‘Really stupid’: Watch James Carville tell Dems to ditch all these words
Democratic strategist James Carville on Tuesday urged Democrats to stop using a slew of left-wing words and phrases he said are ineffective, confusing or alienating to voters.
Carville, on an April episode of his “Politics War Room” podcast, condemned the phrases “communities of color” and “people of color,” arguing they were “racist” because they suggest all minorities are identical rather than unique. In a Tuesday Politicon video, Carville did not mention these phrases, but rattled off several more terms he believes Democrats should avoid using in political messaging, explaining why they are problematic.
WATCH:
“Don’t use ‘generational change,’ because there’s a lot of people that are older — me being one. Why do you want to limit the appeal of your message to younger people? … Don’t use words like ‘structural,’ okay? Because we’re not going to attack the structural issues in the world right now,” Carville said. “We’re trying to, like, stay alive to the next day. Don’t use the word ‘equity.’ Use ‘equality’ to your little heart’s desire. People basically don’t know what it means, and if they do know what it means, it looks like you tried to force an outcome.”
Then-vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris received backlash on Twitter after posting a Nov. 1, 2020, video making the case for “equity,” meaning equality of results, rather than ensuring that everyone has equality of opportunity. Twitter users suggested the video seemed to promote communism.
Carville also took aim at the term “oligarch,” which has risen to prominence since independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders launched his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in February, often featuring Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“This is another really stupid word: ‘oligarch.’ Who in the f*** knows what an oligarch is, OK? As opposed to a very acceptable word I’ve talked about before is ‘fat cats,’” the Democratic strategist said. “[Everybody] knows what a fat cat is. Everybody talks about what a fat cat is.”
Moreover, Carville suggested not saying “community.”
“Nothing wrong with the word ‘community’ [and] nothing wrong with being in a community. But it’s just such a Democratic word. And really, the community we all live in is the community of humankind,” he said. “And it’s not a terrible word. I wouldn’t even use the ‘LBGQT+’ or whatever it is. I just call people gay, the lesbian or trans … Just use the word that is most commonly used among people as they talk to each other.”
Carville said people don’t understand the acronym and that the use of it indicates people are “trying to signal that there’s something wrong with the term or you’re just trying to show people how smart you are.”
“So don’t use words like that. Don’t use words like ‘intersectionality,’” he said.
Carville recounted listening to an NPR panel discuss the term during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I literally thought they would kind of go overboard in ecstasy on the radio … No one uses the term ‘intersectionality’ except for NPR,” he said.
“We’re going to have limited time to make our case. When we have whatever limited time we have, and we’re fighting back at all this, I think we should be very careful … So when you hear your elected representatives and you hear Democrats or you hear sane people using words that are not the right word, let them know that that kind of language is not helpful,” Carville added. “It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person — it’s just not helpful.”
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