It’s the most puzzling marriage in the Beltway: Mary Matalin, Republican harridan, and James Carville, the “Ragin’ Cajun.” You ever wonder what that pillow talk must be like? Ewwwwwwww.
Me, I’ve always wondered how they could stand each other. I’m sure a lot of people have. Well, today, I think I found the answer.
And I don’t like it.

The sordid details on the jump.

I discovered this little tidbit in Philip Baruth’s Vermont Daily Briefing:

And now, today, comes word that hits VDB even closer to home: James Carville and Mary Matalin will be holding a fundraiser tomorrow night at their home in Alexandria for Plame-leaker “Scooter” Libby.

Now look — Carville is the Democrat in that marriage, and Matalin is the Republican, and so presumably each cringes and deals with the baggage the other totes into the house.

But some things are over the line, in any marriage.

Yeah, I’ll go along with that. And I have a marriage that would turn a lot of men green with envy. But even my near-idyllic union would not survive if my wife were to act anything like Matalin has in the years since I’ve been aware of her. I’ve always wondered how any Democrat could stand to be in the same room with her, much less be married to her.
Well, now we know.
Baruth goes on to say that this travesty:

…suggests a rather risky and high-profile attempt to rebrand himself, as a consultant moving with Republican candidates as well as Democratic, along the lines of the ethically-rudderless Dick Morris.

I’d ask Carville to “say it ain’t so”, but I’m afraid that if he did, I’d not take his word for it.
Another one bites the dust.
Carville, you are dead to me.
Good night and good luck.

Understand that I generally can’t stand political ads. They tend to be condescending or outright insulting, and often seem put together by people who couldn’t get work in Hollywood. But this one is pretty good, and will be extraordinarily hard for the Rainville camp to criticize without looking like ogres. Yeah, the production is a bit cheesy with the piano and all, but it’s easy to overlook that as the content (Peter discussing his work on health care in the context of his wife’s illness and eventual passing) is strong stuff, and Welch himself comes across very well in it.

My only complaint is one little line. I just think there should be a moratorium on all politicians using the line “and I won’t rest until… [fill in the blank].” These days, that one just pegs the cliche-o-meter.

Check it out at their site by clicking here. It really is a nice piece of campaign advertising and will go a long way towards defining Welch to the electorate (if they show it enough). Now it won’t stop Martha’s swift boat team from going right after Welch on health care (what he is pitching as his stength) in the most nasty, personal way they can – that is the Rove playbook, after all. Hopefully his campaign team will be ready to fire back quickly when that time comes. All in all, though, I continue to feel better and better about this race.