Savannah Hulsey Pointer, FISM News
Democrats are not yet in agreement about what caused unexpected losses during Tuesday’s election. Several high-profile Democratic figures have offered conflicting after-action reports, with some saying the party is too progressive and others saying that it’s not progressive enough.
Democratic Political Analyst James Carville weighed in on Tuesday’s political losses, saying that the DNC saw a downturn due to “stupid wokeness,” according to CNN. Carville’s comments were made on PBS NewsHour, where the former Clinton administration official said that the far-left ideology has had a “suppressive effect on the nation.”
“Don’t just look at Virginia and New Jersey,” Carville told PBS’ Judy Woodruff. “Look at Long Island, look at Buffalo, look at Minneapolis, even look at Seattle, Washington. I mean, this ‘defund the police’ lunacy, this ‘take Abraham Lincoln’s name off of schools,’ I mean that — people see that.”
Carville, who has been known for his bluntness since he worked with former President Bill Clinton on his successful presidential campaign, has been touting the same theory for months, warning his fellow Democrats away from the lure of the left. In fact, in July of this year he told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that the massive spotlight on “woke” issues was likely going to undermine the efforts to keep majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“We’re letting a noisy wing of our party define the rest of us. And my point is, we can’t do that,” Carville told Cuomo. “I think these people are all kind of nice people. I think they’re very naive, and they’re all into language and identity. And that’s all right. They’re not storming the Capitol. But they’re not winning elections.”
And this came months after Carville said during an interview with Vox that, “Wokeness is a problem, and we all know it.” The strategist said that the reason Democrats were losing seats in the House, even as they took back the White House, was because they had a “messaging problem.”
As progressives struggle with how to proceed with a nation appearing to recoil from the progressive agenda, Carville’s opinion is not universally accepted. In fact, it is in sharp juxtaposition to that of Bronx representative and social media sensation Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the high profile Socialist-Democrat who said on Twitter that former Virginia governor and Democrat candidate, Terry McAuliffe, lost the closely-watched race because he was too moderate in his campaign:
.@AOC finds a silver lining in Virginia election losses.
“I think that the results show the limits of trying to run a fully 100% super moderated campaign” pic.twitter.com/NjjiQQ5uU7
— John Gage (@johnrobertgage) November 4, 2021
When asked directly about comments like Carville’s that propose the idea that “progressives made us lose Virginia,” the two-term congressman said that she’s “open” to the argument, but that it would likely undermine their caucus’s plan to pass the massive Build Back Better spending plan.
“One thing about politics that I wish people understood more, but often don’t want to accept, is that a lot of decisions aren’t always about ideology or even money, but about ego. It’s like middle school sometimes. People will straight up kill legislation because their ego got hurt or they have some weird beef going back 20 years with somebody or some program,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
“Is it terrible? Yes. Egotistical? Also yes. But I swear it happens all the time. We don’t like to accept that because it’s irrational and frustrating to organize around, but it’s true. Many members will vote EMOTIONALLY from time to time, even ones that project very analytical identities.
“It’s not always a character thing either, sometimes a time crunch with little information can do that. So I do pick my battles because sometimes winning a news cycle is not as important as winning universal pre-k.”