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Veteran campaign strategist James Carville warned Democrats Tuesday that using far-left political jargon is alienating persuadable voters.
Since before the election, Carville has struggled to wrench the Democratic Party away from the far-left identity politics that have turned away much of the electorate.
On his “Politics War Room” podcast, Carville explained how he would give candidates of today a “message box,” showing key ideas to focus on to critique their opponents that will connect with voters, such as “corruption” and “safety and security.”
He then proceeded to share a long list of words that the party should strike from their vocabulary, explaining how each one either bewilders or outright alienates voters.
“Don’t use ‘generational change,’ because there are a lot of people that are older. Why do you want to limit the appeal of your message to younger people?” he warned. “Believe me, generational change is coming whether you want it or not, I got news for ya.”
He added, “Don’t use words like ‘structural.’ We’re not attacking the structural issues in the world right now. We’re trying to, like, stay alive to the next day.”
Carville also warned against using “equity,” saying to use “equality” instead. “People basically don’t know what [equity] means. And if they do know what it means, it looks like you’re trying to force an outcome.”
He then appeared to call out politicians like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who are running a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour.
“This is another stupid word, ‘Oligarch.’ Who in the f–k knows what an oligarch is? As opposed to a very acceptable word I’ve talked about before is ‘fat cats.’ Everybody knows what a fat cat is, everybody talks about what a fat cat is.”
Meanwhile, the word “community,” Carville said, has just been tainted by politics.
“I wouldn’t use the word ‘community.’ I don’t have anything – nothing wrong with the word ‘community.’ Nothing wrong with being in a community. It’s just such a Democratic word,” he said. “I wouldn’t even use the ‘LBGQT+’ or whatever it is. I just call people gay, or lesbian, or trans, or I don’t know.”
Carville argued that by using such terms, “You’re just trying to show people how smart you are. Don’t use words like that. Don’t use words like ‘intersectionality.’”
He shared a story about listening to an NPR panel during the pandemic as they spoke about intersectionality.
“I literally thought they were gonna go overboard in ecstasy on the radio,” he said. “Okay, it’s a real thing. No one uses the term ‘intersectionality’ except for NPR.”
Carville concluded that, in the vein of the adage, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” “A word is a terrible thing to waste.”
“You know Mark Twain famously said, ‘The difference between the right word and a nearly right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug,'” Carville added.
“So when you hear your elected representatives, 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. It doesn’t mean you’re a bad person, it’s just not helpful, you’re wasting an opportunity to break your case.”
“Be lightning, don’t be a lightning bug,” he advised.
English (US)