James Carville
You know there's nothing a Hill Democrat would rather do than criticize another Democrat. It is their favorite activity. Then they can read about how honorable they are in an Op-Ed piece, how bipartisan.
Most of the stuff I've ever said is pretty insignificant and, by and large, has been said off the cuff and without much thought to the potential consequences.
I believe that loyalty is a cardinal virtue. Nowhere in the world is loyalty so little revered and tittle-tattle so greatly venerated as in Washington.
I was a little-known political consultant until Bill Clinton made me. When he came upon hard times, I felt it my duty - whatever my personal misgivings - to stick by him.
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.'
Punditry is like weather forecasting: the winds can shift without warning. I remember when nobody would bet a McDonald's Quarter Pounder that Bill Clinton would win the White House.
I had a remarkably happy childhood; whatever scars I have are self-inflicted.
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.
When you run for president, and become president, they just rip you apart. Every facade of privacy that you have is gone. I think everybody believes that, to some extent, you can maintain privacy. And I think in the end, everybody gets proven wrong.
The voter is basically dumb and lazy. The reason I became a Democratic operative instead of a Republican was because there were more Democrats that didn’t have a clue than there were Republicans.Collection: Dumb
Truth is relative. Truth is what you can make the voter believe is the truth. If you're smart enough, truth is what you make the voter think it is. That's why I'm a Democrat. I can make the Democratic voters think whatever I want them to.Collection: Truth
Republicans want smaller government for the same reason crooks want fewer cops; it's easier to get away with murder.Collection: Government
I used to think that if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the President or the Pope or as a 400 basball hitter. But now I would like to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate everybody.Collection: Baseball
Don't get mad. Don't get even. Just get elected, then get even.Collection: Mad
If Hillary gave up one of her balls and gave it to Obama, he'd have two.Collection: Two
What's the real difference between Republicans and Democrats? Let me tell ya the real difference ... Republicans will always take on people in the interest of power and good democrats will never fear to take on the power in the interests of people.Collection: Real
Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between.Collection: Philadelphia
Winning an argument with your wife is like winning the war with Iraq. Once you win, you're in even more trouble.Collection: War
When the facts change, you change your mind. I know that is a hard concept for people to get sometimes.Collection: People
You know, back in 2000 a Republican friend of mine 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 Al Gore, he did win, and I'll be damned if all those things didn't come true.Collection: Jobs
There's a simple doctrine. Outside of a person's love the most sacred thing they can give is their labor. Labor is a very precious thing you have and any time you can combined labor and love you've really made a match.Collection: Love You
Washington is a dirty diaper. It's time for a change.Collection: Dirty
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.Collection: Hands
American democracy is really under attack here [Clinton campaign that was hacked]. And the question is how are we and in particular and how are Democrats going to respond to this. We have to understand this is really, really quite extraordinary. And it would seem to me that the FBI shouldn't be getting rolled by the House Republicans and that's what happened here.Collection: House
I didn’t just experiment with marijuana – if you know what I mean.Collection: Mean
Sometimes a mind is like a mouth: you just got to shut it.Collection: Mind
If you say three things, you don't say anything.Collection: Say Anything
Never underestimate people.Collection: People
[Hollywood] hates America.Collection: Hate
Republicans now have their own network in Fox, so guys who don't like to answer questions, like Trent Lott, have a place to go to hit softballs.Collection: Softball
I think this an outrage and I think the fact that the KGB is involved in this election [2016] is an outrage and I think the American people ought to take their democracy back regardless of what the press wants to do and the excuses they want to make for [James] Comey. That's what I think.Collection: Thinking
As we know the KGB is all over this election [2016].Collection: Kgb
We ought to be talking about our democracy being under assault right now and what we're going to do about it and not what somebody said in July about James Comey. That's a distraction, that's not what's going on.Collection: Talking
What does he stand for?Collection: Stupid
Am I surprised that Joe Klein [pseudonymous author of Primary Colors which he denied writing] lied? No, because in my opinion reporters lie all the time.Collection: Lying
It's hard to think that you're a political consultant - not many people are going to get a crack at a thing like this.Collection: Thinking
The country feels like it's entitled to abuse this state and forget about us, and we are sick of it.Collection: Country
You don't need a guidebook to see New Orleans - just a good pair of shoes.Collection: New Orleans
This is not class warfare, this is generational warfare. This administration and old wealthy people have declared war on young people. That is the real war that is going on here. And that is the war we've got to talk about.Collection: Real
All the wrong people are against it, so it must be right.Collection: People
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.Collection: New Orleans
[ James Comey] was acting in concert and coordination with the House Republicans. End of story. He gave a letter to them. They gave it to FOX News. Also, we have this extraordinary case of the KGB being involved in this race and selectively leaking things from the [Hillary] Clinton campaign that they hacked.Collection: Race
You are sitting here defending an assault on American democracy. Somebody probably said nice things about anybody at a given point. This is an unprecedented event that was done at the behest of the House Republicans that was leaked to the press by the House Republicans.Collection: Nice
The only politician in America I know with a man-date is Jim McGreevey.Collection: Men
They seem to be getting it together. How much damage will the picture of people spending four or five days on rooftops do That depends on how well it goes from here on out.Collection: People
I've never seen a candidate - I've never seen a human being - who, with the most limited briefing, can understand the dimensions, the parameters, the nuances of everything of any kind of a policy or political problem.Collection: Political
People have to decide do we want our country for ourselves with the people in charge or are we going to elect the the KGB and the House Republicans to decide this election [2016].Collection: Country
There is nothing going on and in the meantime we do know that our democracy is under assault by the KGB. To me, that's something we ought to be talking about. That's a relevant issue in this campaign [2016].Collection: Kgb
I think the American people ought to take their democracy back.Collection: Thinking