James Carville dismisses critics upset by 'preachy females' comment: 'I don't care'
Carville said in March that the Democratic Party's messaging was 'too feminine' to appeal to male voters
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Democratic strategist James Carville responded to criticism of his comment about "preachy females" dominating the Democratic Party's messaging on Thursday during an interview on CNN.
"You really got lambasted when you said there were too many preachy females. And now we have been watching, we have been watching some very strong — I‘m not using the word 'preachy — but some very strong females take the stage, like Hillary Clinton, like Michelle Obama, and like Kamala Harris. So what do you say to people that were, were annoyed, if not mad at you for using that kind of language?" CNN's Sara Sidner asked, noting the Democratic Party's problem with male voters.
"I view my role as somewhat of a provocateur, and we have a male problem," Carville began. "How do I do that? Do I tell Maureen Dowd of The New York Times that a close analysis of the regression group indicates that we had insufficient support among American males? No one is going to remember that. So if I say something like, ‘Our culture has too many preachy females in it,’ you know what? Everybody remembers it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Carville was criticized by some Democrats after telling New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd in March that "preachy females" were to blame for the Democratic Party's focus on "wokeness," as well as the party's issues with male voters.
James Carville responded to criticism of his "preachy females" comment during an appearance on CNN. (Screenshot/CNN)
"And the thing about me, I don’t care," Carville added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He also praised Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and suggested the Democratic Party was catering to his concerns at the Democratic National Convention.
"I think that the vice president's campaign was listening to what people like me were saying, that the party‘s messaging needed to have a little more male language and male contrast and examples," Carville said. "That's one of the things that I'm really about, that in this convention, I think we're getting it."
Carville spoke to Dowd about the Democratic Party's messaging and its focus on "wokeness" during the Times interview.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"A suspicion of mine is that there are too many preachy females," Carville told Dowd. "’Don’t drink beer. Don’t watch football. Don’t eat hamburgers. This is not good for you.’"
He added, "The message is too feminine: ‘Everything you’re doing is destroying the planet. You’ve got to eat your peas.’"
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., was upset by Carville's comments in March and wrote on X at the time, "Maybe he should start a podcast about it."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I hear men are really underrepresented in that space," she said.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., appears at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Monday. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
Carville has consistently sounded the alarm over the Democratic Party's problem with attracting male voters. He doubled down on his concern about the party's messaging being "too feminine" in July.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"‘We know what's best for you, don't eat hamburgers, don't watch football, don't drink beer.’ Guess where our young male number is going? In the toilet, alright? Because Democratic messaging, I'm sorry, is too feminine, it just is," he said.
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"If you think about Democratic messaging, listen to NPR, read what comes out of there, alright? And you can see it, and I'm sorry, there are too many preachy females in Democratic campaign culture, and we come across to people as judgmental," Carville added.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Fox News' Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.