James Carville

Lawyer

1944-10-25

Quotes by James Carville

• When I was wrong about the 2002 elections, I dumped a garbage can on my head. When my John Kerry prediction didn't pan out in 2004, I smashed an egg on my face.

  Read quote

• As with mosquitoes, horseflies, and most bloodsucking parasites, Kenneth Starr was spawned in stagnant water.

  Read quote

• I grew up in a French-dominated Catholic part of the country. I was an altar boy. I went to Catholic school. I have a cousin who is a priest - it's part of my DNA. It's kind of hard to separate me from the church, to try to say where one starts and the other stops.

  Read quote

• My mother, Ms. Nippy Carville, was a woman of many talents.

  Read quote

• I've had enough of giving millionaires like Dick Cheney and myself tax breaks and giving America's kids a mountain of debt.

  Read quote

• The teachings of the Church line up more with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

  Read quote

• I made the argument that every growing demographic in this country - nonwhite voters, younger people - is trending Democratic. It's a ticking time bomb for the GOP. That's why I felt safe in saying that 'Republicans have no hope of making serious inroads into Democratic advantages in 2010 or likely 2012 or 2014 and so on.'

  Read quote

• If a statesman is one who looks to the next generation and a politician one who looks to the next election, a political consultant must be one who looks to the next tracking poll.

  Read quote

• Drag a $100 bill through a trailer camp and there's no telling what you will find.

  Read quote

• Democratic strategists and operatives should not design a strategy based off today's conditions. They should be setting a strategy for where the trajectory of polling is headed.

  Read quote

• Politics is a rough and tumble business, and yet there seems to be an effort by the commentariat to sanitise American politics to some type of high-level Victorian debating society.

  Read quote

• I would describe myself as having a healthy income, but I sure wouldn't describe the son of a postmaster and an encyclopedia saleswoman as upper class, by any stretch of the imagination. I would describe myself as decidedly middle class. I think I'm extremely fortunate.

  Read quote

• This idea that somehow or another, every idea on its face, because it's an idea, has some validity is ludicrous.

  Read quote

• During my time as a political strategist, one of the most vexing problems was figuring out why so many people vote against their perceived interests.

  Read quote

• I'm not sure the people who are voting for Trump want to be pulled together with the people who are voting for Clinton and vice versa.

  Read quote

• I've worked on enough campaigns to know that the most aggrieved candidate rarely emerges victorious.

  Read quote

• In 1992, the most treasured voter was a voter that would sort of swing back and forth, one that might vote for Republican for president, Democrat for governor. The voter that didn't have that strong of a partisan ID. These were the voters that we targeted.

  Read quote

• Some of these people think the universe is five thousand years old, and they say it with a straight face. If somebody had an explanation saying why they thought the earth was five thousand years old, there's only two possible explanations: you're really stupid, or you're really cynical and trying to get really stupid people's votes.

  Read quote

• Some comments are within bounds, while some are not. But by whining about every little barb, candidates are trying to win the election through a war of staff resignation attrition, and Americans are losing the ability to distinguish between what is fair game and what is not.

  Read quote

• The only person that ever stumbles is a guy moving forward. You don't stumble backwards; you stumble forward, and you never stumble when you're stationary. So don't worry about stumbling. Keep pushing it forward.

  Read quote