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Former Clinton aide and Democratic strategist Paul Begala said the Democratic Party has drifted towards becoming a “faculty lounge,” criticizing what he described as growing elitism within its ranks.
During an appearance on “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, Begala discussed how Democrats’ election strategy has evolved, with Maher referencing California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s recent comment that the party needs to be more “culturally normal” to win.
In a February interview with CNN, Newsom stated Democrats should be “less prone to spending disproportionate amount of time on pronouns, identity politics.”
“We used to be the party of the factory floor, and now we’re the party of the faculty lounge,” Begala said.
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“This intellectual elitism on my side is so off-putting, and the sanctimony, the judgmentalism.”
The Democratic strategist mocked what he described as sanitized language used by many in the party, highlighting how some refer to prison inmates as “justice involved.”
“I saw Andy Beshear recently. He told me that someone talked to him about… ‘justice-involved populations,’” Begala told Maher.
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“I grew up in a prison town… We call them crooks. Prisoners, convicts, inmates,” he added.
Begala went on to discuss recent polling that suggests California may have two Republican candidates for governor, Fox News contributor Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
17% of expected California voters support Hilton and 16% support Bianco, according to the UC Berkeley poll.
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Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., and former Rep. Katie Porter, D-Calif., are leading among the eight total Democratic candidates, at 14% and 13% respectively.
The former Clinton aide called on his party to coalesce around fewer candidates to strengthen its chances at keeping California blue.
“Democrats got to get their act together and hone in on one or two of their strongest instead of having 20,” he said.
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Begala also called former President Joe Biden’s White House run a “tragedy” for the Democratic Party.
“This is part of the tragedy of Joe Biden running is that he had the best bench behind him that I’ve ever seen, and Gavin is part of it and Shapiro’s part of it, Wes Moore, Andy Beshear,” he said.
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