James Carville sounded a little nervous, maybe even a little scared.
Okay, maybe not that much. But he was getting ready to be roasted as part of the Kennedy Center’s District of Comedy Festival that night, June 23, and the stellar lineup of roasters was such that it could work up a sweat in any man, especially when it includes Bob Saget, whose notoriety as a roaster is, well, notorious. Especially when it includes the Reverend Al Sharpton, not to mention Triumph the Insult Dog, another strategist, Paul Begala, the inimitable Tucker Carlson, comedian C.D. Hughley, Hari Kondabolu, sportster Tony Kornheiser, actor Jim Norton, Jeff Ross and television reporter Luke Russert.
Especially when it includes your wife.
“I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen, so yeah, it could get a little dicey,” said Carville, the Democratic campaign strategist and Democratic Party notable whose biggest success came when he guided the campaign of a little known Arkansas governor named Bill Clinton right to the presidency in 1992. “I guess there’s a little humiliation involved and the language may be a little rough. I mean, people are going to be laughing at me tonight.”
His growly voice, with that familiar Louisiana soft accent, is readily familiar over the phone. “I imagine she’ll have something to say, it will be interesting” — “she” being Mary Matalin, a former Republican campaign consultant for George W. Bush. “We’ve been married almost 23 years,” he said. “There’s some things I haven’t changed through that time: my wife, and my love and respect for her. And my sexual orientation.”
“The girls are going to be there,” he said. “They’re part of their generation, so I imagine they’re not going to be that shocked.”
“You know, this is all in good fun,” he said. “Even with politics, and maybe especially with politics. Politics and politicians, they’re natural things to make fun of. Politicians are not naturally sympathetic or popular, they’re always out there talking and trying to get things from people or get people to do things. There’s just a natural connection to comedy — sarcasm, ridicule, wit. People, some of them famous like Mark Twain, have made careers out of lampooning politicians.”
Carville, of course, has made a pretty good career out of politics, as a strategist, a writer, a commentator, especially on the Clinton campaign, where he coined the immortal phrase “It’s the economy, stupid.” He and his wife were famous for their political differences, which they discussed on television. “I mean we still have them, and we disagree, and then it’s done. I think we’ve done very well in sorting out things like that. We respect and love each other. But if I’ve learned one thing, it’s that you’re not going to change it’s each other.”
“You know that term, strategist, it’s gotten overused with time, like anything else. You email some campaign guy in New Hampshire, and next thing you know, you’re a strategist.” But Carville has worked overseas with Tony Blair and in Afghanistan electoral campaigns.
We asked him if missed being in the game. “Well, you’re never completely out of it. I mean, somebody always wants you to talk about it, to opine about it. But in terms of the actual campaigns, I want to say, yes, but you know. The answer is no. I don’t really miss it.”
As far as presidential politics, 2016. “Never seen anything like it , not ever,” he said. “I don’t think anybody saw that coming. It’s pretty funny, too. And I give Trump credit, he knows how to work a line, that kind of thing. But he is funny, just the whole thing. What he says, how he acts, how he looks.”
“As far as the effect, oh, we’ll be just fine. I think America’s survived a depression, a world war, another war, victory and defeat, we’ll be okay after this too.”
And then he was off. “I gotta run to the Kennedy Center and get ready.” We’re pretty sure he’ll be ready and give as good as he gets. But that insult dog, he could be a problem.
