Jindal on Leno
If I was someone who knew nothing about Bobby Jindal and I watched Jay Leno last night, I would have probably been impressed with what I saw. He seemed very comfortable, came across as a nice guy, and (if I believed what Jay Leno and Bobby Jindal said) seemed to show a Louisiana that was getting better on ethics. When it comes to the perception of Louisiana’s governor, I am sure that if someone took a poll of Republican voters, that they would be very impressed with our Governor.
Of course, I am someone who knows a little bit about our Governor and several of the statements last night were misleading to say the least. When asked why Bobby Jindal entered politics, he mentioned that he and his wife noticed all of the young people leaving Louisiana. Bobby Jindal entered politics before he married his wife (and probably before he met his wife). Jindal has worked for Bob Livingston when he was in Congress and was appointed to be head of the Louisiana Department of Health before he married Supriya. I don’t think he decided to work for Bob Livingston because of all the young people leaving Louisiana.
Of course, Bobby Jindal was also a bit misleading on our having the toughest standards. Sure, the laws may be tough but if the laws cannot be enforced because the burden of proof is too high. What good are the unenforceable laws other than to try and fool people nationwide that we are somehow better than we used to be. We are not better than we used to be, we just put lipstick on the pig.
Finally, the interview came down to the big question of the day. Would Bobby Jindal say yes if asked to be Vice President. He didn’t say no. He didn’t even use his precognition and suggest that McCain would not ask him (perhaps that was out of respect to Carnac the Magnificent*). What he did do was compare saying no to McCain right now to saying no to the pretty girl who hasn’t yet asked you to the prom. Guess what? You don’t say no if the pretty girl asks you to go to the prom! So again, I have no reason to believe Bobby Jindal will refuse McCain if asked to be V.P..
Jeff Crouere beat me to the punch this morning by suggesting that no other potential Vice President candidate is appearing on Jay Leno or any other late night T.V. show.
Speaking of Carnac:
Carnac: Goodyear, Tuck, and Bobby Jindal
McMahon: Goodyear, Tuck, and Bobby Jindal
opens envelope
Carnac: Name a tire, a friar, and a liar.
April 29th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Of course Jindal will accept the Veep nod, if offered! Sure, it’s fun to rib him about his less-than-airtight evasions, but it’s juvenile to expect Jindal (or any politician) to state that they would categorically reject, in advance, such a potential offer.
Let’s frame it like Crouere did: What other current potential Veep candidates are being pushed into saying whether they would or wouldn’t accept a spot on McCain’s ticket?
April 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
It has nothing to do with “fun” or acting in a juvenile way.
It would actually be refreshing to hear a politician say “I am going to do the job I was elected to do and would say no if offered some other position”.
Of course, I don’t expect Jindal to be that sort of “refreshing” politician, to expect that would be absurd. I expect Jindal to be evasive, to give dodges, to be the typical politician that we both know he is. However, others do promote the idea that he is different, are still drinking the kool aid, and are still being shills for him regardless of the proof that proves otherwise. Many people still feel that he brings us hope for a positive future. I spoke to a woman at Jazz Fest (while waiting for my shuttle) who said that she hoped Jindal would be a positive for our state. When I explained what he did with transparency and his double standards, she was shocked. More people need to know that he is a hypocrite, that he is not who he says he is, and that he is not to be trusted. Jindal cannot be allowed to claim that he has slain dragons (or that his legislation will make it easier to slay dragons) without being called out on his lies.
So when Jindal does something to prove he is not the person that he presented to the voters, I will call him out on it. Do you think I should stop, or should we exclaim that the governor has no clothes?
“Let’s frame it like Crouere did: What other current potential Veep candidates are being pushed into saying whether they would or wouldn’t accept a spot on McCain’s ticket?”
Did Crouere frame it like that? I only heard the opening portion of his show so I may have only heard him say that Jindal is the only one being asked to be on national TV shows.
April 29th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I’m liking Bobby today. I don’t know enough not to like him, I suppose. That was a nice enough performance on Jay. GooTube debate is an impressive get, and I’m wondering who had more to do with it, Bobby or C Ray? (Or neither?) The McCain visit was sincere.
What am I missing?
April 29th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
Alan: My gut feeling on the Gootube debate is that they decided to try and have a debate here and probably approached Jindal and Nagin to get it set up. I could be wrong, but until I have evidence that it was the brainchild of Jindal or Nagin, I will go with my gut and assume Google is responsible.
The McCain visit, while sincere, did leave a bad taste in the mouths of some bloggers, myself included
As to what are you missing, I am not sure. I could point you to several of the posts both here and on “Jindal Is Bad“as well as the other sites linked to from those posts.
I would suggest clicking checking out all the “Bobby Jindal“entries on this site first and go from there. He has proven himself to be a hypocrite many times over in his first 100 days. He held a double standard for many of the ethical changes he wanted to put on everyone else. He has proven that he is for sale to the highest bidder. Need I go on? I will let you read on yourself and find out.
And if at the end of the day you still like our Governor then that is your right. However, I believe that had more people taken the time to listen to the other side of the story instead of trusting the Jindal spin, that the election result would have been much different.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:33 am
My understanding is that the same group that pushed for a network debate in NOLA (Women of the Storm and the NOLA universities) contacted Youtube and Google…not any of our elected officials.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
Sorry to come back after so long, but yes, it was Women of the Storm. Google/YouTube debate was their baby.
I’m getting back on top of current events after a lot of community organizing and web design work. I’ll look through your Bobby Jindal related articles and leave another comment here soon.