I Met Carville and Matalin Last Night
Fri Nov 04, 2005 at 07:40:58 AM PDT
I had the pleasure to spend time with James Carville and Mary Matalin last night at a benefit for the Red Cross here in Cincinnati and I thought I would pass along my impressions of the night to everyone here.
The night had three components: A VIP reception, speeches by each of them to the general audience, and a cocktail hour at a local bar following the speech.
A friend of mine called me earlier in the week and offered me a VIP ticket to all of these events. I couldn't pass an offer like that up and quickly accepted. Who wouldn't want to meet these people in person? This is what I discovered:
James Carville is absolutely hilarious. One of the funniest people I have ever met. I always found him funny on television, but he was even better in person interacting with people one on one. I spent about half an hour taking with him during the reception and he was very easygoing and quick to crack a joke with everyone there. He also loves his new found fame as a "movie star" since his appearance in Old School. He was telling us how much he likes doing movies and told us about the new film he is producing, a remake of
"All the King's Men". The cast and director that Carville was able to put together is amazing. I'm really looking forward to this when it comes out next year.
We also discussed some of the recent political events, including the indictment of Libby. His thoughts on the matter were that he couldn't understand why these officials could get so wrapped up in events that they felt they had to lie to investigators. Eventually it all comes out and they get hit with it worse than if they had come clean to begin with. He did say that he felt they were now in hot water though and that 2006 was going to be a great year for the Democrats.
I met Mary Matalin breifly during the reception, but didn't talk to her much at all. She seemed much warmer and friendlier in that setting than she did later on during her public speech.
Speaking of that speech, Matalin spoke first and her speech focused on a mix of good natured ribbing of her husband (which he played into throughout the night) and a defense of "Conservatism" (which she distinguished from "Republican"). She warned against the usefulness of polling in most circumstances, stating that driving Bush's poll numbers down wasn't going to be enough for Democrats to win unless they offered up something of their own for people to vote for. Asking people to vote against something rarely works unless you can offer them something else to vote for. She chronicled the rise of conservative politics and argued that recent events weren't as damaging to the party as they might seem. I didn't buy the argument, but I thought she at least was able to put forth an intelligent disucssion of the matter.
Carville's speech was far less focused on the partisan divide and allowed him to win over a good portion of the audience in a very red portion of the country. His main issue was engagement and he warned that we need to remain enganged at every level because what politicians do matters greatly in everyday life. He said complaining about things you dislike was worthless unless you find a candidate you support and take action on his behalf. He was worried that the American public generally was becoming disengaged with politics and needed to rejoin the debate.
Carville ended his speech with a story I found very inspirational. He said that to truly judge a naton's greatness, you need to look at its actions during its lowest point. Carville pointed to 1862 as the lowest point in American history. It was at this point, while the Union was suffering defeat after defeat on the battlefield, Rep. Morrill of VT pushed a bill through setting aside land grants for states to establish universities. Carville pointed out that these land grant universities produced more Nobel prize winners than all of the European universities combined. His point was that even during our darkest times, we need to remain focused on our ideals and take care of our future.
All in all, I was very impressed by both speakers and throughly enjoyed my discussion with Carville.
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