Is this really the best the Republicans have to offer?

I’m torn. I guess I agree with Rachel Maddow when she notes that it’s odd that Jindal, the conservative Governor of Louisiana, would invoke the Republican handling of Katrina as a model for how to move the country forward, but, at the same time, it does seem that he may be uniquely qualified to drive the demons out of the Republican party, and create an exciting, new movement built on the solid bedrock principles of government mistrust and obstructionism.

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21 Comments

  1. Posted February 25, 2009 at 7:03 am | Permalink

    Bobby Jindal is an exciting choice. Not only that, but he hunts and fishes as well.

  2. galan
    Posted February 25, 2009 at 11:03 am | Permalink

    Bobby is really Kenny from “30 Rock”. Look closely. Is that dark make-up I see?

  3. Meta
    Posted February 25, 2009 at 1:10 pm | Permalink

    The following, about Obama’s speech, is from Think Progress-

    Thirty-five days after being inaugurated as America’s 44th president, Barack Obama discussed his economic agenda before a joint session of Congress last night. He focused on three priorities — health care, energy, and education — that will form the backbone of his long-term vision for economic growth and development. Those three core policy areas also received significant attention in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which Obama signed into law earlier this month. “Now is the time to act boldly and wisely — to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity,” Obama said last night. Although the President came into the House chamber with sky-high approval ratings, Americans remain deeply worried about the recession. He offered them not just a budget plan but what he called “a vision for America — as a blueprint for our future.” He declared, “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”

    MOVING IMMEDIATELY ON HEALTH CARE: Obama emphasized health care reform as the key to both restoring economic health and ensuring that the American dream lives on, and he made it clear he would not wait to move on a bold plan. “So let there be no doubt: health care reform cannot wait, it must not wait, and it will not wait another year,” he said. Congress is already acting. In November, Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, released his own principles for health reform and has since held numerous meetings on restructuring the system. And under the direction of Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), “many of the leading figures in the nation’s long-running health care debate have been meeting secretly in a Senate hearing room” and “appear to be inching towards” a consensus that real reform will require every American to have health insurance and find ways to make it affordable. The Wonk Room’s Igor Volsky notes that Obama left the details of reform up to Congress — and “the devil will certainly lie in the details.” Still, as Obama pointed out, he and Congress have already “done more to advance the cause of health care reform in the last thirty days than we have in the last decade,” including passing landmark health IT innovation, new incentives for disease research, and unprecedented funding for preventive care, all in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. He also signed a law providing health insurance to 11 million children, a bill Bush vetoed twice.

    ‘IT BEGINS WITH ENERGY’: Obama’s vision for restoring robust economic growth and reclaiming new opportunity for all “begins with energy,” he said. The recovery plan has already taken big steps to advance the goal of clean energy: It made huge investments in renewable energy, efficiency, and building a new, clean electrical grid. But Obama went further last night, challenging Congress to pass a broad cap-and-trade program that places a price on dirty fuel and invests in renewables — and will allow the U.S. to “to truly transform our economy, to protect our security and save our planet from the ravages of climate change.” The Obama administration is serious about implementing cap and trade; its budget factors in revenues from carbon pricing starting in 2012. Transforming how America gets its energy will go a long way toward rebuilding the American economy as well. A Center for American Progress study found that a $100 billion investment in green energy and technology creates two million jobs within two years. This week, the Center for American Progress Action Fund hosted the National Clean Energy Summit, where political leaders from across the ideological spectrum joined business, labor, and environmental leaders to discuss the urgent need to shift to a clean energy economy. They identified a national clean energy smart grid as a top priority in transforming America’s energy economy — and CAP is leading the way, with a report explaining how such a grid would work, enumerating the jobs it would create, and recommending the policies needed to implement it.

    EDUCATION IS ‘A PRE-REQUISITE’: The recovery plan Obama signed into law this month enacted “the largest increase in federal aid since Washington began to spend significantly on education after World War II,” spending $150 billion on school districts, child care centers and universities. Education Secretary Arne Duncan praised the bill, saying it would “avert literally hundreds of thousands of teacher layoffs.” The bill also included $13.9 billion in added funding for Pell Grants. Rebuilding crumbling schools and injecting needed funds into university scientific research, however, is not enough. “In a global economy, where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, a good education is no longer just a pathway to opportunity. It is a pre-requisite,” Obama said, announcing a goal “to ensure that every child has access to a complete and competitive education.” He earned a prolonged standing ovation when he declared that dropping out of high school “is no longer an option. It’s not just quitting on yourself; it’s quitting on your country.” Obama asked Americans to commit to at least one year of higher education or career training — a goal that will require more flexible university programs as well as a renewed focus on secondary education to prepare students for higher learning.

  4. Meta
    Posted February 25, 2009 at 1:13 pm | Permalink

    Video of Obama’s speech before the joint houses of Congress, can be found on YouTube-

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy0ZMu2f-pM

  5. Robert
    Posted February 25, 2009 at 3:03 pm | Permalink

    The Bush Administration (2001-2009) and the Republican Congress (1995-2007) are proof that government doesn’t work.

    From now on when I talk about something stupid or bad I’ve done in the past, I’ll refer to myself as “some beurocrat.” For example, I’ll say “Everything was going along just fine with my date last night with Jane, until some beurocrat stepped in and started lousing everything up.”

  6. Robert
    Posted February 25, 2009 at 3:53 pm | Permalink

    Yeah, I got a hefty paycheck last Friday, but some beurocrat blew it all on booze and strippers over the weekend.

    We learned one thing from Katrina, and that is that cities shouldn’t be near water.

  7. Posted February 25, 2009 at 6:13 pm | Permalink

    You guys can’t spell.

    bureaucrat

  8. Robert
    Posted February 25, 2009 at 7:09 pm | Permalink

    Actually, dude, I think it was just me who misspelled bureaucrat over and over. Sorry. I still think I’m fucking hilarious!

  9. Posted February 25, 2009 at 7:43 pm | Permalink

    Either way, I predict that he will win the 2012 election and take Michigan by 50 votes.

  10. Posted February 25, 2009 at 7:52 pm | Permalink

    In answer to your question? Apparently so. Sad, isn’t it.

  11. Posted February 25, 2009 at 9:57 pm | Permalink

    A better Obama highlight reel from last night can be found here.

    I like the line where he says dropping out of high school isn’t just quitting on yourself, but on your country.

  12. Deadhand
    Posted February 26, 2009 at 9:03 pm | Permalink

    The day after the speech, I saw that last line about dropping out of high school written on several boards in the high school where I work.

  13. Posted February 26, 2009 at 9:34 pm | Permalink

    Do you think it made a difference, Dan? Do you think anyone’s going to stay in school and try harder because Obama challenged them to?

  14. EOS
    Posted February 27, 2009 at 5:35 am | Permalink

    He did have the best sound bite of the night. “It used to be said, those in Louisiana not under water are under indictment.” (not exact words)

    Obama might be a charismatic speaker, but you should fact check his speech. He said he wasn’t for big government??? That there was no pork in his stimulus package??? And somehow the majority have bought the message???

    Within 5 weeks of taking office – trillion dollar deficits with the promise of more spending yet to come. Huge tax increases on businesses and corporations and the certainty that these will be passed on to consumers through higher prices. Everybody who hasn’t already received bailout money is lining up for the gravy train and those who did get billions are coming back for second servings. A secretary of state begging communist China to continue to invest in our worthless T-bills. GM announced yesterday that they lost nearly 31 billion dollars last year and need another 30 billion or else they are bankrupt within a month. As GM goes, so goes the nation…

    Hope you have fun in the short term, because liberal ideology will soon be exposed for the sham that it is, and there will never again in our lifetimes be a time where rational persons will think that government is the answer to our problems. It’s insanity – mass hysteria.

    My hope does not lie with either the Republicans or Democrats. I hope that from the ashes that remain after the total destruction of our country two nations will emerge. The liberals (Republicans and Democrats alike) can keep the printing presses and pass out their monopoly money within their new country, promising government solutions to all their economic and personal concerns. And those willing to work and earn their way in life and provide for their own needs will establish a new nation based on sound economic policy, honesty and strong moral values. Less government, more individual responsibility, and a resolve to deny all liberal parasites citizenship.

    What do you say? You can have everything west of the Mississippi.

  15. Posted February 27, 2009 at 10:29 am | Permalink

    I love that idea, EoS. You can create two nations and start taking property away from people you don’t like.

    Then you can fulfill your dream of getting rid of all non-creationists, black people and jews.

  16. Brackinald Achery
    Posted February 27, 2009 at 10:37 pm | Permalink

    The Bush Administration (2001-2009) and the Republican Congress (1995-2007) are proof that government doesn’t work.

    From now on when I talk about something stupid or bad I’ve done in the past, I’ll refer to myself as “some beurocrat.” For example, I’ll say “Everything was going along just fine with my date last night with Jane, until some beurocrat stepped in and started lousing everything up.”

    Hahaha, shit Robert, that was funny.

  17. Curt Waugh
    Posted February 28, 2009 at 8:53 am | Permalink

    EOS, your comments give us much mirth, but how – pray tell – can you accuse anyone of financial mismanagement after the disaster of the last 8 years? With you, it’s ALWAYS “us against them” without ever critically examining the “us” part. How is it that you are able to maintain those rose colored pollyanna blinders you wear? The former regime spent us into oblivion. The former regime stood by while the oil men and bankers went on a Tammany Hall-esque theft spree. The former regime put to death (with the absurd complicity of the alleged “opposition”) tens if not hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians. You really need to do some homework before your Hannity-ditto.

    Oh, and congratulations on your beloved township and their fiscal responsibility getting a kick in the ass from reality. It’s about time we stopped subsidizing your ridiculous decision to build unsustainable homes in the middle of nowhere. You will find that there will be more to come. Wait until you also have to start paying the full costs for your roads and utilities and power lines and cable and everything else. Reality is a harsh mistress, man, but the gravy train is starting to derail.

  18. EOS
    Posted February 28, 2009 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

    Curt-

    I’ve never defended or supported the former regime either. Wake up – the two party system is merely illusion. Bush continued Clinton’s policies and Obama is continuing Bush’s. Slight differences in brand and rhetoric with the same results.

  19. Robert
    Posted March 1, 2009 at 6:16 pm | Permalink

    Brackinald Achery, I did a sloppy job of making a joke out of it, but there is definitely some real comedy there.

    Seriously, the Republicans have taken to referring to each other and themselves as “some bureaucrat” and as “government” whenever they want to bring up one of their many disastrous fuck-ups over the last 8 years while at the same time skirting the responsibility. It’s absolutely absurd! On top of that, all those jackasses who backed them for years are all pretending the last eight years didn’t even happen.

  20. Posted March 1, 2009 at 7:01 pm | Permalink

    I like how Rush Limbaugh has become the defacto leader of the party.

  21. Brackinald Achery
    Posted March 1, 2009 at 7:04 pm | Permalink

    I agree, Robert. Overall, the neocons duplicity on big-spending, overbearing, incompetent government is staggering. No wonder they’re so afraid of ending the drug war — they have very little short-term memory to spare. They just talk the talk.

    Speaking of which, how’s that whole bombing of Pakistan thing coming along?

One Trackback

  1. By The biggest post-election losers on November 14, 2012 at 11:52 pm

    […] and forgive millions of dollars in debtThe biggest post-election losersBy Mark | November 14, 2012Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, when asked a few days ago to reflect on the election, said, “We […]

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