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The Big Tent Loses a Pole

By dcmediagirl on February 26, 2009 at 1:56 PM in Current Affairs

Watching Republicans demonstrate “inclusiveness” sure can be funny sometimes. Case in point: Governor Bobby Jindal’s ludicrous and much-maligned GOP response to the Obama speech, a travesty which has been written about authoritatively by Larry and Susan. But it’s not quite time to let this gift that keeps on giving go..not just yet.

Bobby Jindal is not an example of the GOP’s crude tokenism a la Michael Steele. But when I refer to Bobby Jindal I’m talking about the guy who used to be a Congressman and is now Governor of Louisiana, not the It’s a Small World animatronic “Bobby Jindal” action figure trotted out the other night. The Bobby Jindal I’m referring to is so wonkish he’d be the first guy to get pantsed in class. He’s not the guy you’d expect to be stupid enough to give a tone-deaf speech like the one the other night and deliver it like he was talking to a kindergarten class about the Importance of Good Citizenship. The Bobby Jindal I know is a dullard, not a fool.

But blame should be assigned to all the guilty parties. Jindal jumped at the chance to deliver the response and, like a good conservative Republican, displayed congitive dissonance in all its glory. He seems to have forgotten that when Katrina hit Republicans were in charge of the federal government he so disparages. But never mind that. And never mind the tiresome, cliche-ridden pap some hack wrote for him.

While you can’t stop Republicans from returning to the tax cut well, how about a moratorium on trotting out racial bona fides to make your point? Obama is a black man. I get it. Bobby Jindal is Indian-American. I get that too. But what does that have to do with the price of eggs, so to speak?

But ultimately the high expectations for Jindal are the fault of the so-called political press corps. They were the ones who sold each other this bill of goods, convincing each other that Bobby Jindal was the New New Thing while ignoring some basic facts, like that pesky exorcism experience Jindal himself proudly wrote about, or how he has negative charisma and that he’s kind of irritating. Despite his complete lack of experience, Jindal was seriously talked about as a potential McCain running mate. Now that Jindal has laid a massive egg, maybe even the press will understand that all this talk of Jindal 2012 is, shall we say, a bit overwrought and premature.

Let the backlash continue! It couldn’t have happened to a nicer bunch of people.

  • termo

    “GOP’s crude tokenism a la Michael Steele”

    In the future you may want to do some research before putting out a perverse assumption like that.

    What was the political party of segregation?

    What political party did the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. belong to?

    What political party does Richard Parsons and Colin Powell belong to?

    What political party pushed for the end of slavery and for voting rights for African Americans?

    There is a reason why there are many people of color who have chosen to belong to the Republican Party and to use a crass characterization that comes out of the left wing loon/Reverand Wright/Al Sharpton archives is not responsible.

    Jundal layed an egg with that speech but understand, unlike the Obamination Jindal got accepted to Harvard and Yale through the front door and did get a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford. He is everything Obama is not and never will be. Also, don’t count him out just yet.

    • xax

      Thank you for this response. This tokenism is BS and is frankly the cause of what stokes the conservative dislike of liberals. Jindal and Steele are men who have done some good things in their service, particularly Jindal. He turned Louisiana around. Period. They have accomplishments which have propelled them to their current positions. Please stop with a notion and implication that the entire GOP is racist and not open to women and minorities. It’s insulting. It makes you no better than that woman that likened it to the confederacy.

      • Obama: Dubya II – Electric Boogaloo

        Exactly. It buys into Obama’s BS about the republicans saying, “…oh did we mention he’s BLACK!”

      • trixta

        Yeah, the Dems sure can’t claim to be the party of difference and inclusivity anymore. Didn’t they write off a whole swath of their own constituency — women and gays — this past election?

        About Jindal, he lost an opportunity in his response (in tone and message) to Obama’s SOU address, but at least he didn’t come off as a Messiah or as God’s gift to the world. The guy is smart and genuine, although he can be a little annoying to listen to. But I’m utterly sick of BO’s voice and the arrogance and self-importance that fuel his ego.

        Jindal may or may not be a diamond in the rough (we shall see in the next two years), but Obama is QZ all the way!

      • sfhillary

        How many African-American Republicans are there in Congress as we speak?

        Did you guess zero? Correct!

        You can bleat about Michael Steele (with his big plans to offer Republican conservatism in a “hip hop setting”) or Bobby Jindal (with his exciting ideas about how Hurricane Katrina proves we shouldn’t rely on government to help us in our hour of need), but the bottom line is, if it weren’t for white southern males, today’s Republican Party couldn’t win any election anywhere, period. No minorities anywhere will vote for a Republican. I’m pretty sure that there is no state in this union where women in general voted for McCain. The GOP, at present and probably for years to come, is a white male Southern party. And tokens like Steele won’t change that.

        (I won’t call Jindal a token; he got where he is through his own talent and, I suppose, charisma. I’m sure not very scared of him in ’12 anymore).

        • Obama: Dubya II – Electric Boogaloo

          Here is where you have to seperate facts from the BS….

          What exactly have the Dems done for the black community? Offer them more welfare? Did the standard of living for poor blacks in Obama’s neighborhood do any better? Nope.

          • sfhillary

            Rationalize all you want. The fact is that America is becoming a more multi-ethnic country, and these days nobody but white males votes Republican. Sorry.

            • Obama: Dubya II – Electric Boogaloo

              Although, notice that you don’t really dispute the fact that Democrats have done jack shit for the black community, you just repeat the stereotype.

              • cathnealon

                You’re right, they can’t respond to the fact that the Dems have done nothing but keep AA’s in an infantile state of dependency. These same elitists use the AA’s to make themselves feel superior–that’s their whole motivation and AA’s don’t get it. I work in the inner city with poor AA’s on Medicaid, food stamps, disability payments, etc–it’s like there is no happiness in their lives. They ‘look’ downtrodden and addicted to the cycle of dependence just like drugs. I had a 14 year old just recently with 2 children, one years old and a newborn. Although that’s the youngest we’ve had the number of mother that come that are 15 and 16 with children is astounding and it is very common.So what is Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson doing for these people, NOTHING. They’re on ego trips -all of these so called compassionate Dems–you’ll never see them living among the poor like Mother Teresa–they are the worst hypocrites.

                • lark

                  good to know

            • Patience

              Sen. McCain got over 46% of the vote — obviously not all were white males.

            • KintheNorthwest

              Strange that it was the Southern Republicans that did the most for Civil Rights in the south.

            • TeakwoodKite

              You could have fooled me. SFHillary, that is typical coming from you.

              You want to “lump” the white man as a solitary endangered political creature?

              Question, How do you resolve the fact that the majority of the Democratic “black” caucus are against Federally funded abortion? That is a republican plank.

              Please do not make such stereotypical comments as they betray your lack off depth.
              And kindly ram that multi-cultral drivel where your sun don’t shine.

            • http://firefox AnnieCollier

              Hmmmm, how about life long Democratic white females? A real liberal as opposed to the leftist Marxist liberal pretenders? I understand how we were taken in by all that BS in the 60′s but really…time to move on.

        • http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

          You need to get to know Zo.

          http://www.youtube.com/user/machosauceproduction

          one of my favs:
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yvc0tYG_YpA

          I disagree that the only republicans are white southern males. I have conservative female friends, and they vote republican. And San Diego is a conservative county. There are lots of conservatives around the country.

        • Jude

          Actually, Michael Steele ran for the Senate in 2006 in Maryland, and lost.

          Barack Obama went to Maryland and campaigned against him, asking AA voters not to vote on racial lines.

          Barack Obama then went to Tennessee to ask AA voters to vote for fellow AA Harold Ford, saying that he “was lonely in the Senate all by himself…”

          The majority of blacks have been hoodwinked into believing only Democrat pols care about them. Hopefully, Steele and Jindal can change that.

          • TeakwoodKite

            he “was lonely in the Senate all by himself…”

            Ha. He thought he was lonely then…

            It won’t be long before the room clears out. Being boo’ed at SOTU is an Omen.

            Well said Jude.

        • Seattle Moss

          SF

          it weren’t for white southern males, today’s Republican Party couldn’t win any election anywhere

          When it comes to business it really doesn’t matter what color you are..
          Obama is bad for business as I have been saying for over a year now.

    • csam

      And may I add that it was the Republican dominated Congress that passed the first Civil Rights Act of 1866 that gave further rights to the freed slaves. But President Johnson, a Democrat, vetoed it.

      The KKK formed in the heavily Democratic south; even President Wilson, a Democrat, praised the KKK and allowed them to march in Washington. He also praised Birth of a Nation as an accurate masterpiece.

      And it was JFK, who while in Congress, refused to support President Eisenhower’s (a Republican) 1957 Civil Rights Act and voted against it.

      Really, OP, please do some research and understand the history of both parties before assigning the “racism: meme to the GOP.

      • candymarl

        People, people. Stop with the historic accuracy will ya?

        Oh yeah, since Obama is being compared to Lincoln these days the brilliant Republican conservatives are busily tearing him down. Sure Lincoln didn’t fight the Civil War because of slavery. But when Lincoln traveled South, after the Civil War, and saw the faces of slavery he was moved and admitted that he was wrong not to take a stand against slavery.

        So who’s next George Washington? Why yes. The Republicans are ripping him to shreds also. He was a slave owner! No mention of the fact that he freed his slaves in his Will and they were actually let go. Something their hero, Thomas Jefferson, didn’t do.

        So who’s left? Back in the day it was the Democratic party that fought tooth and nail to preserve slavery, Jim Crow, and deny black folks equal rights. But let’s not talk about that. Especially when it comes to reparations. Maybe that’s why the Democrats have pushed for them. They want to finally wipe the slate clean.

        • TeakwoodKite

          Bullseye candymarl, I hear ya.

      • tminu

        And Eisenhower (R) forwarded more civil rights than any other president.

      • trixta

        Okay, but as I understand it the Repubs in the 19C were the new liberal Party (headed by Lincoln), and the Dems were the old conservative Party. Over time, these parties evolved ideologically into their opposite. But some might argue that this evolution must be looked at in a more nuanced way.

        I’m glad this past year has led me to some ideological self-critique and soul searching. I will never look at both Parties in the same way nor swallow wholesale one ideological view point over another. To do so would be to lose one’s critical faculties and skepticism.

    • bill

      And Senator Dirsken from Illinois was LBJ’s partner in getting landmark Civil Rights legislation passed in the 1960s. About 80% of the Republicans voted for it, while far fewer Democrats did. Then there is the Rev. Archibald Carey “I Have a Dream” speech at the 1952 Republican Convention.

      I think the Republicans were more supportive of Civil Rights through the 1960s.

      Being a middle of the road person, I like what I read here.

      • bill

        As Republican Senate leader he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s, including helping to write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Open Housing Act of 1968, both landmarks of Civil Rights legislation.

        from Wikipedia.

        I hope the Republicans can re-embrace their Civil Right heritage.

        • sfhillary

          Don’t hold your breath; there hasn’t been a Republican presidential candidate since the Sixties riots who ran without at least a coded appeal to white racism. I know, I know, you PUMAs believe that it was Obama, not McCain, who ran a racist campaign. Good luck selling the rest of the country on that fascinating theory.

          • Obama: Dubya II – Electric Boogaloo

            Coded racism like Obama’s pastor, “white man’s need runs a world in need”?

            People know that Obama is a racist who sat in a hate whitey church for 20 years, but since he’s the black guy he gets the free pass. But believe me, the public knows better.

            Of course, it’s easy to whip the public into shape by constantly insinuating that if you reject Obama you’re a tied in the wool KKK style white racist.

          • Animal Control

            Yes it all change with Nixon’s “Southern Strategy” of 68

          • termo

            Keep drinking the revisionist Kool Aid.

            The only racist person in the last Presidential race was Barack Obama.

            When the Reverend Wright issue was about to sink him he gave a speech in Philadelphia and intentionally shifted the focus to race – even though the issue with Wright had to do with anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism.

            Obama pulled the race card on Clinton as he did on McCain.

            Democrats have been playing the race card against the GOP for decades and have never done anything to help African Americans.

          • http://firefox AnnieCollier

            sf: You seem silly lately. Your argument doesn’t hold water. Obama is half white but rejects his white heritage through his words and actions. Wonder whether we’ll see any white artists/musicians perform at the WH? He’s as racist as they come. He has an identity crisis.

            In the olden days, when I used to watch Oprah, I remember a program about racism within the black community and how they color code those of their own race. Light color is more acceptable and considered more attractive, successful than very dark skin. This also takes place in Indian caste society as well; light skinned northerners higher than dark southerns. This program may have started over a discussion of Michael Jackson bleaching his skin. I have also known people who entered into mixed race marriages who were ostracized by black families. I am not arguing for this or that this should be any standard, merely pointing out facts about attitudes.

            That door swings both ways.

    • Sally

      Bravo!!!

    • Obama: Dubya II – Electric Boogaloo

      What political party did the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. belong to?

      Once again, it sure wasn’t the Democratics. Toward the end of his life he was calling for a seperate labor party because both the GOPers and Democrats were behind the Vietnam War.

      But here we go, the stereotypes come into play and King’s legacy is thrown down the crapper of history by making MLK a poster boy for the Democratic party, and thus capitalism and war, by incorrect association.

      He must be rolling over in his grave.

  • obamastolemyboyfriend

    If the MSM wants to push Jindal on us, watch out! We saw what happened in ’08, didn’t we?

  • lark

    which has been written about authoritatively by Larry and Susan

    Oh I get it, dd, they wrote authoritatively but we wrote as uninformed.

    I think we the people who visit this blog and who basically complete or rather correct what’s missing or is wrongly proposed by our brave leaders should not get distorted.

    Here is one for you. Any of these articles posted by Larry or Susan and the rest of the crew, who are deeply appreciated, is only the beginning. Their articles are not only incomplete without our input but if you notice the input, it is obvious that most of what they write is authoritatively marginal in its accuracy. It is only after we build the articles up that a true picture of what’s correct emerges. The last posting is what completes the thought and gives its final blessing.

  • John

    What was the political party of segregation?

    What political party did the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. belong to?

    What political party does Richard Parsons and Colin Powell belong to?

    What political party pushed for the end of slavery and for voting rights for African Americans?

    What political party do 90% of African-Americans currently belong to, and why?

    • Sally

      Because Blacks are totally brainwashed and purposely undereducated by Democrat nonsense….pandering to their sense of victimhood. Democrats have been poverty pimps for decades….that was their answer to changing their well deserved reputation as racists….be condescending patronizing poverty pimps and blame their history on the awkward but moral middle class-oriented Republicans….and the black race has gone downhill ever since. Interesting coincidence eh?

      To you crazy lefties: keep on showing your utter ignorance of history and your true hateful nature by blaming us evil Conservative…by destroying us you WILL destroy yourselves. We are the only pillar ensuring true freedom reigns in this country and are the only ones who revere and respect the constituion in its original and intended form. Without us the middle class will disappear and give way to (already is) an Neo-Marxist aristocracy and a squalid low class–they need the low classes as their “raison d’etre”.

      The last laugh will ultimately be on you, the Neo Marxists…..Leftist politics always cannibalizes itself and fervently so. You, with your grand aspirations to be the new aristocracy as you pretend to care about the “down trodden”, will get crushed. I promise you. I know from first hand experience. Laugh at us now will you can.

      Its really quite pathetic that you “intellectual” don’t get what 100 years of history is scream out to you.

  • Seattle Moss

    Republicans need to just hold tight and watch the world change.
    Obama is a radical as most on this blog suspected.
    Raising taxes on business at a time when the economy is falling like a dagger and proposing revolutionary changes which will destroy existing industries through carbon taxes and increased oversight and regulations is going to kill business.
    OBAMA IS BAD FOR BUSINESS!!

    The Republicans need to be the party of tradition and Business.
    The backlash will come against obama and the democrats who are destroying the ability to make money in this country.

    • beebop

      Raising business taxes makes about as much sense as cutting taxes to wage war (a la shrub)

      The thing about this is that the labels are getting hard to understand. Democrap?(sic) Republiscam? (sic) What little uh ….. um …. a ….. difference …… and …… un ….. dignity there was in the old “D” label has been beaten on the Pelis/0bomba/Frank/Dodd/Kennedy rocks of cronyism, ear marks and lousey government. If the Republiscams (sic) just use their inside voices and point out the lies consistently, the drip, drip, drip of shine the light should start to have its effects.

    • Ellen D

      I don’t think the Republicans have to scramble to come up with the anti-Obama with the requisite dark skin. I think we just have to watch Obama overreach.

  • lark

    and watch the world change

    Right. The middle class will be dismantled. What does that mean? No more carpet floors. One car per family. No more leather sofas. One sheet per bed. Bi-weekly laundry washing. Once a day toilet flushing. Half a sandwich for lunch and half an egg for breakfast. 3 channels on direct tv. 2 movie theaters in town. Disney neighborhood. shower twice a week, shaving bi-weekly, no flossing.

  • http://deleted Aaron

    Using your flawed logic the Republicans should never have anyone other than a while male represent them since they are perceived as the white man’s party. I’m not defending Jindal but I keep hearing that no matter what Republicans do they are racist. What a joke! Would you ever say that the majority of people in prison are minorities so all minorities are crooks? Of course not! I not defending Republicans either because I’m an independent but the idea that only the part of identity politics is open minded and inclusive is a joke. Just ask Hillary and Bill about how they were treated during the primaries.

  • Ellen D

    So, apparently, Bobby Jindal is competent but comes across as a wonk. Isn’t the fact that the electorate and media cannot separate style from substance what has given us Obama.
    Let’s not even have Presidential elections, lets just have Dancing With The Stars.

    • Winston

      Good point Ellen.

      NQ has gone down hill thanks to articles like this. dcmediagirl has in so many words called us racists according to a peculiar kind of circular logic.

      1. a non-white republican candidate means republicans are racists.

      2. a white republican candidate means republicans are racists.

      I HEREBY CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION TO NQ.

      It was nice knowing you Sarah in Italy, and Rabble Rouser Rev Amy. I challenge you to denounce this article in full; otherwise your silence will mean to me that you support this divisive (yet totally authoritative) garbage by dcmediagirl.

      dcmediagirl, an obvious hard-core partisan liberal, is doing the same thing that Obama did to Hillary and Bill. Are you going to let this pass? Where do you stand on this?

      Is race baiting only a sin when it is directed at Hillary? That seems to be the case. How Sad!

  • Ignignokt

    Jindal has driven out demons, while Palin has been ritually protected against witchcraft? Together they’d be unstoppable!

    Maybe I’ve wandered into the wrong tent.

    • JustMe

      and we all know where the pole went?

      SF stick the pole back where it belongs and clear off..

  • Mountain girl

    At first I was disappointed that Sarah Palin did not go to the governor’s conference and did not give the speech. But now, I realize it was a brilliant political move on her part. She is back in Alaska doing the work, while the jealous GOP men lay goose eggs trying to get attention for themselves. Go Sarah! See you in 2012.

    • Docelder

      She may well be the first President of Alaska. I see no need for her to participate in this national charade of a party that abandoned her right before McCain practically abandoned her. Better yet, she could help form a reform party, or a Freedom party whatever we would call it. In my mind, the Democrat and Republican parties are the same in that all they really accomplish is the perpetuation of the parties and the system. They scare the middle class from one side to the other, just distracting them enough to think they are participants… which they are not. The middle class in America are no more participants than they have representation. Yes, Palin in 2012 but with a third party.

      • lark

        Not a bad idea at all. It makes a lot of sense. It is something that can go forward. I think it has great potential, specially if women, conservative, centrist and pro-choice can migrate to it with passion.

        • skinny malinky

          “…centrist and pro-choice”

          Guess that leaves out Palin.

          • lark

            Is a new party about re-industrializing America, and about living free from government intrusion. Everyone is welcome that hates government being the boss of you.

            Is a party where men are no longer the bosses of woman. Women and men in shared responsibilities. Women will pick two fruits instead of one. One will be given to the man and the woman will keep one. Each will make an independent decision to eat or not to eat and each will have independent eyes to measure truths and consequences. No more guilt by association.

          • http://firefox AnnieCollier

            Wonder why all the bots are back again? You’d think they’d have learned by now that this is not a site for conversion.

        • Ignignokt

          Alaska is currently looking at a $1.2 billion deficit for 2009.

          Alaska receives more federal money than residents of Alaska pay out in federal taxes. For every $1 Alaska pays in federal taxes, the state gets back $1.84 in federal funds. It ranks 3rd among the most heavily federally subsidized states in the union.

          This, despite enormous oil industry revenues.

          These are not the makings of an independent nation.

          • csam

            Alaska has a $7 billion surplus; the 1.2 billion in your post is the budget shortfall from this year to last year’s, but overall, Alaska has billions of dollars in its reserve – and that’s with the falling price of oil per barrel.

            Gov. Palin has already forward-funded education through 2010, so they’re fine in that regard.

            When oil was at $135 a barrel, Palin urged the legislature to save the money as surplus and not spend it, in that she anticipated the cost per barrel would plunge. That type of thinking is what helps them today; while other states are facing billions in deficits, Alaska, as of January of 2009, had $7 billion in reserve.

            • mary

              csam
              In terms of fiscal prudence, Palin has what it takes to govern. Unlike Baracks, she’s got something known as “EXECUTIVE EXPERIENCE”, eh? I don’t agree with her ultra-conservative Northern-Bible-Belt social views, but I got to hand it to her when it comes to executive experience and governing fairly! She voted in favorable to gay rights and pro-abortion legislation–against her own principles. Why? She said it would be “unconstitutional” to vote as she personally had wished. But her greatest deficit was born Female!

          • Ferd Berfle

            If you were smarter, you would have thought through your silly-ass comment prior to posting it, ignorinski. But, alas, you’re just another slack-jawed Oblahblahbot posting the words emanating from the voices in your head.

      • mary

        Doecelder

        If this country had a THIRD POLITICAL PARTY like Canada it would be far more progressive. Only “minority governments” in Canada has given its people access to Universal Health Care and they spend 9% of their GDP as agaisnt the l6% Americans spend on their 55% more costly privatized health care that leaves 50 million uninsured and makes Medical Bills the no. One cause of bankruptcies–unheard in Canada.
        Who was voted the most popular Canadian?

        Tommy Douglas (who died a decade ago)–he was the Third Party (New Democrats) parliamentarian who pushed the Liberal Party (then minority) to adopt the Universal National Health care package.

  • Sassy

    The media fell all over themselves to promote BO and defeat Hillary…that was so wrong of them, supposedly at the time!
    Now they choose to promote Jindal and then ridicule him…and that meets with approval!
    Apparently racism is contagious!

  • Linda C.

    When the Whig party collapsed, its big business for the rich platform moved into the republican party. Therefore the Republican Party actually contained two camps: The pro-business and the progressive liberals
    The Progressive wing of the Republican party left with Teddy Roosevelt after the nomination was stolen from Teddy Roosevelt and given to pro-business Taft. Teddy Roosevelt ran the Bull Moose Party effectively splitting the vote enabling Woodrow Wilson to gain the presidency. The remnants of the Bull Moose Progressives joined the Democratic party. Thus the democratic party was split between the progressives, former Bull Moose Republicans, and the Traditional Southern white conservatives. When LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights Act in the 1960′s he infamously said that the south would be lost to the democratic party for a generation. This was true as the previous southern conservative democrats moved into the republican camp and aligned itself with the pro business Republican Party.

    We have been suffering with the curious mix of religious nationalism, pro business, screw the worker, money for the few elite, and saving our souls by poking their noses in our bedrooms ever since.

    • http://! stodgie

      so what did the dimocrats do for you lately? huh? i remind you linda that the dims are screwing the average americans right now. pelosi and gang are NOT YOUR FRIENDS. i could write a never ending saga of all the mistakes the repubs made from their lack of oversight of wall street, greed and war along with tax cuts. but never ever think that the democrat today has anything to do with the party of fdr. never thinkt that!

  • felizarte

    Individual freedom for individuals to be the bewst they could be; making the life for themselves that they are capable of within the law, as guaranteed in the constitution, made this a great country. Erosion of individual freedoms that provide incentives to excel is what is destroying this country. Until the majority of Americans resolved to restore these principles, I’m afraid the decline will be steady and irreversible.

  • Patience

    I finally watched Gov. Jindal’s rebuttal and now I’m shocked at the reaction it got – here on NQ especially.

    Yes, his tone was chirpy and sing-songish – his parents are natives of India and he grew up in Louisiana, for crying out loud!

    I found his speech to be no less specific and no more partisan and cliched than the address he was rebutting.

    I know very little about him since he’s so young and new to the national political scene but by many accounts he’s some kind of wunderkind. If it’s true that he’s accomplished a lot in LA, and with bi-partisan effort, that’s no small feat. It’s basically a poor state with many tough problems to contend with.

    Therefore I’m withholding my judgement about Jindal since the criticism is extremely reminiscent of attacks on Gov. Palin’s vocal cadence and use of colloquialisms. I guess the majority of Americans want sermons with profligate promises these days.

    Considering the alternative as represented by the current POTUS with his spendthrift, political pay-offs and hypocritical flip-flopping, I think Gov. Jindal deserves a break on this rebuttal issue. He has plenty of time to hone his rhetorical skills – something somewhere between his voice and Bush’s sneering monotone is probably an appropriate, acceptable tenor.

    And BTW, I recall the mayor of New Orleans and then-governor of LA also performed miserably when it came to Katrina – they were upstaged though by Bush’s/Brownie’s/FEMA’s incredible ineptitude – but fell far short nevertheless.

  • KintheNorthwest

    Lately I think this site has gone overboard on their criticism of the GOP and its people. One article on Jindal and his speech would have been enough, two ok but it seems like every time I have come over to see what is new on this site today its another article on Jindal’s speech. If you have a gripe with the GOP then start hammering away at something else besides one speech.
    Hmmmm I guess no one wants to ck out some of the other new issues going on around the country or new bills. In the last week alone Obama and his Democratic friends have done many many crappy things, yet I dont think I have seen this many articles in regards to just one single event.
    Hey until this last election I didnt have much good to say about the Republicans, mostly because of Bush and because I was a Democrat through and through. But lately I dont think the Democrats in general, not just Obama, are living up to any of their promises. From the looks of things it looks like the democrats are using their majority to do just about anything they want to do and calling it Bi-Partisian.
    Until Jindal does another speech or dumb act how about we look at some other issues.

    • Linda C.

      The Republicans are disconnected from themselves at the moment. We can look and see how Rep. Boehner conducts himself. There is one dude estranged from himself. That is the representative for all of the spending in Iraq because we cannot put a price on freedom. However, he is just down right flabbergasted about the stimulus bill as being too expensive. Boehner has a problem with tax and spend, but the previous habit of borrow and spend was all right with him..

      I have a wait and see attitude about the stimulus and other such measures. Personally I am against any tax cuts, but that is just me.

  • TeakwoodKite

    DcMediagirl, while the party apparatus of Rebulicrats is consistant in its pursuit of hypocracy, the citizens of the US have no choice but to move on.

    Why buy the cow when the milk is free? I enjoyed your post. Thanks.

    Funny the Obots are out tonight…

  • mary

    Jindal sounded to me (I’m not being ironic) a hell of a lot better than Barry S. did a few years back. He’s got till 2012 to learn how to USE A TELEMPROPTER!!! And psssst, he can hire Jonny Favreau for a few more beer bottles and a Hustler subscription, eh?

  • kgirl

    Welcome back dcmediagirl. I hadn’t noticed that you’d been back for about a month, missed your articles.

  • corage

    i guess some of you didn’t see jindal the day after his not so good performance.

    notice no teleprompter and not one umm.

    http://hiderefer.com/?http://hotair.com/archives/2009/02/25/video-jindal-take-2/

  • Sally

    If you only knew how mentally ill you neo-marxist really are….you’ll snap out of it just before you’re put on a cattlecar but it’ll be too late. Believe me, I’ll have something to laugh about when those days come…and they will I promise you.

    I just wish you elitists realize how hypocritical and stupid you look when you pretend you’re for the middle class and the low classes when you so overtly disrepect/disdain every group of people under the sun (and what they believe in)…except those that spew your religious neo-marxist doctrine. Neo-Marxist don’t believe in your right to BE and BE FREE, we do….go figure you’d pick the wrong side.

    You stupidly keep thinking you’re fighting the establishment when you are the establishment, you neo-marxists ! Your type owns the media, hi tech industries, advertising, and has a politically correct monopoly on the WEST….but us anti-gov people are the ones you crazies fear the most…go figure! Only true ignoramuses and the weak minded bite the hand that feeds them.

  • cynic

    In the end Obama is just another sterotype

    A black man living in public housing expecting others to pay for what he thinks he deserves.

    Unfair to most black men.

    • lark

      Why is it unfair if according to your own words that is what he is doing?

  • cynic

    How droll. An imposter cynic.

    • lark

      I hope you get the impostor banned.

  • Sally

    Neo-Liberals + History = Swine + pearls

    Bet you did not know that the true LIBERAL used to mean “one for limited government and individual freedom” before ignorant, closet racist, you indoctrinated fools as yourselves drank the Progressive KOOLAID. Then LIBERAL morphed into to meaning anything your doctrine needs it to mean at any given time. “Progressive” used to mean and still does mean experimental politics based on scientific perameters arbitrarily arrived at to suit the elites vision of EUTOPIA. Historically, its proponents very much admired and raved over experimental politics and eugenics such as those of Lenin, Stalin, Mussolini, Hitler, Wilson, FDR, Johnson, McCarthy (yes he was a progressive, look it up), Moose party, Neo-Cons, and 95% of current day Democrats (all of these flagrantly leftist movements). Progressive still does mean the same things but today it also goes under the name of LIBERAL to get away from its evil past. If you don’t believe me go look at what praises your celebrate hero elites wrote for Hitler, Communism, Wilson, Mussolini in the NYT from 1910 to 1940.

    While you’re at it why don’t you check out how excited your celebrated Progressive Heros (eg Shaw, Webb, WEB duBois, Ellis, Margaret Sanger, Croly, Wilson, HG Wells, Huxley, FDR, Rockefeller, Keynes, Holmes, Burtrand Russell etc.) were about the science of EUGENICS…they loved it! My favorite is Government backed Margaret SANGERS “N-E-G-*-* PROJECT” to eliminate US AAs via systematic abortion… and it seems to still have a great following). Hitler after all only did what UK and American Department of Eugenics were promoting in writing. NOW take a guess who was against eugenics…us stupid unsophisticated conservative republicans, of course.

    All Progressives have in common their desire to manipulate (via dictatorship of the Marxist Aristocracy) the masses according to whatever scientific fad THEY come up with…..and certainly not deal with people according to the tenant of our constitution or bill of rights. All progressives then and now have always mocked and disdained our constitution, except when it serves to further their purposes. To Illiberals, science is GOD and anything is justifiable as long as it, not you “EVOLVE” and as long as the scientific method rather that the constitution is applied…no matter what the collateral damage on people may be, its justified. I’m not the one who said so…they are.

    Interestingly, Clinton and JFK are the only ones who did not adhere to the “Progressive” mantra…I respect and acknowledge that. To them their fellow citizen were people NOT pawns to be experimented with. They were independant thinkers not brainwashed maniacs….something I cannot say for most of today’s ILLIBERAL politicians or not.

    The way illiberals dehumanize regular people that oppose your doctrine (eg Palin, HC, the freedom-loving conservative, the Hill billy) is frightening but expected. You became that which you feared–nasty and evil foot soldiers of just another organized collective doctrine (marxism)…one that is responsible for killing more people and causing more misery in 100 years than any formal religion ever has in 2000 years combined….BRAVO what a successful 100-year experiment!

    You don’t know this ….but then again what really do you know at all about History of Western Civilizaton…NOTHING BUT WHAT THE EMPTY SUITS TELL YOU.

  • daisyjane

    There is only one political party that has gone to war to ensure civil rights for blacks.

    And it’s the Republicans. You can look it up.

    • Sally

      You look it up!

  • daisyjane

    and while I’m at it, this is my response to my sweetie in Chicago, who has suddenly become a bit conservative. He received a nasty forward about Bobby Jindal:

    Jeff, Here is the problem with the premise of the article and the people who forward stuff like this: The people have confused running something big and important with the American Idol-ization of public figures. The mistaken assumption that style is more important than substance. Bobby Jindal is running an entire state, still recovering from Katrina, in the midst of the recession that has gripped the entire nation and world. And he is doing it better than most. http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=9906943 In fact, Louisiana currently ranks #1 in jobs created, even during this recession. He has also eliminated the legendary corruption in his state. Contrast that with Obama, who simply packed up Chicago corruption and brought it with him to D.C! Tax cheats, lobbyists (after we were promised NONE), and rampant conflicts of interest, such as Clinton, and now, even his latest nominee for Commerce, Gary Locke. He too will be exposed for his conflicts of interest due to his lobbying for Communist China.It’s painfully obvious by his first six weeks or so that this man hasn’t managed so much as a pizza joint. He is so far over head on every single big issue he is facing that it’s not even funny. All the two bit dictators around the world are running their mouth, taunting him. Our standing in the international community has not improved ONE bit according to overseas polls. China is threatening to stop buying our treasuries and because of his reckless spending our bond rating is now being threated. Consider that an economic apocalypse, should it happen. He is also on the verge of destroying our currency. This is what happens when you elect someone whose only experience is running his mouth. THAT….is his talent. Did you notice that from election day until the present, each time this guy opens his mouth, the stock market tanks? The gang on wall street doesn’t care about style points. All they study is data, data, and more data. Wait until this economic nitwit learns of the unintended consequences of his Robin Hood mortgage plan. It’s going to be ugly. It’s time for the grownups in this country to put down the crackpipe. Turn off MSNBC, CNN, Fox, the big 3 networks and spend your free time reading financial papers and watching the financial channels. Some “Hope” and “Change” eh? Your pal had better hope he has some change left after “Amateur Hour at 1600 Pennsylvania” is done playing.

  • Sally

    oh boy!

  • DAB

    John Stewart did a funny bit on Jindall where he compared him to Mister Rogers. Right now I feel like a woman without a country (or at least a political party).

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

      That’s exactly how I feel as well. I am a registered Democrat but my party is no longer the Democratic Party. The Republican party is just as bad, except on the other extreme.

      Jindal was awful. Simply awful. He told me nothing. He offered no solutions and he somehow even managed to make Barack obama look good to me, and believe me, that wasn’t easy.

      I will stay a Democrat so that I can vote in primaries for centrists. Other than that, I can see why the number of Independents in America is growing every day. One day, they will be bigger than these two useless parties if they continue on with this crap.

      The only difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican party is which way they screw us.

  • cynic

    The only difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican party is which way they screw us.

    A significant difference may be emerging. I just heard on FOX News (Cavuto) that there’s growing support in the RNC for official retributions against the 3 republican senators who voted in favor of the stimulus package. They would be stripped of their republican status and would receive no further support from the RNC or state republican organizations. It is apparently irrelevant that the 3 voted in accordance with their consciences, and likely found the decision to go against their party very difficult. Michael Steele, chairman of the RNC, has publicly stated that he is open to the idea.

    The House democrats who voted against the stimulus package certainly received no such treatment from their own party.

    • JustMe

      No different than the Dems being pressured into backing BO in the primaries? Some being paid off some threatened with their seats etc etc etc…
      That’s how we got the less experienced in the White House

      So true
      The only difference between the Democratic Party and the Republican party is which way they screw us.

    • http://uppitywoman08.wordpress.com Uppity Woman

      And this is supposed to excite me?

  • cynic

    Get out of line with as a democrat, and they’ll smile and offer you a cookie and a glass of Kool-Aid.

    Get out of line as a republican, and it’s a mandatory cup of hemlock.

  • cynic

    Oops.

    Get out of line with as a democrat…