Carville Knocks Politico Reporter: "I Don't Know If I'd Know Ben Smith If He Fell On Me"

James Carville appeared on CNN Friday night to talk with Anderson Cooper about just how behind Obama the Clintons really are. During the discussion Cooper read a quote from an article by Ben Smith (or, as Cooper accidentally referred to him, Ben Stein!) of Politico about how Bill and Hillary's legacy rests on the perception that they are supporting the first African-American candidate. And how did Carville respond? Never one to resist putting someone down, Carville seemingly dismissed Smith's argument by saying he had no idea who the accomplished and influential political reporter was, albeit in more colorful terms.

Watch the clip.

CNN

Comments

[djork]

Good God! Won't this cretin please take his grotesque wife's grizzled claw and both climb back under the rock from whence they scuttled?

[who38]

Ben Smith would never fall on Carville; can you imagine touching James? Yuck!

[Balzac]

James Carville should just go have a good cry.

[ranch111]

Hey baldie, you are a hacker's hack. Your candidate lost. Fail.

[kellygrrrl]

hey, I know

maybe if no one ever talks to kKkarl or Carville -- they won't actually exist

[kellygrrrl]

****

James Who?

****

[DaOne]

Ben Smith is Hillarys lap dog. He's a hack!

[hillaryj]

I wouldn't either................that is just James being James!
Love that guy, he tells it like it is!!!!

[ErinBerin84]

While I do think that James Carville and Mary Matalin are sort of the Gomez and Morticia of politics, Ben Smith is a joke of a journalist who is always trying to stir up controversey ( the Huffington Post sometimes does this too, I must admit, but the MSM is always using Poltico like it is a source and they largely ignore the Huffingto Post on the legitimate reporting that they do.)

[NoahVail]

I wish some reporter could write a piece about this election without using the words "African American" or "black", and without focusing on some aspect of race. I am sick of rehashing and rehashing all my long dead parents arguments about why blacks can't do this or that. Why not talk about his hat size or his shoe size?

[LadyTee]

NoahVail.

I am in total agreement with you and sincerely appreciated reading your blog. It's one of the most intelligent post I've seen on this site in quite a while. Thank you for your input on this subject.

[GeorgeKaplan]

Because this is America. And for better or worse race seems to be THE issue in our culture. In politics I think its the issue of pollsters. They break us up into all these groups; white and black young and old north and south. And people who run for office get up everyday and read theses polls.

[presto]

I love James. He's smart. He's astute. He's colorful. And he drives everyone here nuts.

[Roomer]

Why the fcuk is d0uche a bad word huffpo?

Ben Smith is a total d0uche.

Politico was founded in Jan 2007.

Ben Smith is a conservative hack assigned to cover the Dem primaries. He is a Hillary shill. He uses incendiary language when writing about Obama. He covers Hillary glowingly.

Somehow Politico got instant credibility.

Can HuffPo criticize Politico?

[AdamND]

He misleads leaders with his article titles. He rarely writes anything negative about McCain. His whole blog postings on Poloticlo are all mostly negative obama postings.

Since the primaries got heated up polotico has mostly negativly covered Obama. If you ever vis Visit their site a fewe times a day you notice 89% of their headline stories are about Obama and they are rarely good.

[kellygrrrl]

they can ... but we can't

just like all the words they can print in headline but you cannot include in comment

[learnsomething]

He covers Hellary glowingly, because she is one of them. .

She even fights like a RepubliCon. Look how dirty she fought her contest. True RepubliCon-style.

[paixa3]

I think they are becoming PURITANS...........yeeks, bad news.

[OxyCon]

I find it very disgusting that after Obama deliberately painted the Clintons as racists and turned the AA community against them that somehow now the Clintons have to kiss his tush so the AA will love them again.
Baloney.
That's like a wifebeater telling his wife that he'll love her again if she makes him a nice dinner right after he beats her up.
Obama needs to publicly apologize to the Clintons and declare that he does not think they are racists so that prominent members of the AA community will stop vilifying them, because I can tell you that this is setting race relations back whenever a Dick Gregory or a Rev Wright gets a standing ovation for their revolting anti-Clinton attacks.
Sure the Clinton haters take delight in them, but those people aren't right in the head to begin with.

[Cay]

You sound like a concern troll to me.

[EosBlue]

What are you smoking this morning? I'd like some myself.

[presto]

I agree. That is a very hard thing to get past.

[KMan1]

Okay I'll bite. When exactly did Obama paint the Clintons as racists. I am very serious please give me examples TIA.

[mshazen]

His campaign immediately complained Clinton used the race card. Drove that statement over and over again.

The MSM took it from there.

That is the problem a person says something, this happened to both sides the comments is taken out of context or maybe it was the wrong thing to say in the first place. Even if the person tries to explain the MSM takes and runs with it leaving parts of the statement out to make it more divisive.

I suggest people take what they read and what they hear on TV with a big grain of salt.

This is not about the Clintons vs. Obama anymore get over it and the CLinton haters are far from a fringe group do you read HP.

You might not like James because he supported HIllary but at least he is on the MSM and he will be defending Obama from here on out and believe me we will need it. He is one of the few that doesn't let the repub on over talk him and he usually gets his point across.

[YankeeCanuck]

Clinton haters are a fringe group. Nobody cares about them. Your comments, though are fantastical, melodramatic and verge on the abusive.
Reconciliation is what we would be reaching for no matter who was the nominee.
No need to be so angry.Whatever role HRC takes on in the next administration it will e an important one.It's time to move ahead with the present reality.
Peace.

[shafqat]

Why is this even news. Crville is known for mindless blabbering and huffpo should not dignify his rants by covering them.

Also Ben Smith is the most biased blogger; he was in Hillary's camp and slanted almost every post in her favor or found ways to diminish Obama at every step.

Hopefully HuffPost will not waste its energies on such trivia.

[presto]

You, on the other hand, have not a shred of bias. Nor do you blabber or rant. Obviously Huffpost will engage in trivia. It is an open (sometimes) dialog.

[ThePodiumIsMine]

Carville was the darling of the left when he was slashing and burning for the Dems, tactics that make Rove look like a PTA member. Of course in the 'tard mind there was never a political operative before the Great Rove came along to make the 'tards pee their panties. Turns out Rove was better at tactics while remaining more ethical, this drives the glueHuffers to such a frenzy they scream for concentration camps and murder for conservatives. Of course the 'tards want someone else to do the rounding up and killing, what with lefties being chickenhawks and all.

[Harrygton]

Do you have a day job?! Get a life... the Repugs are heading in the same direction as the Dodo and you are squawking like one!

[allonfla]

"Turns out Rove was better at tactics while remaining more ethical,"

More ethical? Seriously? Hasn't his tactics brought about a possible arrest for allegedly setting up the Democrat gov. of Alabama?