James
Carville on Thursday appeared on Good Morning America to discuss
Tuesday's Republican landslide, but faced no questions about his
erroneous prediction that Democrats would enjoy 40 years of dominance.
On May 4, 2009, Carville stopped by GMA to tout 40 More Years: How the
Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation, his book on the subject. An ABC
Graphic hyped, "Democrats 1932-1968, Republicans 1968-2008, Democrats 2008-2048?"
In light of massive GOP victories, Stephanopoulos also could have
questioned his friend about a quip from the 2009 appearance: "...These
tea baggers, they turned everybody off. There were a bunch of like
75-year-old cranky white guys mad at everything. It just couldn't have
been a better event for the Democratic Party. I hope they come back and tea bag some more."
This
Carville quote doesn't hold up to scrutiny: "Every growing demographic
is trending Democratic and I think we're probably on the verge of
another 40-year era of party dominance here."
Rather than bring up any of these embarrassing predictions,
Stephanopoulos tried to find an upside for Barack Obama. He theorized,
"But, could having Congress change hands be good for the President, good
for the party in the long run?"
The host lamented a call by Republican Mitch McConnell to defeat the
President in 2012: "I was struck by, you know, Senator Mitch McConnell,
the Republican leader in the Senate, before the election, said the
number one job would be to deny President Obama a second term. He's not
backing off that at all."
Interestingly, Stephanopoulos did bring up Carville's poor prediction on January 25, 2010 [1].
A transcript of the November 4 segment, which aired at 7:10am EDT, follows:
- Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center. Click here [2] to follow him on Twitter.GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: We're going to get more into how divided government will work or won't work. We're going to talk to Tea Party leader Dick Armey, who is chairman of FreedomWorks and the author of Give Us Liberty: A Tea Party Manifesto. And here in the studio, Democratic strategist, James Carville. And James, I want to begin with showing your double on Saturday Night Live, talking about the prospect of a Republican House.
"JAMES CARVILLE" ON SNL: Let them have the House. I mean, have you ever seen the House of Representative. Good riddance. Have you ever seen the House of Representatives? It's like a waiting room for jury duty. When you see the House on C-SPAN, it's like a family reunion that's only weird uncles.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, you were joking there. But, could having Congress change hands be good for the President, good for the party in the long run?
CARVILLE: I don't feel like it today. Congratulations to former Congressman Army who was instrumental in starting this Tea Party thing, which had a lot to do with this. It may be. But there's not going to be a lot of common ground. And whatever side gets its, sort of, sea legs first and is able to adjust, it will be a really, really new reality in Washington will be more successful. There's some reasons why the White House can. It's more unified. It's easier to do. The Republicans are going to be spread. There's going to be so many things. I would like to announce my endorsement of Michele Bachmann for that position. I'd like to see her out there for sure.
STEPHANOPOULOS: I take it that you may second that endorsement of Ms. Bachmann. Let's get to some of the policies though, as well. James says he doesn't think there's a lot of prospects for common ground. I was struck by, you know, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, before the election, said the number one job would be to deny President Obama a second term. He's not backing off that at all. He's going to give a speech later today where he repeats that and says, quote, "If our primary legislative goals are to repeal and replace the health spending bill, to end the bailouts, cut spending and shrink the size and scope of government, the only way to do all these things is to put someone in the White House who won't veto any of these things." Is that the right approach right now?
DICK ARMEY: Well, Let me say, first of all, I think we've got a really good leadership team. And quite frankly, I was surprised to hear you characterize Jeb Hensarling as an establishment guy. This is a candidate that gave the best expressions of opposition and the most depth, deeply analytical terms to TARP and to the banking reform bill. He's got a very bright mind. He's very deep. And the reason he's on the TARP commission, was he was the best voice in opposition to it. So, the fact is, this is not an insider. This is not an establishment guy. He's a very bright and able person. And it's going to be a good contest for good leadership slots. Now, what you see with this leadership team is what I call quiet competence. John Boehner is not an easy guy. He doesn't need a lot of attention. He will quietly and quickly focus resources and resourcefulness on problems and directions. And he's got a proven ability to work with even the most militant people on the other side, such as George Miller.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, the President signaled that he might be willing to compromise on tax cuts yesterday. If he extends, is willing to extend tax cuts for the wealthy for a year, is that something that's acceptable?
ARMEY: Well, obviously, I think what you do with this, understand the dilemma they have in dealing with this in a lame duck session, it must be dealt with in this session, is that when the votes in the House were a full extension of the tax package, Nancy Pelosi would not allow the vote to be taken. The fact of the matter, this hasn't changed. It's probably gone more in the direction of the package that it gives full extension, is what will pass the House. You don't have time to quibble about this a whole lot. My guess is that would then be quickly taken up by the Senate and passed on to the President. So, the President said I'm perfectly willing to talk about what I know I'm going to get anyway.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And, James, what we'll see is the President trying to work something out on taxes. Clearly going to draw a line on health care. That's a clear difference from Speaker-to-be Boehner, from Mitch McConnell, as well. So, where can they find the common ground?
CARVILLE: Earmarks. The SALT treaty with Russia. I have no idea. The stuff that we've shown, school nutrition, or something, seems like small potatoes to me in the middle of a recession, with all of if problems we have. Maybe if they can find two or three small things they can agree on, it will come to something else. They're going to have to agree on a budget. Some things, the business of government has to go on. We were discussing yesterday, they're going to have to find agreement on this debt ceiling which is going to be a huge issue when it comes up.
STEPHANOPOULOS: If they don't raise the debt ceiling, the entire government can go into default. Is that one of the places where republicans will hold the line, Mr. Armey?
ARMEY: Well, I think everybody is realistically aware of that. The debt ceiling must be raised. And that a fact that derived from past fiscal improvements. I would think with the small government conservatives in the Congress would say is, all right. We'll go work with you on this. But we do need to have some demonstration on your part of a renewed commitment to fiscal responsibility going forward.
