Mary Matalin and James Carville!

James Carville and Mary Matalin
Yes, I am a political geek.
"proof that opposite attract...she speaks English; he does not"
proof "can in the spirit of bipartisan cooperation produce two lovely daughters"

What do you think will happen tonight in the Super Bowl?
Carville's got Seattle
Matalin: "We never did listen to each other, and now we can't hear each other"
"total boy humor for about three weeks"
"all I know is he cries for weeks whenever LSU--where he went for eleven years--loses"
Carville: "Best four years of my life as a sophomore"
Matalin: very polical event (Super Bowl)
she cites New Orleans "silver lining of Katerina" education reform
Carville: presidental cycle has started
"got to assume...if there's a can and a road, somebody's going to kick the can down the road"
"everything's sort of lined up for 2016"
"the idea that something fundamental is going to change between now and 2016 is not very likely"
"if there's a can and there's a road, you can find a foot"
Matalin: "I'm in vigorous agreement"
"succession of non-elections...voting out unsatisfactory policy makers"
breaks in both the Dem and Rep parties: not just left/right, but generational, regional
"A numer of things should be kicked down the road"
she stops, thinking he's made a face
Carville: "you think I could get away with it?"
Matalin: quoting him"Sugar, if I did something that stupid with a girl that young, I'd lie about it, too"
Dang, Carville's on the TFA board?
"we should have a big debate and bring all the ideas to the table...recognize that some things work some places, some things work others, but we need a single standard of excellence"
Question about flexiblity?
Carville: "most of you are just like them...you're in your communities and you gotta get votes. You just walk them through extactly what you're facing"
"you're not going to get anywhere, screaming at them or anything like that"
"talk about the parents are involved, how the community's involved in what you're doing"
"theyre going to pay attention to what's happened right there in that community"
"I would bring some students and teachers with you"
Carville relates teaching an eighth-grader to speak: "put a face on it"
Bring a teacher: "now who's not nice to their third grade teacher?"
"a school system is first and forremost about students"
Matalin: need to be approached at every level: if they're not with you on policy, get into the economic consequences
"I believe...that this is a political era of...reality"
caught on Common Core: execution
"number one issue is skilled workforce"
"if they're not education people, give them the whole spectrum" of reasons to care
Carville: 90% of this debate of this that 5% of the teachers are bad, 10% of the teacher are really great
"Why don't we just make the 85% of the teachers who are good even better?"
"most of the people are just like most of us: they're consciencious, they work hard...how do we make them even better?"
Matalin: "teaching, we treat as an industry...but it's a calling"
speaks of expanding the teacher pool
"there's so much to be hopeful about in education"
"this is tiddlywinks, compared to some of the campaigns" early in the republic
'Zenmaster soundbites because he has the attention span of a gnat" (of Carville)
"we've been through worse and it's better the rest of the world"
Carville: "it's almost impossible for the Democrats to win the House...very hard for Republicans to win the presidency"
`"it leads to a common result...the Pennsylvania problem in the country...the margins that the Democrats roll up in a presidential year..."
Matalin: "his analysis is not wrong, but it's predicated on" nothing changes
"no one is better at snatching defeat from the jaws of victory than Republicans"
"if we do this and we do it successfully, we will win"
(to Carville) "I told you! I told you (Mitt) wasn't going to run"
of Hillary Clinton "the longer she's out there, ...she's like soggy french fries...she puts a target on her back"
Carville "under any normal set of circumstances, we're going to nominate (Clinton)"
"just the evolution of politics"
Matalin: "I know that there are a lot of Elizabeth Warren people [some applause]" Carville jumps in "there's two"
Matalin "I want you guys to have a good fight, a healthy fight"
Carville "but we're not going to have one"
"Mike Tyson said...'everybody's got a plan to hit me in the mouth'...there's no getting around that"
"I never hear a Democart come up and say 'you know, we really gotta get somebody else other than Hillary'...and that's saying something, because we argue about everything"
Matalin "he recrafts what I say to have me say something I didn't say"
"every kid learns differently"
"you can't just teach to the median"
"it's not just what we spend, it's what we spend it on...if we spend thought and energy on where the kids are"
Carville "Most of the teachers I know are just hardworking, good people who do their job well"
"it's not like there's this massive amount of flexible money sitting out there" (of fixed costs in schools)
"the per hour wage of being on a school board is way below the minimum wage"
"it's not like anybody ever got rich being on a school board"
Q:"I'm from Seattle, and I'm only talking so I won't get fined..."
asks about Duncan: "what do you do if you're Sect'y of education?"
Matalin: Duncan spoke in New Orleans "he's going to keep doing his job"
"I like him, we like him...he's very focused on what is working locally"
Carville: "I'm not an expert...guess who gets" the consequences of anything "The public schools"
"is there a way that you try in certain jurisdictions you try different stuff"
"most children in this country are educated in public schools and they're educated pretty well"
"Show what it is that you're doing...because people just give speeches and they've got talking points..."
"show them how it's working"
"you're getting in a 40,000 feet debate, and you're just going to be treading water on that"
"in my opinion you're going to lose that"
Q: from Lousiana: "we'd respectly disagree with some of the opinions shared today with regards to the state of education in New Orleans and the state of Lousiana. We'd be happy to share some real data."
WELL DONE SIR!
Matalin: "that's what respectful dialogue looks like...appreciate the information...work respectfully on things that need elbow grease"
Q: who might be the Republican nominee?
Matalin: support a candidate who has education as a centerpiece of their policy
"I like a lot of these guys..." Mentions Jeb Bush, Jindal, Walker
Carville: recommends reviewing Hillary Clinton's record
"it should be subject to a big debate; you should relish it, you should want it"
"people should be out there...the debate is going to continue"
Matalin goes back to charters
parents "do not want to keep their kids in failing schools...we know how to fix it and we should"
that's it.