The Clintons have always had a cavalcade of loyal backers, and then there’s James Carville.
One day after The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza wrote a piece saying there’s a “full-scale Democratic freakout” going on over Hillary Clinton’s 2016 viability, the longtime Clinton backer pounced, calling the claim “foolishness.”
Carville, who served as a strategist for former President Bill Clinton, said the Post and others in the media are “spinning themselves up over a pile of garbage.” In the article, Cillizza cited multiple anonymous sources in Democratic circles who are currently questioning Clinton’s chances in a general election next November.
“I had to come out because of all the foolishness going on,” Carville told NBC News’ Luke Russert Wednesday. “Of course there’s not a full-scale Democratic freakout … Polls go up and down. This is foolishness. I’m having to come out of my vacation to deal with this kind of stupidity that these people are putting out, and Hillary’s going to be just fine.”
“This goes on and on and it’s never going to stop,” Carville said as he imitated those critical of Clinton. “I’ve been dealing with this for 23 years now.”
Carville’s comments to Russert came hours after he wrote a blog post for Correct The Record wondering if any editors had even looked at Cillizza’s post.
Russert asked the famed political consultant if he had any problem seeing the words Clinton, FBI and criminal investigation lumped together. Carville said he doesn’t, adding that everything going on will not “amount to a hill of beans.”
“It’s like all of the other stuff I’ve been through. It doesn’t amount to a hill of beans,” Carville said. “It’s just a bunch of people talking to each other, spinning themselves up over a pile of garbage.”
“People, what they need to do is just calm down and enjoy the race,” Carville said, adding further that he thought she did “fine” during her Tuesday press conference in which she was pressed over her emails.
The remarks come one day after news emerged that Carville and Hillary For America chairman John Podesta will be campaigning for Clinton in South Carolina on Saturday.
“I’m going to campaign hard for [Hillary], and I’m going to call out this stupidity in the media when I see it, just like the stupidity that was in the Washington Post,” Carville said. “Full Democratic freakout? Give me a break.”
