Sanders calls James Carville ‘a political hack’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is hitting back at Democratic strategist James Carville, who had cast doubt on his electability, calling Carville a “political hack.”

“James, in all due respect, is a political hack, who said very terrible things when he was working for [then-Sen. Hillary] Clinton [D-N.Y.] against Barack Obama. I think he said some of the same things,” Sanders told CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Wednesday.

“Look, we are taking on the establishment, this is no secret to anybody,” Sanders added, noting that Goldman Sachs head Lloyd Blankfein also recently criticized him.

“We are taking on [President] Trump, the Republican establishment, Carville and the Democratic establishment, but at the end of the day, the grassroots movement that we are putting together of young people, of working people, of people of color, want real change,” he continued.

Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders hits back at Democratic strategist James Carville, calling him “a political hack.”

“We are taking on Trump, the Republican establishment, Carville and the Democratic establishment.”https://t.co/Bz45wLAGg0 pic.twitter.com/fdRmLmaUjh

— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) February 12, 2020

Carville, who had announced his support of Sen. Michael Bennet’s (D-Colo.) presidential campaign before Bennet ended his bid Tuesday night, warned last week of the Democratic Party becoming an “ideological cult,” saying on MSNBC, “We don’t need to become the British Labour Party. That’s a bad thing. It’s not going well over there.”

He responded to Sanders’s insults in a Thursday phone call, according to Vanity Fair reporter Peter Hamby. 

“Last night on CNN, Bernie called me a political hack. That’s exactly who the f*** I am! I am a political hack! I am not an ideologue. I am not a purist. He thinks it’s a pejorative; I kinda like it,” Carville said.

He added: “At least I’m not a communist.”

—Updated at 3:30 p.m.