Carville: Dems Are ‘Up Against a Wall’; Clinton and Obama Town Halls a Solution

CUOMO: “Let’s bring in somebody who’s got a much better understanding of the inside track and has a plan to get to a better place. Democratic strategist James Carville published a piece in the Times today called ‘Biden won’t win. Democrats need a plan. Here’s one.’ James, thank you very much. First, do I remember correctly you saying like a month or so ago, ‘Hey, he’s earned a second term, I’m okay with Biden.’ Have you had a change? And if so, why?”
CARVILLE: “Well, I’ve said over 18 months ago I didn’t think he should run for reelection, but if he did run and it was against Trump, I’ll be for him. I think I’ve been staggeringly consistent in all this. And if he we’re — but he’s not, but if were the nominee, of course, against Trump, I’d be for him. But its not going to happen. You know, it’s not an insider [inaudible]. 50 million people saw the so-called debate. I mean, it’s — everybody know what’s going on here. We’ve all been through it. We’ve seen our parents go through it, our grandparents, our aunts and uncles and neighbors and relatives. This is — this all a matter of time here. And the question is, how do we move forward in a short time frame we have here? That’s the only thing I’m interested in.”
CUOMO: “But you know what people are saying to you. They’re saying to you what I hear: ‘No, no, no, no. James, anything is better than Trump. I’ll take a Biden on life support. We can’t — you can’t mess with it now. There’s not enough time and we don’t have anybody we know can beat Trump except Biden.’”
CARVILLE: “All right, that’s — first of all, there are 7 people in the Democratic Party who would have a substantial — they’ve got a chance to beat Trump and President Biden. That’s just demonstratively, I’m sorry, just not true. And once we start fearing the future, then we’re dead as a political party. You can’t operate on fear. You know, Franklin Roosevelt said the leader needs to be dealing hope. Bill Clinton said a man can hope, Obama had a poster, ‘Hope.’ Jesse Jackson, ‘Keep hope alive.’ Martin Luther King, ‘I have a dream.’ Once you stop hope and you stop dreaming, you stop in your tracks. And everybody — “
CUOMO: “So how do you get him out? He is going to — he’s saying, ‘I won’t drop.’”
CARVILLE: “You know, he’s going to come to a conclusion that this is just not a good idea. And he’s going to resist it, and he’s starting to listen to his family. It’s all the same. We blame the staff, then we blame the media, then it’s the leaks in the Democratic Party. Do I look a leak? What the hell is a leak about going in rural south Louisiana and going to LSU? And this is all across the country. And understand it’s all predictable and he’s gotta go through this and he’ll get there as sooner or post to later.”
CUOMO: “Sooner or post to later? Where does your confidence come from?”
CARVILLE: “You know, Chris. I can’t — I don’t predict things. I’m just telling you it’s inevitable. He will come to the conclusion. People will get the message to him. He will understand, his family will understand. They’ll pray on it and they’ll make the right decision. I don’t have any doubt about it. But while we’re dilly-dallying around here, somebody’s gotta think about where we go from here. And that’s what I’m trying to say in the Times.”
CUOMO: “Listen, I think you’re right. I think your party went down the wrong road and they went a long way down it, and now they’ve got to figure out a new course. Do you think — do you think Clinton and Obama would agree with your idea in The New York Times today, for them to drive a town hall, a series of town halls?”
CARVILLE: “You know, better to ask forgiveness than permission. I’m just throwing an idea out there, all right? [inaudible]. I’m just trying to stimulate what we’re doing right now, to have a conversation about the future, and a future without a criminal president and a criminal Supreme Court. We have a criminal Supreme Court now. We had a criminal president, we might have one back. I want to stop that as best I can.”
CUOMO: “Just for the people at home, James wrote a piece that you can read it in the Times where he says Obama and Clinton hold a series of town halls and they pick who gets to participate in, vet the ideas in the different regions of the country so that by the time you’re into the convention, everybody has seen everybody and you can have a good vetting process and come out with a new ticket. If you had to pick a ticket today, James Carville, who is it?”
CARVILLE: “It’s not up to me to pick ticket. It’s up for the Democratic delegates — “
CUOMO: “Ah.”
CARVILLE: “I’m being Frank here! But that’s not the question. The question is, we’re up against the wall, the Democratic Party is, the United States of America is up against the wall.”