Democratic strategist James Carville said he disliked being a predominant voice calling for President Biden to step out of the presidential race and that it transformed him into “the person I’ve always hated.”
“I didn’t like doing it, because I became the person I’ve always hated,” he said Tuesday on MSNBC, in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “The guy on the sidelines on TV, taking cheap shots — ‘We’re in the arena. We got the dust and dirt, we’re fighting every day. You’re killing us, you’re helping Trump.’ And I understand all that.”
Carville was among the first wave of Democrats to call for Biden to drop out of the race following his disastrous June 27 debate performance. About a week after the debate, he said it was “inevitable” that Biden would drop out.
“He will come to the conclusion. People will get the message to him. He will understand, his family will understand. They’ll pray on it, and they’ll make the right decision,” Carville said.
The president dropped out July 21 with a sudden announcement on social media.
Biden recently said he was convinced to drop out of the race by his fellow Democratic leaders, who told him that his candidacy could negatively affect the party in contests down the ballot.
“What happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races,” Biden told “CBS News Sunday Morning.”
“And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You’d be interviewing me about, ‘Why did Nancy Pelosi say?’ … And I thought it’d be a real distraction, number one.”
Carville, who is about two years younger than Biden, said the president’s age was a point of concern for him, and their shared older age gave him more credibility to make the case against the campaign.
“I like Joe Biden. I didn’t like myself, but I didn’t think I had another option,” Carville concluded. “I just didn’t think I could stay silent.”