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Memo to Bobby Jindal: Dump Rush
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Ambitious young Gov. Jindal tried to stick it to Obama on TV tonight. But Paul Begala says to really make it in politics, he has to break with the kook right.
It wasn’t a fair fight. Watching Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s painful, sing-song response to President Barack Obama’s powerful and plain-spoken speech felt like watching an over-eager child trying to box Muhammad Ali. The kid was flailing wildly, while Ali just held the kid’s head at arm’s length, all the while smiling benignly. The kid’s arms whirled like windmills, but he never got close to connecting with the champ.
President Obama was confident and compelling; Gov. Jindal had all the saccharine sincerity of a Disney tour guide. Jindal reached his reductio ad absurdum when he suggested progressive and proactive Obama-led government could not be trusted to fix our economic problems because corrupt and incompetent Bush-led government had screwed up Katrina.
But if it is Pres. Bush who haunts Gov. Jindal’s past, it is Rush Limbaugh who haunts his future. One of the lesser-known laws of politics is that you can survive your enemies; it’s your friends who do you in.
So it is with Bobby Jindal. The governor of Louisiana has come a long way in a little time. A formidable politician, he wrested the governor’s mansion away from Bayou State Democrats. But can he survive the love of the right-wing Republicans—especially their leader, Rush Limbaugh?
If he wants to truly lead the GOP, he needs to take on and tame Rush Limbaugh. Bill Clinton publicly criticized his friend, Jesse Jackson, for giving a platform to Sister Souljah. Barack Obama denounced the bitter rant of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
As he eyes 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Rhodes Scholar has embraced the rockheads—pushing “intelligent design.”
Will Bobby Jindal have the cojones to take on Rush? Don’t bet on it.
Limbaugh extols Jindal the way a dog trainer praises a prized puppy, telling his Dittoheads this week, “When I interviewed Bobby Jindal for the Limbaugh Letter a year and a half ago or so I immediately thought I was talking to the elected version of the next Ronald Reagan, the closest thing we've got to an elected version of the next Ronald Reagan in the United States today.”
Rush is in love. Watch out, Bobby.
One sure sign Gov. Jindal is hungry for higher office is his willingness to sup at the table of the kook right. As a congressman, before he started taking marching orders from Rush Limbaugh, Jindal cosponsored a bill to extend unemployment compensation for Louisianans who’d lost their jobs after Hurricane Katrina; now as a governor and presidential wannabe, he opposes extending unemployment benefits for his citizens.
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I disagree, Paul. "Bobby" Jindal will not stop at dumping Rush Limbaugh if it means he can get ahead. Down here in The Banana Republic, we have been listening to his motormouthed delivery of political opportunism for a couple of years, now.
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Raise your voice during Governor Jindal's speech:
We have created a "live" poll on which you can register your moment by moment opinions as Governor Jindal speaks. There is a graphical display which is similar to that used by CNN in their focus group polling during the Presidential debates. The display is automatically updated every 10 seconds, so you get rapid feedback from everyone who is participating.
You can watch the speech on TV or online. And use the poll to register your opinions:
http://wethepeople.evendon.com/GovJindal_9pm.html
The poll will go "live" at 9:30 EST. Just let it run and "vote" on one or more of the questions whenever you wish. We hope everyone will use the poll and post to us with your feedback too:
akadonnew AT verizon DOT net
There is also a special poll which will be running for President Obama's speech It will go "live" at 8:50 PM. Here is the URL: http://wethepeople.evendon.com/PresObama_9pm.html
Don
http://wethepeople.evendon.com
Pittsburgh, PA
If Rush Limbaugh is part of the "kook right"
what does that make Paul Begala?
The kook left?
Jindal and Steele--the lefts' "made in japan" version of the president. Look American, we can too! Pitiful. Jindal hasn't got an original thought and Steel is too cool for school. Oy vey. The right isn't fooling anyone.
Jindal can't break with Rush Limbaugh or the Flat Earth Society until he has built a national following. Tonight's speech gives him an opportunity to start building that and it's a shrewd move by the Republicans. With the election of Michael Steele as the GOP Chair, the party is retooling it's national image surprisingly quickly. Dems should pay close attention.
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Begala makes no relevant point here... sounds like a KOOKEY leftist taking jabs at equally ignorant rightys
Very well put, Paul. I have trouble believing that anyone listens to Rush Limbaugh in the first place but someone with the wit that Gov. Jindal has should have nothing to do with a numbskull like Limbaugh. I also think he shouldn't refuse the stimulus package that will be offered to the state of Louisiana. Goodness knows that one of our nation's poorest states that also happens to be a hurricane magnet could use some relief and work on their infrastructure. But then again if he did that, Rush Limbaugh would turn on him and we're stuck with more Sarah Palin. Not a bad thing for us Democrats.
Bobby Jindal dosen't have to break with the kook right, he out-kooks them.
He is going to have a hard time living down the many exorcisms he performed in his college years. He is famously an extreme right-wing Catholic Conservative, and not above casting out a devil or two. Personally, I want more mental stablility in a candidate running for ANY public office.
Barbara416 was dead-on. The attempt of the Republicans to "reinvent" themselves reminds me of an 89 year old aunt wearing spandex and carrying around, saying "f-shizzle" all the time and listening to Barry Manilow on an iPod. Somehow I suspect that Jindal, with all his bluster and bravado, tonight will come off as the skinny kid on the blacktop who tries to act tough while he's getting a wedgie and wet-willie from the class bully.
I agree with Mr. Begala here. I think all Republicans with presidential aspirations should distance themselves from Limbaugh. Let's think about this seriously for a moment. If the next Republican candidate doesn't separate from the kook right then the kook right will have their candidate which will effectively be a Limbaugh puppet because the candidate will use his or her own popularity with (gasp) Limbaugh listeners. Personally I wouldn't want the endorsement from a guy that's made a career saying the word femmanazi.
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LOL The Right Wing Nut Jobs who put politics over the best interest of the people and you want us, we Republicans who voted for Obama, to think for one minute that this poor excuse of a politican is going to out do Obama? In speech or merit? Not on his best day but hey go ahead and push him. Perhaps he can hold another seance to break out the devil from his soul and be a new man? Seriously. This man holds seances and he wants to be our President! LOL
Bobby Jindal will never excite people, will never hold a candle to Barack Obama.
I would LOVE to come home to my party but as I and millions of other Republicans said during the 2008 election. Give us a good candidate. The GOP gave us McCain and Sarah "The Stupid" Palin...and the GOP lost big time. Try giving us this poor excuse for a man? and the GOP will lose again.
Bulldoglover: Right Wing Nut Jobs? Sarah "The Stupid" Palin? A poor excuse for a man? My, aren't you a kind-hearted individual. Such arrogance and contempt towards anyone who disagrees with you certainly does nothing for your liberal, "open-minded" platform. If I were Obama, I'd be hoping that obnoxious supporters like you would keep their mouths shut.
I'm surprised by the hostility on here. Apparently diversity is only a positive thing to pursue if you're a democrat, but if the republicans appoint a non-white male to a high profile task, they're up to something sinister. You are all such hypocrites.
And on the note of his religion - specifically evolution. As far as I'm concerned, saying that Jindal's belief in creationism somehow makes him an illegitimate candidate is absurd - just as absurd as the claims that Obama being a Muslim (and I'm not saying that he is, so don't put words in my mouth) was an actual reason to vote against him. It wasn't then, and it shouldn't be now.
Jindal is an appealing and successful public figure with an impressive resume - especially for someone his age. And while I might not necessarily vote for him if he ran for president (it is a little too soon to be talking about that...let's give Obama a chance first), I think that we should give him a chance and see what kind of a leader he can actually be instead of writing him off for his political affiliation or religious beliefs. All that to say, I do agree that he could benefit from distancing himself from Rush Limbaugh.
Another memo: Nobody's watchin' you tonite. You are a fake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And yes, Rush needs to go.
Paul, Paul, Paul ??
You really should focus on your president and his colored history of questionable political and personal affiliations. Not to mention his stellar cabinet appointees and their patriotic tax paying methods. Could it be Paul that the tea leaves in your koolaid are providing signs and premonitions of a failed administration? Are would worry about 2012 as well if I were of your ideology. Paul, Paul, Paul. Shameful.
Jindal's response to Obama was laughable. The Republicans should let more clear headed politicians like FL's Charlie Christ speak for them if they want to gain any ground.
The GOP is not any more racist than the DNC.
I would examine a party that does not believe people of color are allowed self-direction.
When Colin Powell was a Republican secretary of state, and a good one, one that made tough arguments, he was not accepted by Democrats, often thought of as a sell-out.
The same can be said of Condi Rice, and Mr. Steele of the RNC. While smart Republicans value complexity - I and many others respect Mr. Powell even after his support of Obama, and I respect Obama as well - there will always be elitist Democratic bigots, as bad as any of the people self-serving Democrats condemn from the GOP, and they will always deny people of color a place of honor in my party, because they do not value true diversity. Unlike the president these same Democrats elected, they are mean-spirited, venal mini-Roves, anti-religion and quick to parody what they don't want to take time to investigate. But I implore them: Keep your simple view of the universe. Call us dumb, and racist. We will work on policy and be there when you need us.
I don't want to live in the Red America vs. Blue America war-zone of the past decade. That has gotten us nowhere. But it seems many Democrats, now that they are on top, prefer to parody and point fingers. This is a recipe for being ousted from power. The whole world is not that retrograde CNN Crossfire show. The world is more complex than that.
What you need to do, now that you are in power, if you want to remain there, is move past W.-like behavior; yes, you're like W.-- and problem solve without the veneer of hyper-elitism. Lighten up as well.
Hey, Begala...
since you are actually the kook left, I guess it gives you a twinge or should I say a trickle or was it a dribble down your leg when you get all bitchy about the Conservatives in this world.
Jindal's speech was recorded BEFORE President Obama's. He offered excerpts on his political website before the President's speech. If he accepts a single dollar from the bailout, he is a total fraud. Let's see how the citizens of Louisiana feel about him when he turns down federal $. Oh and by the way, there is no train from Las Vegas to Disneyland in the bailout bill.
Return fire, Bobby? Really...?
No way. Not the best you could do.
Try to not show how hard you are trying.
We have a president, folks. Focus, focus. I know it's hard for some of you. It's going to be a rough four years. Obama needs all the help he can get. That's why Republicans need to be an effective opposition to the spend, spend, spend, tax, tax, tax, Democratic Congress and Prez.
WOW! Jindal is a great speaker for the conservative position.
Very impressive.!
Oh yes, Sophia5, Rush is much more than a sophomoric buffoon--he's a dangerous lunatic with a drug-addled past and a taste for the good life that he's willing to exhort his robotic followers to smear and do violence for. I genuinely fear Rush not for what he says, but what his end game is, and let me assure you, it has nothing to do with "freedom," "smaller government," or even the truth.
Thank you.
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