Paul Begala

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Paul Begala (born May 12, 1961) is a political consultant, a commentator, and a former advisor to President Bill Clinton. He gained national prominence as half of the political consulting team Carville and Begala. Until June 2005, Begala was a co-host of CNN's political debate program, Crossfire. He is Research Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. Currently he is teaching at the University of Georgia School of Law as a Sanders Political Leadership Scholar.

1 Biography
2 Criticism
3 Bibliography
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Biography

Begala was born in New Jersey and raised in Missouri City, Texas. He graduated from John Foster Dulles High School (Sugar Land, Texas) in Stafford, Texas. He earned his undergraduate and law degrees from The University of Texas at Austin and The University of Texas School of Law, where he taught briefly before going to work for Bill Clinton. While at the University of Texas, Begala was a candidate for student government president. However, he finished second to a write-in campaign for Hank the Hallucination, an invisible monster character from the campus comic strip "Eyebeam". Following his loss, Begala wrote a tongue-in-cheek complaint for the Daily Texan, arguing "I cannot help but feel Hank's platform is illusory at best .... I must say that the candidate himself lacks substance." Begala was declared the human winner, following a ruling that imaginary characters could not hold the position.^[1]

Paul Begala burst onto the political scene when he, along with partner James Carville, helped then-governor of Arkansas Clinton win the 1992 presidential election. After working on Clinton's campaign, Begala served as a consultant to the President. As an aide to the President, Paul helped defend the Clinton-Gore agenda and served as a public spokesperson.

Aside from the 1992 presidential election, Begala and Carville have had other well-known political victories which include the 1991 Senate victory of Harris Wofford, the 1988 re-election campaign of incumbent Senator Frank Lautenberg, and the gubernatorial victories of Robert Casey in 1986 and Zell Miller in 1990.

Before becoming a co-host of Crossfire, Begala co-hosted a show, Equal Time, with Oliver North on MSNBC. He also was a contributor to John F. Kennedy Jr.'s political magazine George in the late 1990s.

Begala is an actively practicing member of the Roman Catholic Church.^[2] He is pro-life and calls on fellow Catholics to be consistently pro-life — in opposition to not only abortion, but war, the death penalty, and lack of health care. In his most recent book, Take It Back, he praised the Democrats for Life of America for doing just that.

As an author and co-author, Begala has written a handful of best-selling political books. His writings include: Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush; Buck Up, Suck Up and Come Back When You Foul Up; and It's Still the Economy Stupid. Begala still keeps on hand a pocket New Testament he received from Brother Jed in the 1970s.

On January 12, 2008, Begala was on NPR's radio show 'Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me...' playing the game "Not My Job." He won by answering 2 out of 3 questions correctly.

Begala has said he is "a person of faith".^[3]

[edit] Criticism

Paul Begala has a style of commentary that has led him to be parodied on Saturday Night Live in an ongoing skit of Hardball with Chris Matthews (Begala has been a repeat guest of that show in real life). Andrew Sullivan also gives out a Begala Award for (what Sullivan deems as) extreme liberal hyperbole. Many conservative radio personalities including Rush Limbaugh have nicknamed Begala "the forehead".^{[citation needed]}

He was number 27 on a list of 100 put together by conservative Bernard Goldberg of People Who Are Screwing Up America.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Bibliography

Is Our Children Learning?: The Case Against George W. Bush, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000 ISBN 0-7432-1478-1.
It's Still the Economy, Stupid: George W. Bush, The GOP's CEO, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002 ISBN 0-7432-4647-0.

Co-authored with James Carville

Buck Up, Suck Up... and Come Back When You Foul Up: 12 Winning Secrets from the War Room, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002 ISBN 0-7432-2422-1.
Take It Back: Our Party, Our Country, Our Future, New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006 ISBN 0-7432-7752-X.