloyalty That Merits An Insult, by James Carville

[DeepModem Mom]

Disloyalty That Merits An Insult
By James Carville
Saturday, March 29, 2008; A15

Last Friday the New York Times asked me to comment on New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson's endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama for president. For 15 years, Richardson served with no small measure of distinction as the representative of New Mexico's 3rd Congressional District. But he gained national stature -- and his career took off -- when President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and later made him energy secretary.

So, when asked on Good Friday about Richardson's rejection of the Clintons, the metaphor was too good to pass by. I compared Richardson to Judas Iscariot. (And Matthew Dowd is right: Had it been the Fourth of July, I probably would have called him Benedict Arnold.) I believed that Richardson's appointments in Bill Clinton's administration and his longtime personal relationship with both Clintons, combined with his numerous assurances to the Clintons and their supporters that he would never endorse any of Sen. Hillary Clinton's opponents, merited a strong response.

I was fully aware of what kind of response calling someone a Judas would evoke....

***

Fully aware of this supercharged environment in which the slightest slight is elevated to the most egregious insult, I waded in -- okay, dove in -- by demonstrating what constitutes a real insult.

I believe that loyalty is a cardinal virtue. Nowhere in the world is loyalty so little revered and tittle-tattle so greatly venerated as in Washington. I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty -- whatever my personal misgivings -- to stick by him. At the very least, I would have stayed silent. And maybe that's my problem with what Bill Richardson did. Silence on his part would have spoken loudly enough.

Most of the stuff I've ever said is pretty insignificant and by in large has been said off the cuff and without much thought to the potential consequences. That was not the case in this instance. Bill Richardson's response was that the Clinton people felt they were entitled to the presidency. In my mind, that is a debatable hypothesis. But, even more than that, I know that a former president of the United States who appointed someone to two Senate-confirmed positions is entitled to have his phone calls returned.

If Richardson was going to turn on the Clintons the way he did, I see no problem in saying what I said. Because if loyalty is one virtue, another is straight talk. And if Democrats can't handle that, they're going to have a hard time handling a Republican nominee who is seeking the presidency with that as his slogan.

(James Carville, who managed Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, is a political commentator for CNN.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/28/AR2008032802826_pf.html

[DJ13]

1. He is rapidly becoming a sh!tstain on our party

:puke:

[AX10]

2. kick

[dkf]

3. Does Carville not realize Richardson is a Superdelegate and needs to make a choice

eventually?

What an idiot.

[rocktivity]

5. What Carville realizes

is that he's as relevant as mood rings, pet rocks, and the macarena.

:headbang:
rocknation

[dkf]

14. Yeah the Clinton's and their allies must be worried that their

brand of politics is outdated.

[2rth2pwr]

19. Shouldn't a Superdelegate take into account the will of the people?

New Mexico went for Hillary.

[rocktivity]

4. Well, you ought to know about disloyalty

Mister "Sleeping With the Enemy."

:headbang:
rocknation

[tabasco]

6. This is the United States of America not the Hillary Mafia.

Patriots base their decision on what is best for the country, not on who owes whom favors.

Carville is a stupid, lying cretin just like Hillary.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

7. Carville's tirades are getting increasingly bizarre and incongruent.

Carville believes in "straight talk" but Richardson should have kept quiet. :crazy:

[ccharles000]

8. Great man.

:toast:

[tularetom]

9. How about the clintons being loyal to the people who elected them

stood up for them when the repubs and the media was trashing them 24-7 and defended them during impeachmentr instead of running around rubbing elbows with poppy bush and praising assholes like john mccain while dumping on our candidates. And fucking carville treating Howard Dean like shit after the 2006 elections.


Loyalty is a 2 way street and we haven't seen very much of it from these asswipes.

[Warpy]

11. Exactly, this is a fight for the party's soul

and the DLC needs to lose it.

Otherwise, we'll end up with four more years of war, bankruptcy, misery, and death.

[Cha]

23. carville said in November 2006 that

Dean was "Rumsfeldian" and he could have won 20 more seats.

Does the m$$$m and the dlc pay carville to get on tv and make jackalass statements about real Dems?

If Obama wins and Richardson is doing something prominent..you can bet carville will be spending his time trying to topple them.

[peacetalksforall]

10. I pray that other Democrats come out on top after the Convention. The DLC can no

longer continue to own the Democratic Party. They are too dangerous. We didn't know how much in 2000. The same people who put pressure on Gore to stop fighting.

It is way too evident that they are Republican 'friendly'. That spells doom for the country - it is more serious than Republican lite.

[theoldman]

13. There were too many top Democrats who did not support Gore.

Look at the mess we are in because of them. I think Gore would have won if he had fought to the finish.

[Diane R]

17. And those top democrats who abandoned Gore were led by Bill and Hillary. Goes around, comes around.

[Buzz Clik]

12. Yeah, yeah, Carville. And the bus you rode in on...

[kevinmc]

15. Carville must have got a Cheney STD ...fried his brain... n/t

[Bonhomme Richard]

16. Loyalty. That's the problem with all these Bastards.

They are capable of putting loyalty above what is right and what is wrong. It makes no difference to them. It is all about my side winning.
Now I understand how He and that Woman stay together. Right and wrong make no difference.

[Diane R]

18. So, we should just give the nomiation to the candidate with the most chits to call in?

[90-percent]

20. Loyalty

Loyalty is a two way street. Hillary hasn't done a great job being loyal to the Democratic party or even the Constitution, for that matter.

I think Bill Richardson was exercising his ultimate loyalty to the American people.

-90% Jimmy

[zalinda]

21. I don't like Carville, but on this one, he's right.

Richardson should have stayed quiet until the convention, or until there was a nominee. Being quiet would have spoke volumes, but at least he would not have stabbed the Clintons in the back. This was down and dirty politics. Richardson would not have gotten where he is without the Clintons. He is a lackluster campaigner, at best. Running against Clinton was one thing (he knew he didn't have a shot, but was hoping for VP), but to endorse her opponent was another. I've lost all respect for the man. Well, the truth is, I didn't have much respect for him anyway, after he stopped the recount in NM in 2004.

And, all you Obama supporters who are praising him now, would be tearing him a new one if he had endorsed Clinton.

zalinda

[peacetalksforall]

22. On the other side of it - I'm proud of him. It took guts. If he had made up

his mind and didn't think he would change it - more power to him. It also means he has given up a chance to play a role should she win. That takes guts. Perhaps something or wome things happened during the campaign that firmed up his position.

I'm proud of you, Gov. Richardson. Watch your back from the Democratic Governor Repub destroyers in the White House who seem to be taking out Governors - Seigelman and Spitzer.

And I hope there will be no revenges taken on you by Democrats other than this op-ed by Carville.

[WildEyedLiberal]

24. Carville knows a lot about disloyalty, doesn't he? Selling out Kerry the night of the election?

I guess calling up your wife - who just so happens to be Cheney's right hand demon in waiting - to let her (and by proxy the Bush campaign) know the Kerry campaign's strategy to contest the Ohio results is NOT somehow disloyalty to the Democratic party or the candidate for whom you are ostensibly working. I guess disloyalty is okay if it ends up working in the Clintons' favor, but gawd forbid you cross The Chosen One and Her Destiny.

I have less than zero respect for that traitorous hatchetman.

[Craig Livingstone]

25. Why return to the Clinton era?

I worked for the Clinton's for many years. The group that surrounds them Harold Ickes, James Carville, Susan Thomases, Capricia Marshall are (in my opinion) nasty and vile sorts that will stomp on any good democrat to further the careers of their masters.

Now, is the time for the good people of PA, IN, NC to stand up and say we will not return to the times when you sullied the Oval Office.

Craig Livingstone

Former, Clinton Staff Member