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boston university
politics
What the Heck Was Bobby Jindal Talking About?
The Louisiana governor had a tough act to follow Tuesday night. But Bobby Jindal, decidedly another rising star among the GOP's ranks, gulped down his fears and strode through the hallways of his mansion to deliver the "Republican Response" to Barack Obama's pep talk for America.
Bearing resemblance to an essay I wrote in the fourth grade, Jindal's speech was titled "Americans Can Do Anything." Obama had just spoken about making the country stronger than ever, like a majestic phoenix rising from the ashes of the nation's collapsed banking system. On the way, Obama even promised to cure cancer. How is Jindal supposed to respond to that?
He did the only thing he could do -- or at least what his speechwriters had planned out for him. He talked about Obama's historic presidency. He spent an unusually long time talking about how his own parents came to Louisiana from India, and they couldn't pay for his birth delivery, but his dad worked out a deal with a doctor, and then one time he went to the grocery store with his dad, and his dad was awed by the amount of food on the shelves, and then he said, "Bobby, Americans can do anything."
At an apparent loss for a segue into his official response to Obama, Jindal opted to tell another anecdote -- this time about when he visited a sheriff during Katrina, and the sheriff was yelling into the phone, and Jindal asked him why he was so mad, and the sheriff said that volunteers with boats who came to rescue people on their rooftops couldn't get permission to save people because "some bureaucrat" forbade them from rowing without proof of insurance and registration. Then Jindal said that was ridiculous, and the sheriff yelled into the phone again, and --
Hey, Bobby, do you have any specifics about the economy, or anything?
After what seemed like hours later, Jindal finally got to his point: Republicans rightfully wanted to lower taxes to "create more jobs." But the darn Democrats axed the plan. Instead, he said, they passed a wasteful bill that puts aside $140 million for "volcano monitoring."
Hey, Democrats! What you "should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.," Jindal awkwardly quipped.
Jindal also highlighted other vague GOP principles: to "address the crisis in health care," "make sure every child in America gets the best possible education" and "promote confidence in America."
And for all his talk about Democrats' quibbling and misguided politics, he chided them for not being "bipartisan" enough. Everyone should "put aside partisan politics and work together," he said. No word yet on whether his fellow Republicans, nearly all of whom voted against the stimulus package, got that message.
Jindal, who gained political points among some Republicans when he said last week that he will refuse some stimulus money, also may have forgotten to look over his notes after Obama's address. One of the first things Obama said was, "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
Yet Jindal for some reason countered with, "Don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover, or that America's best days are behind her."
Jindal, whose tie matched the stripes on the American flag behind him, closed his national debut by invoking the abolition of slavery, the triumph over the Great Depression, victories in not one but two world wars, equalities gained from the civil rights battle, the extinguishing of the "Soviet menace" and the courageous response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man," he said, "and the American spirit will triumph again."
Bearing resemblance to an essay I wrote in the fourth grade, Jindal's speech was titled "Americans Can Do Anything." Obama had just spoken about making the country stronger than ever, like a majestic phoenix rising from the ashes of the nation's collapsed banking system. On the way, Obama even promised to cure cancer. How is Jindal supposed to respond to that?
He did the only thing he could do -- or at least what his speechwriters had planned out for him. He talked about Obama's historic presidency. He spent an unusually long time talking about how his own parents came to Louisiana from India, and they couldn't pay for his birth delivery, but his dad worked out a deal with a doctor, and then one time he went to the grocery store with his dad, and his dad was awed by the amount of food on the shelves, and then he said, "Bobby, Americans can do anything."
At an apparent loss for a segue into his official response to Obama, Jindal opted to tell another anecdote -- this time about when he visited a sheriff during Katrina, and the sheriff was yelling into the phone, and Jindal asked him why he was so mad, and the sheriff said that volunteers with boats who came to rescue people on their rooftops couldn't get permission to save people because "some bureaucrat" forbade them from rowing without proof of insurance and registration. Then Jindal said that was ridiculous, and the sheriff yelled into the phone again, and --
Hey, Bobby, do you have any specifics about the economy, or anything?
After what seemed like hours later, Jindal finally got to his point: Republicans rightfully wanted to lower taxes to "create more jobs." But the darn Democrats axed the plan. Instead, he said, they passed a wasteful bill that puts aside $140 million for "volcano monitoring."
Hey, Democrats! What you "should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, D.C.," Jindal awkwardly quipped.
Jindal also highlighted other vague GOP principles: to "address the crisis in health care," "make sure every child in America gets the best possible education" and "promote confidence in America."
And for all his talk about Democrats' quibbling and misguided politics, he chided them for not being "bipartisan" enough. Everyone should "put aside partisan politics and work together," he said. No word yet on whether his fellow Republicans, nearly all of whom voted against the stimulus package, got that message.
Jindal, who gained political points among some Republicans when he said last week that he will refuse some stimulus money, also may have forgotten to look over his notes after Obama's address. One of the first things Obama said was, "We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before."
Yet Jindal for some reason countered with, "Don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover, or that America's best days are behind her."
Jindal, whose tie matched the stripes on the American flag behind him, closed his national debut by invoking the abolition of slavery, the triumph over the Great Depression, victories in not one but two world wars, equalities gained from the civil rights battle, the extinguishing of the "Soviet menace" and the courageous response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man," he said, "and the American spirit will triumph again."
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blablabla
7:03PM 7:03PM Feb 25th 2009
Matt...you're a silly and very small man. Please limit your meanderings to a whisper in your mother's basement.
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JoLee
7:39PM 7:39PM Feb 25th 2009
Bobby Jindal's "response" was nothing but a commercial for himself. Irrelevant and laughable. I agree with Bright Hall -
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Sage
9:19PM 9:19PM Feb 25th 2009
This FOOL is clearly a JOKE. If he is planning on running for president, he should clearly change his mind.
This governor is truly not in touch with society or his community - The state that he oversees.
The 9th ward still looks like shit, so what is he doing for the state that he is overseeing?
Absolutely Nothing.
People please stop hating on President Obama, remember, he didn't put us in this mess, but he now has to fix this mess.
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FireEagle
2:49AM 2:49AM Feb 26th 2009
Sage, how do you know that Jindal is not doing anything? Are you there in LA?
I do not hate Obama, I hate what he is doing to this country and the people in it.
Obama's fix is going to drive this economy in the ground making it worse than it ever will be.
YOU CAN NOT SPEND YOUR WAY TO PROSPERITY!!!!
IF OBAMA IS TRYING TO FIX THE PROBLEM WHY IS HE SPENDING 11 MILLION DOLLARS FOR HIS FLEET OF HELICOPTERS FOR AIR FORCE ONE????
IF OBAMA IS TRYING TO FIX THE PROBLEM WHY DID HE SIGN A STIMULUS (PORKER BILL) SPENDING MONEY ON :
• $400 million for the Centers for Disease Control to screen and prevent STD's.
• $2 billion earmark to re-start FutureGen, a near-zero emissions coal power plant in Illinois that the Department of Energy defunded last year because it said the project was inefficient.
• A $246 million tax break for Hollywood movie producers to buy motion picture film.
• $650 million for the digital television converter box coupon program.
• $88 million for the Coast Guard to design a new polar icebreaker (arctic ship).
• $448 million for constructing the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
• $248 million for furniture at the new Homeland Security headquarters.
• $600 million to buy hybrid vehicles for federal employees.
• $1.4 billion for rural waste disposal programs.
• $150 million for Smithsonian museum facilities.
• $1 billion for the 2010 Census, which has a projected cost overrun of $3 billion.
• $75 million for "smoking cessation activities."
• $200 million for public computer centers at community colleges.
• $75 million for salaries of employees at the FBI.
• $25 million for tribal alcohol and substance abuse reduction.
• $500 million for flood reduction projects on the Mississippi River.
• $10 million to inspect canals in urban areas.
• $6 billion to turn federal buildings into "green" buildings.
• $500 million for state and local fire stations.
• $650 million for wildland fire management on forest service lands.
• $1.2 billion for "youth activities," including youth summer job programs.
• $88 million for renovating the headquarters of the Public Health Service.
• $412 million for CDC buildings and property.
• $500 million for building and repairing National Institutes of Health facilities in Bethesda, Maryland.
• $160 million for "paid volunteers" at the Corporation for National and Community Service.
• $5.5 million for "energy efficiency initiatives" at the Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemetery Administration.
• $850 million for Amtrak.
• $100 million for reducing the hazard of lead-based paint.
• $75 million to construct a "security training" facility for State Department Security officers when they can be trained at existing facilities of other agencies.
• $110 million to the Farm Service Agency to upgrade computer systems.
• $200 million in funding for the lease of alternative energy vehicles for use on military installations.
• $125 million for the Washington sewer system.
Hmm.. that one will be needed for sure... with all the pork barrel spending they are doing.
These programs will not even occur this year or next. They will be implemented over the next 4 to 5 years. Meanwhile we will be paying larger and larger taxes to pay for all these programs.
Ok.. to put it more simple..
YOU CAN NOT GET A JOB BY BUYING A MILLION DOLLAR HOUSE
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Ann
2:49PM 2:49PM Feb 27th 2009
The ninth ward looks the way it does because of the people who reside there. It really is that simple. People who take pride in where they live, clean it. They don't sit around and whine about the government not doing it for them.
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burd
11:14PM 11:14PM Feb 25th 2009
duh, duh grandstanding at its worst
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cranford, gloria
12:16AM 12:16AM Feb 26th 2009
Bobby Jindal and John McCain are cut out of the same fabric, with no substance!!
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Winston Smith
1:31AM 1:31AM Feb 26th 2009
Jindal's first mistake was trying to make "an entrance".
He never recovered.
The Republican Party is in serious danger of being downgraded to "cult" status.
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Lit
2:42AM 2:42AM Feb 26th 2009
Just say NO to Jindal!!!
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Dr. Mush
9:20AM 9:20AM Feb 26th 2009
Jindal is just another ultra religious brown skinned east indian racist white wannabe, who thinks that he is not black. These brown skinned fools always try to treat black people as non-humans(animals).
They suck up to the white man by bending over backwards, kissing his ass...Trying to prove that they are good obedient Negroes. Then the white man ends up smacking them up the butt (like the Steele Negro character in Maryland, Clarence Uncle Head Negro Thomas, and confused bug eyed Negro slave Alan Keyes).
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mcl449
4:09PM 4:09PM Feb 27th 2009
Stop hating. It's messing up your mind.
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Dr. Mush
5:56PM 5:56PM Feb 27th 2009
Hey 449, If by explicitly speaking the truth, and calling it for what it truely is, means that I'm hateful, then that's just exactly what I am...A hater!!!...And proud to be a damn hater too. Jindal is a confused negro right wing religious idiot buffoon...Hallaluja!!!!...Amen.
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mahalapril
11:53AM 11:53AM Feb 27th 2009
Tatiana- Why is it that if the US military takes over the incompetent,corrupt, dishonest Obama administration which will destroy our country and leave us vulnerable and defenseless treason.What is treason is when Obama dropped the charges against the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing in Yemen where 17 AMERICAN SAILORS DIED. Why would Obama close Gitmo and where will he put these islamic terrorists. Hopefully Obama will adopt these islamic terrorists ,no waterboarding, but should live with the Obama family in the White house because he is comfortable with them. Where is the justice for the families and victims of the 3,000 innocent American civilians massacred on 9/11 and the beheading of 5 American civilians in Baghdad. Doesn't Obama feel anything about our American citizens. Obama is either a muslim or at least an islamic terrorists sympathizer as Obama said in his own book and in his own words-" I will stand with the muslims if the political winds shift in ugly direction".Obama,Pelosi and Murtha tried to withhold funding our US troops in Iraq which is treason, they wanted the US troops to surrender in Iraq. Obama ,Pelosi and Murtha are the real traitors. Bush protected us from islamic terrorist attacks since 9/11 with the safeguards Bush put in place. BUSH didn't even blame BILL CLINTON WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MASSACRE OF THE 3,000 AMERICAN INNOCENT CIVILIANS ON 9/11. Bill Clinton had plenty of warning signals and attacks and plenty of opportunities to get Bin Ladin. Sudan offered to give up Bin Ladin 3 times and Clinton refused. Clinton missed the warning signals and attacks pre-9/11.There were these 1993 WTC garage bombing,the Khobar Tower bombing in Saudi Arabia of the US military housing,the bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen and the unforgivable mistake when 2 US embassies in Africa were bombed by Al-Qaeda in 1998 with hundreds of casualties.These bombing should have already triggered the invasion of Afhanistan and get Bin Ladin and Al-Qaeda. Instead Bill Clinton just launched symbolic missile strikes on a building owned by Bin Ladin in Sudan and the training ground of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.Bush did the right thing after 9/11. Bush was determined to rid the Middle East of WMDs and nuclear weapon programs and facilities. We know Saddam used WMDs on his own people and on his attack on Iran.The Iraq war was caused by Saddam because he refused search of WMDs. What would do you if Saddam refused.The UN,US,EU and the democrats approved and supported the Iraq war which is now a democracy and on the way our US troops wiped out thousands of multinational islamic fanatics who went to Iraq and are now assembling in the safe haven in PAKISTAN BECAUSE OF A BETTER CHANCE OF SURVIVAL. If we listened to Obama , Pelosi and Murtha our troops would have been defeated ,surrender the white flag and Iraq would not be a democracy and safer than Chicago.How many black Americans die in Chicago alone everyday.You should know by now that the Obama democratic administration is corrupt,incompetent,irresponsible,islamic terrorist sympathizer full of tax cheaters, liars with Obama the head pathological Liar. He lied away with the help of the liberal-biased media his close and long associations with Ayers,Wright,Rezko,Acorn and the corrupt Chicago political machine and did the opposite of his campaign promises of bipartisanship,ethics reform and transparency. He lied on National Media when he said the stimulus bill has no pork/earmarks when this bill and the omnibus bill alone has 9,000 pork/earmarks.This is like Clinton on National TV saying I have no sex with that woman [Monica Lewinsky]. What happened to the American value of honesty ,honor,duty,country,integrity,moral values and hard work as part of the American dream.
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FireEagle
10:26AM 10:26AM Feb 27th 2009
mahalapril -- You have a better understanding of the facts than 60% of the American people. It is sad that some many Americans put their heads in the sand hoping that things will get better. News reporters have asked people (in their early 20's) on the street several questions. Questions like who is the new president is. They all got that one right but when ask who the vice president is not a one could remember.. (It is Joe Biden). Who is Nancy Pelosi? No one knew her? She is 3rd in line for the presidency, which is very scary, because she is one of the worse power grabbing liberals bent on destroying the free market.
President Obama's trillion dollar spending spree is going to cost every one of us $11,000 in taxes but do not worry he is giving ups $13 a week for this year.
Do you have a job where you can pay the $11,000? I have never got a job from a poor person.
The new rallying cry is "We need to help those that carry the water, instead of those that drink the water".
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richard goebel
9:34AM 9:34AM Feb 26th 2009
Being the democrat that I am, I love seeing the future of the republican party, ie, Jindal, Palin, ha,ha,ah, I`m sorry for laughing. Obama won`t even have to campaign for a second term, he`ll just walk right in! As long as the Limbaugh sheep keep voting like he tells them to, democrats will keep the presidency for the next eight years!
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Lindsay
10:12AM 10:12AM Feb 26th 2009
If everyone would have listened to his speech then they would have gotten the point. The point is that if those that aren't doing anything to help themselves, got off their butts and tried to do better for themselves then they can. And the liklihood of ending up jobless and homeless is substantially lower. His point was very legitimate and clear. Most of America today has forgotten about hard work. Everything has a short cut today. Think about it. We in today's society know nothing of "real" hard work. The type of hard work our grandparents had to do due to lack of our modern technologies and advancements that we ultimately put us at a disadvantage if we do not know how to do some of those things for ourselves. Most of us wouldn't have any idea how to plant a garden for our own families if we had to. That was his point Dear Americans. That if we go back to the basics and stop looking for a hand out then we can help with a large portion of this problem ourselves. We are the ones to blame for the economy the way it is now. Not one single president. And I hope Obama can place a temporary fix on our situation so that we can all realize these things and put into place precautions for ourselves in the future.
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michael white
11:34AM 11:34AM Feb 28th 2009
as Shakespeare once said,
first thing is, kill all the lawyers.
To that I would add: line up all the bankers and everyone you can catch on Wall St. Put a bullet into every other forehead. Honest folk can then go back to work, and wait for the miracle.
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BonBon
11:06AM 11:06AM Feb 26th 2009
This writer is an Obama butt kisser and has a man crush on Obama like Chris Matthews, would anyone really take this writer seriously, not!!!
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JC
11:41AM 11:41AM Feb 26th 2009
I tried to read the article looking for something besides a Bill O'Riley commentary, (ugh). I can't wait until real news reporting comes back in style. I'm so sick and tired of Team Republican and Team Democrat politics and reporting. Both sides and those who are 100% true blue or red have sent this country down the tubes one can only hope for a political party that actually has our interests at heart and look for someone in the media to quit pandering to the powers that be.
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Roland C Woodaka
2:30PM 2:30PM Feb 26th 2009
IN MY OPINION...by Roland C. Woodaka.....
Could it be that the Republican Party strategy is to set up straw men like Jindal and Steele to take all the heat for their convoluted cure all solutions to all of the world's problems: TAX CUTS FOR THE WEALTHY ? ? ?.....
It's possible ! ! !
Remember that these greed driven tax dead beat free lunch seeking Republicans are very very sneakily and evasively smart ! ! !.....
If they don't have the brains...they have the money to buy brains ! ! ! .....
Now after we all waste our breath beating up on the straw men they set up for their
fairy tale like proposals.....Eureka ! ! !.....then they will spring someone who has avoided being the target like ? ? ? Jeb Bush ? ? ?....
Not to worry ! ! ! Our files are full of the crooked path taken by yet another Bush ! ! !.....
Roland C. Woodaka
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