Paul Begala

Paul Begala (born 12 May 1961) is a political consultant, a commentator, a prominent liberal, 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.

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 both his B.A. and Juris Doctor (J.D.) from the University of Texas at Austin, 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. [ [http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410/news/2004/04/19/TopStories/Sg.Helps.Foster.Future.Leaders-664368.shtml?norewrite&sourcedomain=www.dailytexanonline.com SG helps foster future leaders] , The Daily Texan, 2004-04-19, accessed 2008-02-05]

Paul Begala, 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, Begala 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.

As an author and co-author Begala has written a handful of bestselling 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.

His latest book is "Third Term: Why George W. Bush Loves John McCain."

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's notoriety increased significantly on September 25, 2008, when, on CNN, he characterized George W. Bush as "a high-functioning moron." [ [http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/09/25/begala-pres-bush-high-functioning-moron Begala: President Bush 'a High-Functioning Moron'] , NewsBusters.org, 2008-09-25, accessed 2008-09-28]

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.

References

External links

*imdb name|id=0066669|name=Paul Begala
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-begala/ Paul Begala] at the Huffington Post
* [http://www.tpmcafe.com/author/begala Paul Begala] at the group blog TPMCafe