James Carville to Alabama Democrats: Hillary's Emails and Benghazi "turned out to be nothin
By Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com AL.com
Montgomery, AL
Whether a coincidence or a sign of respect to the audience, James Carville covered up the LSU logo on his brown pullover with a Hillary Clinton campaign sticker on Saturday, hours before the Ragin' Cajun's beloved Tigers were to kick off against Alabama.
Carville, the Democratic strategist who helped elect then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton in 1992, is one of Hillary's staunchest defenders, and he was in Montgomery to speak before the Alabama Democratic Party's Yellow Dog luncheon to drum up support for the former secretary of state. He argued that conservatives are launching the same baseless attacks to try and damage her in the same way they did to her husband.
"They make up everything because they got beat and they couldn't stand it," Carville said. "Then they tried to impeach and people didn't flinch. So, the secretary's right. Next thing you know, it's Benghazi, it's Benghazi, Benghazi, oh Benghazi. Of course, that turned out to be nothing. Then there was the emails, and that turns out to be nothing. There's this woman from Alabama asking, 'Were you home alone that night?'"
Carville was referring to Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, who was criticized for her questioning of Clinton.
Bill Clinton's top strategist said Hillary has a stone jaw that can stand up to conservative attacks to make the case that she should be the Democratic nominee and president in November 2016. He also referenced her connections to the South.
"She understands what going on in this world. She understands what's going on in this part of the country. She was the first lady of Arkansas. She knows the challenges that we face," Carville said. "She knows the stuff about Medicaid expansion that you were talking about. She knows about the educational challenges that these young people were talking about. She understands that, but just as important, she knows how to fight. She knows how to stay in there. She knows how to take it. She knows how to win."
The Benghazi hearings brought out her toughness, Carville argued, adding that the Republicans looked weak when complaining about debate questions.
"You saw what they did to her. You saw that," he said of the hearing. "And then the Republicans are whining about they got to debate for two hours. They don't like the questions they [the media] ask. Well, sit down in that chair and have these idiots [the Benghazi committee] ask you questions for 11 hours."
Carville attacked Republican candidates like Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who he suggested doesn't care about the middle class.
"You've got children in Alabama that got toothaches and cleft palates and leukemia that can't get a lick of health care and they're talking about giving $92 billion to the 400 richest people in America," he said, referring to Rubio's tax plan. "And if you say something, they say it's class warfare. You're sitting here – you got schools, you got people that need opportunity, you got people that need skills, you got people that are trying to compete, you got people that want to make something out of their lives, and what are we doing? That's the challenge that we have."
At the end of his roughly 10-minute speech, Carville took off the Hillary sticker, ran off the stage and jetted to a waiting car to catch the game.
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