It was reported on 990 AM this morning that Jindal is now against using the surplus for tax breaks.

Just another example of Jindal saying one thing and doing another.

Publicly, Jindal maintains a schedule that favors tightly scripted speeches and appearances to community groups and gatherings of supporters, spreading an unwavering message of positive change… 

Behind the scenes, media and good-government groups like PAR scratch their collective heads as they watch the transformation of Louisiana’s Ivy League-educated Rhodes Scholar governor from an engaging, serious policy wonk to a stonewalling, carefully protected politician.

Perhaps there is a transformation on perception on the part of the media who bought what Jindal was selling. However, for those of us who paid attention from day one, we understand that there has been no real transformation. Jindal has always been this way. Look at the 2004 campaign. Timmy Teepell defended Jindal’s failure to answer surveys by saying that he attended meetings with his supporters. I criticizedthis during the campaign. Of course the media back then refused to challenge Jindal on anything.

Contributions made via the ActBlue website are just like contributions through other means (e.g. on a candidate’s web site, through the mail, at a fundraiser). ActBlue just helps deliver your contribution to the candidate.

So there you go. The fact that more funds came from Act Blue means that Cazayoux had more supporters. Call me crazy but it seems to me that if someone has more supporters they tend to win elections. Perhaps Avman should not comment on things he does not know about. He then continues to assert racism by stating:

With friends like the Democrat party, minorities don’t need a KKK. Who needs the KKK when you’ve got the DNC? No wonder why minorities feel so oppressed, trusting guys like these Democrats?

Yeah, because the KKK tends to support Democrats.. right? That is why David Duke ran for Governor as a Democrat, right?  OH YEAH, thats right. He ran as a Republican! Many former “states rights southern Democrats” left the party after the Democratic party picked up the mantle of civil rights. Nixon and Reagan used the “southern strategy” to target the racists in order to win. But if Avman wants to make the rest of us laugh while trying to equate the DNC with the KKK, he is free to make a fool of himself.

Avman aslo gives us this gem:

Michael Jackson ought to run as an independent, Darrell Glasper should stick to his guns, and the Democrat party really needs to quit taking black people for granted.

He is 1/3 right. Darrell Glasper should refrain from saying that his messages are supported by a candidate if they are not. Michael Jackson, if he runs as an independent, could help the Republicans win in the fall. (No wonder why Avman wants that to happen). I do feel that the Democratic voters in LA06 are smarter than Avman gives them credit for. They will realize that voting against the Democrat will be cutting off their noses to spite their faces since it would allow the Republican to win.

However, Avman is right in that Democrats definitely should not take any members of their party for granted. I do think that some members of our party do take certain voting blocks for granted. We need to make sure that we are loyal to those who bring us to the dance.

Unfortunately, the Democrats could not pick up two seats. Idealism won out over effectiveness in LA01. Of course, speaking from experience, running in the most conservative district in the state doesn’t help you if you have a “D” behind your name. Gilda did get a larger percentage of the vote than any one Democrat has gotten in a while in this district, but with low voter turnout that only turned out to be about 10,000 votes.  It is amazing that in a time where Republicans are so unpopular nationwide that the Democrats in this district are still lazy and uninterested.  

So, all that is left now is for Scalise to go to Washington and prove how ineffective he can be… that is until he runs for his next seat leaving LA01 unrepresented yet again.

For a comical, typo filled, look at the LA06 race, check out Avman’s rant. Avman also wonders why Democrats would put money into the race that he feels will go back to the Republicans in the fall. The simple answer is this, they believed they could win (especially against Jenkins) and the power of the incumbency makes it much easier for the person sitting in the seat to retain the seat.

Update: An excellent comment by Gilda, I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Please do not hurt for me. I am fine with my election loss last night and, in fact, am relieved to become a regular mom, grammy and teacher again. We local Democrats worked hard and I fully appreciate every single thing you did to spread the word. I have made life-long friends among you.

Only 10,000 folks voted for me which is an abysmal performance. To all the rest who either voted for Scalise or who chose not to vote at all—you have the representative you deserve. To all those in the national Democratic Party who perpetuated the reality of a Republican district by your statements, attitude and choke-hold on funds—shame on you! To all media, political pundits and dKos contributors who fed the self-fulfilling prophecy and stacked the deck against whomever dared run—enjoy your power. I have laid to rest any illusion I had of the power of grassroots. My dues have been paid and my conscience is free. Louisiana District 01 is my home and I love the people in it no matter how misguided they are.

Sincerely, a proud American,
Gilda Reed

Amen sister, Amen.

He spent three terms in the Louisiana House of Representatives and was elected to the state Senate last fall.

Yeah, why did he run for that again? Oh yeah, that’s right. He wanted to follow in Jindal’s footsteps by running for a job he had no intention of keeping, but being able to collect a paycheck from out tax dollars to run for office. So much for fiscal conservatism.

His experience in Baton Rouge would allow him to make a swift transition in Congress, which is particularly important as this area continues to recover from disaster.

Um, is the T-P writing from some alternate universe where the Republicans control congress? See, in my world the Democrats control Congress and the chances of Scalise being successful in getting legislation passed is slim to none. His “transition” will be slow and ineffective. Gilda Reed, on the other hand, would be able to work with members of her own party to get legislation passed for Southeast Louisiana. But I guess  I shouldn’t be surprised that the T-P endorsement panel, who have been fooled by previous candidates seeking their endorsement, have been fooled again.

He promises to fight for federal funding of so-called Category 5 hurricane protection and a fair share of offshore oil revenues for Louisiana, both of which are vital to the state.

Gilda Reed promises to do this, and would be MUCH more effective in doing so. If Category 5 hurricane protection and getting more of a fair share of our offshore oil revenues are both “vital”, then it makes more sense to elect the person who is more likely to get that legislation passed. That person is NOT Steve Scalise. That person is Gilda Reed. Period.

I also notice that T-P did not mention anything about Scalise and his anti-homosexual legislation. I wonder how likely Washington Democrats will be willing to work with the Gay Hating Embryo Lover Scalise. Actually, no I don’t wonder at all.

The T-P endorsement process is a pathetic joke and they seem to care more about not risking access to the people they think will win instead of actually supporting the right candidate who will do the better job.

It is a shame that Scalise doesn’t know the truth. Mary Landrieu is the one who got us a fairer share of our oil revenue. Bobby Jindal’s bill did not get signed by the President. It died in committee. Landrieu’s bill passed the Senate, the conference committee, passed the House, and was signed by the President.

It is a shame that WWL TV can’t take the time to do their own research so they could have called him on his lie.

He also claimed that he would be ready to start working on day one. Start working on what? Does he really think he will be able to actually work with Washington Democrats? Is Steve Scalise really THAT naive to assume that just because some Democrats in the Louisiana Legislature are more conservative than others that he will find that same sort of attitude in D.C.? Or does he just hope that the voters are that naive? Either way, LA01 will be better served by having a strong Democrat working for them in D.C.. The Democrats in Congress will BEND OVER BACKWARDS to make sure Gilda gets what she needs to go back to the voters of LA01 and show that she is an effective representative.

Geaux Gilda!

This is not to say that Deryl wont be sitting alone, listening to the Pretenders “I’ll Stand By You”, with a tear on his eye if Bobby Jindal leaves. Just look at several of his statements.

Hopefully this will make it easy to understand why this writer will be heart-broken to lose such a Gift

and

I will be able to gather some forgiveness for being so selfish in my calls asking our Governor to dispel my worries of his leaving with the continuous onslaught of “greedy” calls for his help to perform even greater miracles.

and

Even more hopeful am I that Governor Jindal will forgive me for being so extremely selfish, as I relieve him of the promise made to me that he would serve a complete term as Governor of Louisiana

It really is enough to make you cry, isn’t it?

It is rather unfortunate that a man with such passion as Deryl has for Jindal couldn’t be used for good. Instead, he uses it to help propel the liar and hypocrite, Bobby Jindal, further in his own political career. Our state is no better off with Jindal in office, despite the claims of miracles by Deryl.

We have a Governor who promised tougher ethics laws. All we have now are tougher to enforce ethics laws (meaning more people will get away with ethics violations).

We have a Governor who demanded transparency from others yet balked when others demanded it from him.

We have a Governor who said that free tickets are unethical, but who gladly handed them out to members of his staff because the practice was still legal.

We have a Governor who circumvented the open meetings law by meeting with legislators in small groups to discuss issues of his agenda.

We have a Governor who is for sale, giving millions of our tax dollars to the company of someone who bundled over $130,000 in campaign contributions to his campaign.

We have a Governor who claimed what you know is more important than who you know, that is unless what you know directly contradicts the Governors agenda, then you get fired! And of course you cannot forget that he was able to use his office to obtain admission for his child to the LSU Lab School, bypassing any waiting list that others may have had to wait on.

So will someone tell me, how are we any better off in Louisiana?

Here is a question to those people who chose Bush again in 2004. What happened to Republicans being the party that would be more likely to protect us from terrorism? It seems to me that by distracting us from the actual problem, President Bush has done NOTHING to make us any more safer from “turrists”. Are you happy with your choice now?

It is abundantly clear that the Republican middle east policy has failed. Vote for another one in the name of security and you are an idiot. Period.

When I have something to say personally, I put my name on it — as in my column.

This can’t be true, because if “he” was writing this last week, “he” didn’t put “his” name. It was just a Gambit “commentary”. It seems like Clancy protested a bit too much previously when we tried to put the words of the Gambit on Clancy when it came to his blind and uninformed support of Bobby Jindal. That is not to say that the commentary here is bad, because it is very good and everyone should read it.

Now, in the same commentary page where the Gambit gets it so right, they also get it so wrong. The Gambit has endorsed GHEL Steve Scalise for Congress.

While we do not agree with many of Sen. Scalise’s positions on social issues

Then why on earth would you support him? Gilda Reed has a solid grasp on the need for Coastal Restoration and Hurricane protection. Gilda Reed will also be able to start working from day one to work on the needs of Southern Louisiana. And if Gilda gets elected, the Democrats in Congress will bend over backwards to help her out since they won’t want to lose that seat in the fall. She is likely to be one of the most effective members of Congress from the start. Steve Scalise is likely to be one of the least effective members of Congress because he will be a member of the minority party and will offer nothing for the Democrats to support. We need Reed!

Google, the dominant Web search engine, and YouTube, the online video platform, are proposing the forum with the major party presidential candidates be held Sept. 18 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, just after the parties complete their conventions in late August and early September. It would be eight days before the first scheduled presidential commission debate in Oxford, Miss.

Good for them, great for us, and what candidate would say “no”?

And yes, it is still called the “Ernest N. Morial Convention Center“, even if advertising material also includes the name of our city. One thing that Marc Moral never understood… the City of New Orleans is more important than the Morial family.