The Ragin’ Cajun James Carville is a lot of things. He’s a brilliant and passionate Democrat strategist, the perfect crotchety guest to explain the political process, and one who stores an encyclopedic knowledge of political science in theory and history eclipsing any other on the left side of the aisle. But now, according to the woke progressives, you can add grumpy old misogynist to the list.
In his usual blunt delivery, Carville let fly a gem of analysis on why Biden is underwater in the polls. “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 told NYT political columnist Maureen Dowd. “The message is too feminine: ‘Everything you’re doing is destroying the planet. You’ve got to eat your peas.'” Then he took a shot at NPR:
“If you listen to Democratic elites — NPR is my go-to place for that — the whole talk is about how women, and women of color, are going to decide this election. I’m like: ‘Well, 48 percent of the people that vote are males. Do you mind if they have some consideration?'”
This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Democratic Party
Back in the day, Carville was a kingmaker. More specifically, his political insider thinking and strategies are why a little-known governor from a southern state with a sketchy – at best – reputation was elected president in 1992. Bill Clinton was an affable potential candidate who was just waiting on the guidance of someone like Carville.
During the presidential campaign of 1992, Carville coined a phrase used by both dominant parties today: “It’s the economy, stupid.” The Democratic Party was still considered the “party of the people” and could actually win votes from, gasp, white men in blue collar jobs in predominantly red states. Clinton was advised to leave his ambitious wife in the kitchen wearing an apron for housewife optics.
But then came the election of 2008. Women were close to being on the top ballot when Barack Obama came in and stole the thunder to break a glass ceiling of his own. The deal was made to keep Hillary metaphorically in the kitchen. But creating a world that caters to women, becoming woke in societal situations, and passing LGBTQ+ laws soon became the Democratic Party’s raison d’être. Somewhere in the chaos of the 2016 election and tumultuous 2020, Carville forgot where he was and tried to reverse course to 1992, those happy days when you could be a sexist jerk and not get fired for rude and lascivious words and behaviors.
James Carville (Photo by MEGA/GC Images)
Carville has said some contentious things in his time. Now he has some women disgusted and triggered, while still others know he is simply the Ragin’ Cajun spewing the truth. In Dowd’s interview, he commented that reading Biden’s basement polling numbers was akin to “walking in on your grandma naked. You can’t get the image out of your mind.”
Fox News’ The Big Weekend devoted an entire segment to the interview. Co-host Kat Timpf was triggered. “Like … I’m sorry, but calling women females, like, ‘these females’ – stop. Please don’t ever do that again. He shouldn’t project that onto all the rest of us. I think that the way he made the point was absurd.”
Carville Does Not Like Trump
Carville knows that age and perception – the reality of politics – will hurt the cause of Biden’s re-election. However, his distaste for former President Trump propels him to believe the division in this country isn’t like the good old days when opposite camps could party together after the dust settled. And he is right; there doesn’t seem to be room for that anymore. “There was actually a time when people loved doing this,” he pointed out. “People would go out, they’d drink, they’d talk to everybody, they’d leak stories. Generally, when it was over, you’d go sit with the other side and have drinks together.”
Carville stops short of coddling the aged Biden in his praise of how well Trump maneuvers his political brand: “Trump’s got word salads, but he projects energy. He’s insane. He’s a criminal of the first order. But he does have a little timing and a little sense of humor and knows how to move from one story to the other,”
Carville said quite a lot, but what he didn’t mention is that the Democratic Party is the party of women. Numbers don’t lie that often, and around 60% of Democrats are women, with those of color the most loyal and devout of voters. Trump would love to add those stats to his stable of masculine followers.
The days of women staying in the kitchen baking cookies and getting supper ready for their men are long gone. But hopefully, that will not deter the Ragin’ Cajun from calling it like he sees it. After all, it just wouldn’t be a civil discourse without his incivility sprinkled in here and there to keep things interesting.
