James Carville is embracing the “political hack” label Sen. Bernard Sanders gave him Wednesday night, saying it’s better than being a “communist” in an obvious dig against the socialist presidential candidate.

“Last night on CNN, Bernie called me a political hack,” Mr. Carvilletold Vanity Fair contributor and host of Snapchat’s “Good Luck America” Peter Hamby in a phone interview Thursday, Twitchy reported.

“That’s exactly who the [expletive] I am,” Mr. Carville said. “I am a political hack. I am not an ideologue. I am not a purist. He thinks it’s a pejorative. I kinda like it. At least I’m not a communist.”

Mr. Carville, one of former President Bill Clinton’s famous “War Room” political strategists, has been sounding the alarm on the Democratic Party’s lurch to the left ahead of the 2020 presidential election and has stated that a leftist candidate such as Mr. Sanders would lose against President Trump.

Appearing on CNN Wednesday night, Mr. Sanders responded that Mr. Carville is part of the very Democratic establishment that he seeks to disrupt.

“James, in all due respect, is a political hack who said very terrible things when he was working for Clinton against Barack Obama,” the Vermont senator said. “I think he said some of the same things. Look, we are taking on the establishment. This is no secret to anybody.”