Renowned Democratic strategist James Carville vigorously defended himself when a CNN host questioned his claim earlier this year that “female preachers” are ruining the party.
Carville, 79, told a reporter in March that these women have become authoritarian in telling people how to live their lives, calling their overall message “too feminine.”
CNN anchor Sara Snider said he had been “criticized” for the comment and asked if the Democratic convention featuring “strong women” like Kamala Harris, Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton had led to him receiving more backlash.
Carville stated bluntly: “I don’t care.”
He added that he sees himself as a “provocateur” trying to get people’s attention to help solve Democrats’ problems, especially with white male voters.
Renowned Democratic strategist James Carville vigorously defended himself when a CNN host questioned his claim earlier this year that “female preachers” are ruining the party.
CNN anchor Sara Snider (pictured) asked her if she had experienced any backlash to the comment.
“How do I do it? Do I tell Maureen Dowd of the New York Times that a careful analysis of the regression group indicates that we didn’t have enough support among American men? Nobody will remember that,” Carville said.
“So if I say something like, ‘Our culture has too many women preachers,’ you know what? Everybody remembers that. And I don’t care,” she added.
After brushing off Snider’s question, he went on to say some nice things about Harris’s campaign.
“I think the vice president’s campaign was listening to what people like me were saying, that the party’s message needed to have a little bit more masculine language, contrast and male examples,” Carville said.
He said the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as his running mate was a sign that he had been heard.
“That’s one of the things that really interests me, and I think we’re achieving that at this convention.”
Carville, the man credited with winning Bill Clinton’s 1992 election, made waves when he spoke to Dowd in March 2024, when Joe Biden was still campaigning.
Despite his general approval of the incumbent president, Carville said he suspected there were too many “female preachers” in the party.
Carville, the man credited with masterminding Bill Clinton’s 1992 election victory, made waves when he spoke to Dowd in March 2024, when Joe Biden was still campaigning.
Carville (right) was an advisor to both Bill Clinton’s (right) 1992 presidential campaign and his wife Hillary Clinton’s (right) 2008 primary campaign.
And he added mockingly: “Don’t drink beer, don’t watch football, don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you. The message is too feminine.”
Carville appeared to be attacking “The Squad,” a group of Democratic members who are seen as being on the left side of the party.
Members include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib.
On top of that, he also complained that “progressive things are killing us” and that the left was speaking in a language that Americans did not understand.
In one anecdote, he talked about his time as a professor at Louisiana State University, and heard how one of his students had gotten into her dream school to work on an advanced degree.
Wanting to toast her, he recalled to the outlet: ‘I was given a $25 bottle of champagne and four plastic glasses, and I told the students, ‘Okay. You’re not getting out of James Carville’s class unless you know how to properly open a bottle of champagne.’
“This is what you’re gonna do. Don’t blow it up like in the movies because you’ll poke someone’s eye out.
‘Remove the aluminum foil. Now you’re going to take a kitchen towel and perform the classic counter-clockwise movement.
“The bottle will go one way, the cork the other. You just carefully pull it out and the sound you’re looking for is the sigh of a satisfied woman.”
Carville added: ‘The following Tuesday, the dean came into my office and said, ‘I’m going to close the door. We need to talk. A student had complained about the queue for sighs.’
She told the outlet she wanted to tell the dean, “Your boyfriend has never heard that sound,” but replied, “I’ll try my best to do better.”