Dear Abby: How do Mary Matalin and James Carville stay married without homicide?

Line 5. Indiana, you're on the air with Mary Matalin and James Carville.

Like many other viewers over the years, CNN's John King wondered out loud today about the unlikely political duo. Carville ran Democrat Bill Clinton's unlikely and ultimately successful presidential campaign in 1992 while Matalin ran the unsuccessful reelection campaign for George Bush I.

Yet the politically disparate couple seem to remain happily married with their stark disagreements added atop the normal pressures of married life. Are there lessons in there somewhere for those feuding dummies up on Capitol Hill?

So today on the air King finally asked the question on the minds of many (video below).

Here's the whole brief, enlightening, entertaining and seemingly good-natured exchange from King's "State of the Union":

King: Our viewers have watched throughout the year. And so you come in here exclusively with us. And they often ask, "How can these two disagree so much and get along?" 

And so we asked people to text in a question for James and Mary. And here's what we got from Indiana: 

"Love you both. Can you show both houses of Congress your secret for compromise?"

Matalin: Well, we're not a democracy. We're an enlightened MOM-archy. That's what we are. [Cross talk.]

Carville: I don't -- it's nothing if -- as long as one person is not arguing, there's nothing to argue about. I don't have a -- [Laughter.]

Carville: I don't have a position on anything domestically. So I just say yes, and then go on and do it. I mean it. I would say the three ingredients to successful marriage is surrender, capitulation and retreat.  If you've got those three things --  [Laughter.]

Matalin: Spoken like a true liberal. What a martyr. Faith, family and good wine. That's how we do it.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo credits: Top, Getty Images; bottom, Tom Campbell

Comments

[gerrrg]

You got the transcript wrong; Matalin said, "We're an enlightened MOM-archy."

(You're right. And that is funnier. CNN's transcript says "monarchy," so we used that at first. Thanks for the sharp ears -- reading.)

[Gravel]

If in your mind you're just hearing the blah blah that the Peanuts kids hear every time an adult speaks, living with a nut winger is feasible. Voting like one is not.

[cshining]

This is no joke -- I was voluntarily married to a conservative in 1994. I did not realize I was a liberal at the time -- I just knew that I loved his ability to be principled and to have opinions that he could articulate.

Our marriage was the hardest during the Kerry campaign (I was not crazy about Bill Clinton's shenanigans at the time). I just resigned myself to not even mentioning politics until he got beat.

I backed John Edwards. Whoops.

Then Obama won and there is no need for me to say anything. Except that my husband's mind was getting "Fox-washed." Solution: I cancelled the cable package that has Fox News.

Now we get along again just fine.

[Carlos]

Because it's an act. They've been doing it for 20 years now. It is so tired. Does anyone outside the Beltway still find it amusing?

You write that King "finally" asked them to spell out the punchline of their joke. Are you kidding? I have heard this same exact exchange a million times before, usually on a Sunday morning.

(well, still nice to have you here.)

[Callie]

Because they're both so ugly.

[Ali]

I've often wondered what Mary saw in Jim, but if it works, that's great. She is
so sweet and likable and he is so mean spirited, but then, that's how he makes the money being that way. I truly think he talks hateful for the money and probably really doesn't believe what he says. I do the same, point out things where others fear to tread

[Barada]

To Cshining---typical liberal response, if you don't agree with something just cancel it!

[Rick]

Come on! We all know how this works! Must be great sex!

[Jenner]

So Barada, you must have missed the part where the conservatives tried to cancel planned parenthood because they didn't agree with it. How about their proposal to dissolve the EPA into the dept. of energy because they don't agree with the scientific community on climate change. I could keep going. If you're going to arbitrarily throw around generalizations you better make sure they don't apply to yourself more so than those you accuse.