James Carville is, by the way, a gutless coward.
Via Hot Air, the explicit quote:
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, just minutes before learning of the terrorist attacks on America, Democratic strategist James Carville was hoping for President Bush to fail, telling a group of Washington reporters: “I certainly hope he doesn’t succeed.”
[snip*]
Minutes later, as news of the terrorist attacks reached the hotel conference room where the Democrats were having breakfast with the reporters, Carville announced: “Disregard everything we just said! This changes everything!”
We’ll hold up the inevitable knee-jerk defenses of Carville here – which will probably not start until 8:46 AM tomorrow morning – with a tart comment that hypocrisy is not going to cut it this time. If Carville is to be allowed to use the defense that he merely wished for Bush’s policies to fail, than so should Limbaugh; contrariwise, if Limbaugh’s comments are simply unacceptable, any time, any place, and with no mitigation, then Carville’s must be treated similarly. And Carville is assuredly aware of how that comment would have played out: the way he begged the reporters to not repeat that suddenly-inflammatory statement is diagnostic. So is the way that they covered up Carville’s mess, but never mind that right now. Continue reading James Carville explicitly expressed a wish for Bush to fail.