Originally published at: Watch: James Carville's assessment of the "weird" and "crazy" GOP is spot on | Boing Boing
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I guess. I’d prefer that they be described as dangerous and authoritarian, honestly. I feel like saying that they are “weird and crazy” lets them off the hook for all the real damage they are doing to real people… not like an operative like Carville cares, though. He just seems to be in it for the fight, honestly.
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It’s always “baby steps” in US politics, frustrating I know…
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Those things aren’t mutually exclusive. ‘Fascism’ and ‘weird and crazy’ have a long history together. They’re clearly getting invited to all the same coke orgies these days.
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When you push the “weird and crazy” narrative over the authoritarian one, then you paper over the danger they pose. This happens all the time when white men go on shooting rampages - “Oh, they were mentally ill”… Bullshit. They were pumped up on dangerous ideologies and believed that killing people was okay because it’s “cleansing” the world of “filth”.
We need to stop acting like these are still some fringe group and start calling them what they are: fascists. As long as we give them a pass, the media is going to take it. We are on the brink right now and they are starting to win.
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We’re about four years out from fascists and their enablers taking over all three branches of government. It’s more than frustrating, especially when you have an expert in campaigns and elections like Carville downplaying the danger posed as something merely “weird and crazy”.
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Your points are well taken. And Carville is more of a circus clown than a political figure to be taken seriously. His sell-by date is long expired and we don’t need any further so-called analysis from someone who thinks “woke” is a bad word.
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I’m not sure he’s especially bothered by that part; he’s been party to some problematic behavior in the past and is married to well-known Republican political consultant Mary Matalin (who worked for Reagan, both Bushes and Dick Cheney among others).
I always got the impression that Carville was more interested in the “elections as team sports” aspect of politics than the “tangibly improving society through work aligned with deeply held principles” aspect of politics.
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Yeah, I think the fact people are afraid to call them even authoritarians, even though I think they’re fascists now, just shows how weak the Democratic party has become. They can’t just take the gloves off and stand for something. Instead, they seem to happy with playing by some unspoken rules just so they can seem respectable rather than being useful to their voters. I think they need someone who can get things done. Basically, an LBJ of the modern age.
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GOP voters embrace that label. They think it sends a “don’t mess with us” message. Nobody other than Al Yankovic wants to be thought of as either weird or crazy though.
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It’s not the whole party, though, as there are plenty of examples of people actually calling them out for what they are. It’s operatives like Carville and the party leadership who seem unable to make the leap.
I don’t care what they do. I care what the rest of us do, because it all hinges on this next election.
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Hm. I’m not so sure.
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They work together. The sober set can purge the crazy ones to redeem fascism AND use that as a justification for purging undesirables from the population en masse. That narrative works in fascisism’s favor because it’s ultimately the same narrative: fix problems by scapegoating and purging.
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Too many “weird” and “crazy” people is self-sustaining as it deters the non-weird and non-crazy.
If you were a right-of-centre “normal” person wanting to stand for election, would you really want to associate yourself with the “weird” and the “crazy”? Until the “sane” (not my definition) people already there do something to purge the nutters, it ain’t gonna change.
They are authoritarians, no “crazy”.
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I know that. I was using the article’s language. I’ll put quote marks round the relevant words.
and when someone as crazy as James Carville is calling people crazy, then you KNOW it’s bad.
I wish we’d push back against this bullshit harder. 
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