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. May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (133rd in leap years). ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ... Political consulting is the business which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns, primarily in the United States. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... William Jefferson Bill Clinton (born William Jefferson Blythe III on August 19, 1946) was the 42nd President of the United States, serving from 1993 to 2001. ... Political consulting is the business which has grown up around advising and assisting political campaigns, primarily in the United States. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Cable News Network, commonly known as CNN, is a major cable television network founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. ... December 6, 2004 edition of Crossfire. ... Georgetown University is a private university in the United States, located in Georgetown, a neighborhood of Washington, D.C. It is both the oldest Roman Catholic and oldest Jesuit university in the United States, having been founded on January 23, 1789 by Archbishop John Carroll. ...

Biography

Begala was born in New Jersey and raised in Missouri City, 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, a monster character from the comic strip "Eyebeam." Begala was declared the human winner, following a ruling that imaginary characters could not hold the position [1]. Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... Flag of Missouri City Missouri City is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown Metropolitan Area. ... The University of Texas at Austin, often called UT or Texas, is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. ... The University of Texas School of Law is an ABA-certified American law school located on the campus of The University of Texas at Austin. ... Eyebeam was a daily comic strip written and illustrated by Sam Hurt at the University of Texas at Austin. ...

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. James Carville (born October 25, 1944), is an American political consultant, commentator, and pundit. ... This is a list of governors of Arkansas. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ...

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. 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Senator Harris Wofford Harris Llewellyn Wofford (born April 9, 1926) is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party who served as a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania from 1991 to 1995. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Frank Raleigh Lautenberg (born January 23, 1924) is an American politician. ... Robert Patrick Casey, Sr. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Zell Bryan Miller (born February 24, 1932) is an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. ... This article is about the year. ...

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. December 6, 2004 edition of Crossfire. ... Lt-Col. ... MSNBC, a combination of Microsoft and NBC, is a 24-hour cable news channel in the United States and Canada, and a news Website. ... John F. Kennedy Jr. ... Cover of innaugural issue of George George was a glossy politics-as-lifestyle monthly magazine founded by John F. Kennedy, Jr. ...

Begala is a devout Roman Catholic. 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. Begala still keeps on hand a pocket New Testament he received from Brother Jed in the 1970s. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Pro-life is a term representing a variety of perspectives and activist movements in bioethics. ... The Consistent Life Ethic is a philosophical, ethical, religious, and political philosophy with the basic premise that all human life is sacred, and that this calls for a coherent social policy which seeks to protect the rights of the weakest and most vulnerable in our society, the unborn, the infirm... The United States detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the State as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offenses. ... Health care or healthcare is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical, nursing, and allied health professions [1]. The organised provision of such services may constitute a healthcare system. ... Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is an advocacy group in the United States attempting to reshape the political left, primarily the Democratic Party, into taking a pro-life position opposing the unrestricted legality of abortion and, to a lesser extent, capital punishment and euthanasia. ... George E. Smock, (born 1943) better known as Brother Jed, or Jed Smock, is an American evangelist whose ministry is concentrated on college campuses, particularly the University of Florida in the 1980s. ...

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.

Criticism

Paul Begala has an over the top style of commentary that has led him to be parodied on Saturday Night Live in an on-going skit of Hardball with Chris Matthews (Begala has been a repeated 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". Saturday Night Live (SNL) is a weekly late night 90-minute American comedy-variety show based in New York City which has been broadcast by NBC nearly every Saturday night since its debut on October 11, 1975. ... Hardball with Chris Matthews is a talk show on MSNBC hosted by Chris Matthews. ... Andrew Sullivan Andrew Michael Sullivan, born August 10, 1963, in South Godstone England, known for his popular and provocative style of political journalism, is a current resident of the US, having lived both in Washington, D.C., and Massachusetts for over twenty years. ... American conservatism is a constellation of political ideologies within the United States under the blanket heading of conservative. ... Rush Hudson Limbaugh III (born January 12, 1951) is an American radio talk show host. ...

He was number 27 on a list of 100 put together by conservative commentator Bernard Goldberg of People Who Are Screwing Up America. Bernard Goldberg (born 1945) is a writer and television reporter. ... 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America is a book by conservative Bernard Goldberg that was published in 2005. ...

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.

James Carville (born October 25, 1944), is an American political consultant, commentator, and pundit. ...

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

Paul Begala

• Paul Begala at the Huffington Post
• Paul Begala at the group blog TPMCafe