Bobby Jindal doesn't scare me
The rift in the GOP became very apparent yesterday on "Meet the Press" as Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal faced off with Florida's Gov. Charlie Crist over the stimulus package. Crist welcomed the package, saying his state needed the help, that unemployment lines were long and doing nothing is not acceptable.
But Jindal, who is obviously running for President, doesn't want to take any stimulus money. Instead he wanted to offer conservative-based solutions...he started talking about the need for a package plan with more tax cuts, especially capital gains tax cuts.
Someone pointed out that we'd just had eight years of that philosophy, and it hadn't worked very well to help create jobs for the middle class.
We heard those same Jindal arguments when Bill Clinton raised taxes on the top 2 percent of the richest people in America to get rid of the deficit. Well, guess what happened? We produced 24 million new jobs and the next eight years were the most successful economically of the 20th century.
So, in other words, Jindal had absolutely nothing new to say...and what he did say about the stimulus was deliberately misleading.
No one knows how well the Obama stimulus, banking and budget plans will work...but everybody already knows how disastrous the Republican philosophy that Jindal offers has been.
Republicans are always talking about how Jindal is smart, creative, and honest. Well, I don't know where that guy went, because the one I saw on "Meet The Press" seemed to be dropping his reputation for seriousness and intellectual honesty just so he could appeal to the Republican base.
Maybe when you have Sarah Palin to compete with, you have to shed seriousness and intellectual honesty as fast as you can...even at full speed, Jindal might never catch up to her level...or rather, down...
Also, sometimes sheer ambition causes people to delude themselves and they start saying whatever Rush Limbaugh believes at the minute just to get on TV or talk radio.
I guess when you're trying to suck up to the rabid righties you can't be too crazy...and you can't start too soon.
I'd also say Democrats are lucky that the R's haven't learned the lessons of the 2008 election - that all the delusional stuff they say to attract the GOP base scares the hell out of the other 75 percent of voters.
So, all joking about Palin running aside, if Jindal is the best they've got, I'm not worried.
Wonder if he cares that the only reason his party pays him any attention is because he is the Brown Republican.
