Stop the presses! Stop the presses!
On HBO's Real Time Friday, Democratic strategist James Carville - yes, I said Democratic strategist James Carville - scolded the Daily Beast's Andrew Sullivan for always blaming Republicans (video follows with transcript and commentary):
BILL MAHER, HOST: Why was Mormonism off limits? Why, and nobody asked during the campaign. A religion is just beliefs and this is his belief and it's relevant. It’s his moral…
ANDREW SULLIVAN, DAILY BEAST: Well, especially since he's in the party that says that religion and politics cannot be separated. I mean, if you’re in a party saying yes, then fine.
MAHER: Right.
SULLIVAN: But when he’s saying that, no. The question for me though was not theological beliefs, because all of us, including me as a Catholic and other religions have beliefs that others think are completely loopy. The question for me was if he had belonged to an all-white golf club until 1978…
MAHER: Like Mormons.
SULLIVAN: …as Mormons banned black people from their temples as full members until 1978 - and went on a mission to keep that golf club white, would that have come up in this election?
MAHER: [Laughs]
JAMES CARVILLE: No, I doubt it.
SULLIVAN: Yes, it would.
MAHER: Really? You think so?
SULLIVAN: I think it might, don't you? But you know what, African-Americans knew that. They knew it and they voted the right way, and so did Mormons. But don't forget, look, there are a lot of liberal Mormons, too.
MAHER: Really?
SULLIVAN: They, a lot of them are embarrassed by Romney and what he represents as Mormonism.
MAHER: Wow.
SULLIVAN: I've been there. I've seen masses of gay Mormons, the parents and friends of lesbian and gay Mormons. There are lots of liberal Mormons out there. There were people, Mormons marching in gay rights parades.
Readers are encouraged to watch the video to see the quizzical look on S.E. Cupp’s face as Sullivan was saying this:
SULLIVAN: That faith is in transition and Mormon representatives…
MAHER: I think you just attract those kind of Mormons.
Carville clearly had enough of this nonsense and butted in:
CARVILLE: I have an entirely different take on this. I think it's a good thing that a Mormon can run for president. I think it’s a good thing we got six gay people. I think it’s a wonderful. And by the way, there is no evidence…
MAHER: That’s not the question.
CARVILLE: There is no, wait a minute, there is no evidence that Mormons serve honorably in public office. [He obviously meant don’t serve honorably.] Harry Reid is a Mormon. The Udalls are some of the finest people in the world.
S.E. CUPP: That’s right. That’s why it didn’t come up. Because the Senate Majority Leader is Mormon. It doesn't do Democrats any service to bring up Mormonism.
SULLIVAN: Except that Mitt Romney was a stake president and bishop. If a Catholic was running for office who had been an arch bishop, you think that wouldn’t have been brought up?
SULLIVAN: He fought gay marriage tooth and nail.
CARVILLE: Oh, always the Republicans’ fault.
Wow! Now THAT'S entertainment!
Sullivan has become such a shill that even a Democratic strategist like Carville - who gets paid to blame things on Republicans! - is willing to expose him on national television for going too far with this dishonesty.
Also interesting was that this occurred right after MSNBC's S.E. Cupp made a fool of Sullivan for equating gay rights with legalizing pot.
This was similar to what happened on ABC's This Week last month when Sullivan was being scolded by both the conservative George Will and PBS's perilously liberal anchor Gwen Ifill.
The reality is that at this point, Sullivan is neither a liberal nor a conservative, a Democrat nor a Republican.
He's just an Obama acolyte with absolutely no journalistic integrity and therefore should be completely ignored by serious political talk shows.
Of course, since Real Time doesn't qualify as such, he's perfect sitting at the same table as one of the other Obama acolytes in the media, Bill Maher.
