James Carville Quotations

James Carville is a liberal American political consultant, commentator, media personality, and pundit. Also known as the "Ragin' Cajun" or "Corporal Cue Ball", Carville gained national attention for his work as the lead strategist of the successful 1992 presidential campaign of then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton. Carville was the co-host of CNN's Crossfire until its final broadcast in June 2005. Since its cancellation, he has appeared on CNN's new program The Situation Room. As of 2006, he currently hosts a weekly program on XM Radio entitled 60/20 Sports with Luke Russert, son of NBC's Tim Russert. He is the husband of Mary Matalin.

Sourced

"You can call the dogs in, wet the fire, and leave the house. The hunt's over." - on Obama winning the White House
- CNN Election Night in America 10/7/2008

"John McCain, if you liked the last eight, you are going to love the next four."
- Meet the Press, 4/14/2008

“Mr. Richardson’s endorsement came right around the anniversary of the day when Judas sold out for 30 pieces of silver, so I think the timing is appropriate, if ironic." (Referring to New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's endorsement of Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton on GoodFriday).

(Hollywood) hates America.
- The Colbert Report, 9/20/06

Who cares? Sometimes you need rebirth." (On the destruction of America)
- The Colbert Report, 9/20/06

"Washington is a dirty diaper. It's time for a change."
- on his 6th September 2006 appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Hurricane [Katrina] hit the Gulf Coast and destroyed much of the Gulf Coast - that was an act of god ... Now what happened to New Orleans, that was a complete failure of the federal government. Complete negligence by the feds.
- in a speech to LSU students at the Manship School of Communications' Holliday Forum on January 27, 2006.

I didn’t just experiment with marijuana – if you know what I mean.
- in a speech to LSU students at the Manship School of Communications' Holliday Forum on January 27, 2006.

Yeah, I graduated with a 4.0… blood alcohol level.
- in a speech to LSU students at the Manship School of Communications' Holliday Forum on January 27, 2006.

[On Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama] If she gave him one of her cojones, they'd both have two.
- Newsweek, May 2, 2008.

At the beginning of the Clinton administration in the early 1990s, adviser James Carville was stunned at the power the bond market had over the government. If he came back, Carville said: I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.
- Wall Street Journal (February 25, 1993, p. A1)

Unsourced

"Look, if George W. Bush and his Republican cronies walked on water, I'd be the guy out there yelling that they couldn't swim. But don't take it from me: we've now heard it from the military commanders and our intelligence community: George Bush's actions in Iraq have not made us safer. They've done the opposite."
"When it comes to being visionary in stealing, the Republicans do better than anybody. It's really something to see." - in his 25th January 2006 appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
"Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find." January 1996, reported as referring to Clinton's accuser Paula Jones and her charge that President Clinton had sexually assaulted her, but Carville insisted he meant Gennifer Flowers
* Remarking about the 1992 Election.
Republicans now have their own network on Fox, so guys who don't like to answer questions, like Trent Lott, have a place to go to hit softballs.
Back in 2000 a Republican friend warned me that if I voted for Al Gore and he won, the stock market would tank, we'd lose millions of jobs, and our military would be totally overstretched. You know what? I did vote for Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true!
But one of Clinton's problems was, the interest groups don't care about the working poor. The Republicans don't care about the working poor — they don't know any. The Op-Ed writers don't care about the working poor. The editorial writers don't care about the working poor. The talking heads don't care about the working poor.
Don't get mad. Don't get even. Just get elected, then get even.
Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park, you never know what you'll find.
Republicans want smaller government for the same reason crooks want fewer cops: it's easier to get away with murder.
We didn't find the key to the electoral lock...we just picked it.
What I'm suggesting is, stand for yourself, be for something and the hell with it. Because the hand-wringers and the editorialists and the sigh-and-pontificate crowd will be against you, whatever you do.
When your opponent is drowning, throw the son of a bitch an anvil.
Whenever I hear a campaign talk about a need to energize the base, that's a campaign that's going down the toilet. It's a pretty good indication that they're not eating up any territory, they can't get anybody in the center to support them, they're getting shelled back into their own bunker.
You show me a winner and I'll show you someone who's lost a lot, You show me someone who's never lost and you show me a loser - someone who's never tried. The more a person wants to succeed in life and the bigger they dream, the more likely they are to fail.
Between Paoli (one of Philadelphia's westernmost suburbs) and Penn Hills (one of Pittsburgh's easternmost suburbs), Pennsylvania is Alabama without the blacks. They didn't film "The Deerhunter" there for nothing -- the state has the second-highest concentration of NRA members, behind Texas.
- Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh on one end, Philadelphia on the other, and Alabama in between. (Alternate)
- Pennsylvania is Pittsburgh and Philadelphia with Alabama stuffed between them. (Alternate)
- During the 1992 presidential campaign, Democratic political consultant James Carville described Pennsylvania as "Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, with Alabama in between."
- Pennsylvania is "two cities separated by Alabama."

Quoternity