James Carville writes with the same voice and directness as he speaks:
One of the frustrating things in Washington is that you’re supposed to go around with a solemn face and argue things that are really not arguable. Among those non-argument arguments that we’re expected to have, my favorite may be creationism. Naturally I also enjoy spending endless hours cornered in debates about global warming and whether Social Security works or not. (Of course it does.)
So we sit around and pontificate on silly-ass things that have been decided a long time ago. There comes a point at which the body of evidence is so conclusive, is so overwhelming, is so definitive that even unreasonable people don’t attempt to make a contrary argument. For example, the earth is round, not flat. We accept that. There’s no less evidence that the earth is warming, no less evidence that the earth is not 5,000 years old, but somehow or another, we scratch our chins and argue. An argument that fits into the creationism, global warming, flat-earth sphere of issues is the “objectivity” of Fox News.
(Quoted from page 41 of James Carville’s 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation. Simon & Schuster, 2009.) For a brief biography of James Carville, click here. For images of and relating to James Carville, click here.
One of the frustrating things in Washington is that you’re supposed to go around with a solemn face and argue things that are really not arguable. Among those non-argument arguments that we’re expected to have, my favorite may be creationism. Naturally I also enjoy spending endless hours cornered in debates about global warming and whether Social Security works or not. (Of course it does.)
So we sit around and pontificate on silly-ass things that have been decided a long time ago. There comes a point at which the body of evidence is so conclusive, is so overwhelming, is so definitive that even unreasonable people don’t attempt to make a contrary argument. For example, the earth is round, not flat. We accept that. There’s no less evidence that the earth is warming, no less evidence that the earth is not 5,000 years old, but somehow or another, we scratch our chins and argue. An argument that fits into the creationism, global warming, flat-earth sphere of issues is the “objectivity” of Fox News.
(Quoted from page 41 of James Carville’s 40 More Years: How the Democrats Will Rule the Next Generation. Simon & Schuster, 2009.) For a brief biography of James Carville, click here. For images of and relating to James Carville, click here.
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