James Carville: Guard Dog of the White House

James Carville: Guard Dog of the White House

James Carville has been one of President Clinton’s most adamant supporters throughout the impeachment crisis. Carville is a veteran campaign strategist who headed Clinton’s campaign in 1992 and has advised him since the campaign. His harsh and sometimes wild criticisms of Clinton’s opponents have made Carville the rhetorical attack dog of the Democratic Party. The purpose of Carville’s attacks was to rally support for Clinton. Fighting for Clinton was both helpful to Carville’s career and financially beneficial for him. Carville used a few concise points that he presented in his aggressive partisan style to argue against Clinton’s critics. The media frequently covered Carville’s attacks because of their brevity and excessiveness. Carville skillfully used the media to his advantage. He plays an active role in personalizing political issues by attacking the character of his opponents. These personal assaults divert attention away from the issues themselves. However, questioning the character of those who are often running smear campaigns of their own can bring to light some the faults of Carville’s political adversaries.

Kenneth Burke suggested rhetoric could be analyzed using five elements, act, scene, agent, agency, and purpose. Two of these five elements stand out from the rest as most crucial to the speaker’s rhetoric during the impeachment crisis (Nichols 1963). Agency and purpose were the most important facets of James Carville’s rhetoric. Carville’s purpose was to rally support for President Clinton while advancing his carrier and benefiting financially. The agencies he used to accomplish his purpose were several concise complaints against Independent Councilor, Kennith Starr, his aggressive rhetorical assault against Starr, Carville’s image, and the media which Carville used to bring his message to the American public.

James Carville’s chief priority has been to defend Bill Clinton since Carville became the chief campaign strategist for Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. In an interview with Katie Couric on Today, Carville asserts his motives:

…that man [Clinton] had been good to me, he’s good to my

family, he’s good to my country. He’s a friend of mine. He

got himself in a jam. I was proud that he called on me to help

him, and I’m glad that I was able to–to–help in some small

way (Carville 2/12/99).

Carville was entirely dedicated to his cause of defending Clinton. In this interview, he asserted his loyalty and willingness to help the President. Carville emphasized how "proud" he was to be working for his "friend" (Carville 2/12/99, Carville 1/6/99).