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JINDAL.
Bobby Jindal's delivery is very strange. As if Kenneth from '30 Rock' began doing infomercials. The most interesting part of the speech, actually, came right before it started. On MSNBC, Matthews said that "the only space Obama has left open in America is on the far-right." And Jindal's speech is proving it: It's like a time capsule. "Dangerous enemies still seek our destruction." "The strength of America is not found in our government." "Democratic leaders in Washington place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you."
The only real surprise was Jindal's decision to invoke Katrina as a model of government failure. Which is true, I guess. But this, I think, is what my grandfather would call chutzpah. And it goes back to the Stewart quote from below: It's as if they don't think Americans are smart enough to remember who was running the government in 2005.
Beyond that, it's a speech that Boehner could have given in 2007 and that Frist could have given in 2005 and that Lott could have given in 1998 and that Gingrich could have given in 1993. Jindal made a mistake accepting the GOP's invitation to give this response. Yesterday, he seemed like a different kind of Republican. Today, he doesn't.
Full text after the jump.
“Good evening. I’m Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana.
Tonight, we witnessed a great moment in the history of our Republic. In the very chamber where Congress once voted to abolish slavery, our first African-American President stepped forward to address the state of our union. With his speech tonight, the President completed a redemptive journey that took our nation from Independence Hall … to Gettysburg … to the lunch counter … and now, finally, the Oval Office.
Regardless of party, all Americans are moved by the President’s personal story - the son of an American mother and a Kenyan father, who grew up to become leader of the free world. Like the President’s father, my parents came to this country from a distant land. When they arrived in Baton Rouge, my mother was already 4 ½ months pregnant. I was what folks in the insurance industry now call a ‘pre-existing condition.’ To find work, my dad picked up the yellow pages and started calling local businesses. Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery - so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment.
As I grew up, my mom and dad taught me the values that attracted them to this country - and they instilled in me an immigrant’s wonder at the greatness of America. As a child, I remember going to the grocery store with my dad. Growing up in India, he had seen extreme poverty. And as we walked through the aisles, looking at the endless variety on the shelves, he would tell me: ‘Bobby, Americans can do anything.’ I still believe that to this day. Americans can do anything. When we pull together, there is no challenge we cannot overcome.
As the President made clear this evening, we are now in a time of challenge. Many of you listening tonight have lost jobs. Others have seen your college and retirement savings dwindle. Many of you are worried about losing your health care and your homes. And you are looking to your elected leaders in Washington for solutions.
Republicans are ready to work with the new President to provide those solutions. Here in my state of Louisiana, we don’t care what party you belong to if you have good ideas to make life better for our people. We need more of that attitude from both Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital. All of us want our economy to recover and our nation to prosper. So where we agree, Republicans must be the President’s strongest partners. And where we disagree, Republicans have a responsibility to be candid and offer better ideas for a path forward.
Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us.
Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina, we have our doubts.
Let me tell you a story.
During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I’d never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: ‘Well, I’m the Sheriff and if you don’t like it you can come and arrest me!’ I asked him: ‘Sheriff, what’s got you so mad?’ He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn’t go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, ‘Sheriff, that’s ridiculous.’ And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: ‘Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!’ Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.
There is a lesson in this experience: The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirit of our citizens. We are grateful for the support we have received from across the nation for the ongoing recovery efforts. This spirit got Louisiana through the hurricanes - and this spirit will get our nation through the storms we face today.
To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you - the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything.
That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families … cutting taxes for small businesses … strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers … and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs.
But Democratic leaders in Congress rejected this approach. Instead of trusting us to make wise decisions with our own money, they passed the largest government spending bill in history - with a price tag of more than $1 trillion with interest. While some of the projects in the bill make sense, their legislation is larded with wasteful spending. It includes $300 million to buy new cars for the government, $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a ‘magnetic levitation’ line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called ‘volcano monitoring.’ Instead of monitoring volcanoes, what Congress should be monitoring is the eruption of spending in Washington, DC.
Democratic leaders say their legislation will grow the economy. What it will do is grow the government, increase our taxes down the line, and saddle future generations with debt. Who among us would ask our children for a loan, so we could spend money we do not have, on things we do not need? That is precisely what the Democrats in Congress just did. It’s irresponsible. And it’s no way to strengthen our economy, create jobs, or build a prosperous future for our children.
In Louisiana, we took a different approach. Since I became governor, we cut more than 250 earmarks from our state budget. And to create jobs for our citizens, we cut taxes six times - including the largest income tax cut in the history of our state. We passed those tax cuts with bipartisan majorities. Republicans and Democrats put aside their differences, and worked together to make sure our people could keep more of what they earn. If it can be done in Baton Rouge, surely it can be done in Washington, DC.
To strengthen our economy, we need urgent action to keep energy prices down. All of us remember what it felt like to pay $4 at the pump - and unless we act now, those prices will return. To stop that from happening, we need to increase conservation … increase energy efficiency … increase the use of alternative and renewable fuels … increase our use of nuclear power - and increase drilling for oil and gas here at home. We believe that Americans can do anything - and if we unleash the innovative spirit of our citizens, we can achieve energy independence.
To strengthen our economy, we also need to address the crisis in health care. Republicans believe in a simple principle: No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage - period. We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. We oppose universal government-run health care. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients - not by government bureaucrats. We believe Americans can do anything - and if we put aside partisan politics and work together, we can make our system of private medicine affordable and accessible for every one of our citizens.
To strengthen our economy, we also need to make sure every child in America gets the best possible education. After Katrina, we reinvented the New Orleans school system - opening dozens of new charter schools, and creating a new scholarship program that is giving parents the chance to send their children to private or parochial schools of their choice. We believe that, with the proper education, the children of America can do anything. And it should not take a devastating storm to bring this kind of innovation to education in our country.
To strengthen our economy, we must promote confidence in America by ensuring ours is the most ethical and transparent system in the world. In my home state, there used to be saying: At any given time, half of Louisiana is under water - and the other half is under indictment. No one says that anymore. Last year, we passed some of the strongest ethics laws in the nation - and today, Louisiana has turned her back on the corruption of the past. We need to bring transparency to Washington, DC - so we can rid our Capitol of corruption … and ensure we never see the passage of another trillion dollar spending bill that Congress has not even read and the American people haven't even seen.
As we take these steps, we must remember for all our troubles at home, dangerous enemies still seek our destruction. Now is no time to dismantle the defenses that have protected this country for hundreds of years, or make deep cuts in funding for our troops. America’s fighting men and women can do anything. And if we give them the resources they need, they will stay on the offensive … defeat our enemies … and protect us from harm.
In all these areas, Republicans want to work with President Obama. We appreciate his message of hope - but sometimes it seems we look for hope in different places. Democratic leaders in Washington place their hope in the federal government. We place our hope in you - the American people. In the end, it comes down to an honest and fundamental disagreement about the proper role of government. We oppose the National Democrats’ view that says -- the way to strengthen our country is to increase dependence on government. We believe the way to strengthen our country is to restrain spending in Washington, and empower individuals and small businesses to grow our economy and create jobs.
In recent years, these distinctions in philosophy became less clear - because our party got away from its principles. You elected Republicans to champion limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility. Instead, Republicans went along with earmarks and big government spending in Washington. Republicans lost your trust - and rightly so.
Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say: Our party is determined to regain your trust. We will do so by standing up for the principles that we share … the principles you elected us to fight for … the principles that built this into the greatest, most prosperous country on earth.
A few weeks ago, the President warned that our nation is facing a crisis that he said ‘we may not be able to reverse.’ Our troubles are real, to be sure. But don’t let anyone tell you that we cannot recover - or that America’s best days are behind her. This is the nation that cast off the scourge of slavery … overcame the Great Depression … prevailed in two World Wars … won the struggle for civil rights … defeated the Soviet menace … and responded with determined courage to the attacks of September 11, 2001. The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man - and the American spirit will triumph again.
We can have confidence in our future - because, amid today’s challenges, we also count many blessings: We have the most innovative citizens …the most abundant resources … the most resilient economy … the most powerful military … and the freest political system in the history of the world. My fellow citizens, never forget: We are Americans. And like my dad said years ago, Americans can do anything.
Thank you for listening. God bless you. And God bless America.”
COMMENTS (48)
Did Jindal just say his mother was 4 1/2 months pregnant when she anchored here? In wingnut math, doesn't this make him ineligible forPresident?
Posted by: flounder | February 24, 2009 10:45 PM
Nice. I also liked Ezra's "30 Rock" analogy. I never imagined Kenneth as a patronizing twerp. Hopefully the writers never take his character in that direction.
Posted by: mbk114 | February 24, 2009 10:50 PM
Yes! Kenneth from 30 Rock. that's genius.
Posted by: Sarah Brennan | February 24, 2009 11:01 PM
I only caught the end of Jindal's speech, which was ordinary, but on reading the text, I guess the highlight of the speech was the Sherriff Harry Lee story, which seems like it might be effective, except it's not clear what the implications of the anecdote are, other than that government is bad, and you should rely on private-sector solutions. But is it really true? Even assuming one government manager with really bad judgement, is the solution to jettison a government employee-based response for flood rescuing, and rely instead on private sector volunteers?
Anyway, Jindal's speech reminded of this great Wes Clark interview, on how you can develop a competent organization that can respond effectively to disasters like Katrina.
"Wes Clark on Disaster Preparedness"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRS1reFQGGw
Posted by: roublen | February 24, 2009 11:01 PM
Wow, Sullivan made the exact same 30 rock comparison, in a post published at the exact same time. I think we have a meme!
Posted by: Grey | February 24, 2009 11:07 PM
a different kind of Republican
Well, he's not an old white man, other than that he is exactly like other Republicans.
Posted by: msw | February 24, 2009 11:09 PM
Roublen, the logic of the Sheriff Harry Lee story was even worse than you point out. After all, wasn't the sheriff, who is the hero of the story, a government employee himself? Or do the Republicans now want law enforcement to be privatized?
Posted by: Karl Weber | February 24, 2009 11:17 PM
This whole "30 rock" comparison that ezra and sullivan supposedly made at the same time seems a bit strange.
One probably copied the other.
Posted by: thehova | February 24, 2009 11:22 PM
do the Republicans now want law enforcement to be privatized?
Uh, yes they do.
-Xe
Posted by: msw | February 24, 2009 11:22 PM
BlueinColorado in Atrios's comments beat you all to the Kenneth Parcell reference, I think.
During last year's hurricane alerts, Jindal actually sounded pretty clued during press conferences. Not tonight. The SoTU (or semi-SoTU) response is always a poison chalice, it seems, unless you're Jim Webb and don't give a fuck about higher office, but, damn.
And the Kenneth comparison is going to stick, and hurt.
Posted by: pseudonymous in nc | February 24, 2009 11:22 PM
re: the kenneth coincidence -- nope. it's all over the web, especially in the comments.
because it's sooooo true.
Posted by: midge | February 24, 2009 11:29 PM
The Kenneth comparison is going to stick because, frankly, when I read it I was like "oh, yeah! That's who he reminded me of. Thanks."
It's kind of the same "wow, Sarah Palin really looks like Tina Fey" moment we all had in August.
More importantly, I think it means Tina Fey is officially kryptonite to the Republican party. They really should vette all future Republican saviors through "6 degrees of Tina Fey" before giving them prime media exposure.
Posted by: anonymiss | February 24, 2009 11:36 PM
he's not an old white man, other than that he is exactly like other Republicans.
Yes but he is a religious fanatic, which almost makes up for not being white.
Posted by: jeebus | February 24, 2009 11:39 PM
Over the last six years, we've spent like 600 billion dollars on "Iraq" monitoring. Seeing as how there are a few pretty big volcanoes that are really close to where a shitload of people live, and that have the power to kill a whole lot more Americans than the Iraqis ever did, $140MM seems like a small price to pay to monitor them.
Posted by: Seitz | February 24, 2009 11:45 PM
jindal's speech matches up REALLY FUCKING BAD with the President's, in every way, both delivery and content. Literally every single one of his attacks were dealt with, rebutted, and easily disposed of by Obama--and Obama gave his speech first! It didn't help that Jindal has the charisma of an ugly turnip.
if anyone was still looking for a contrast between the best that Democrats and Republicans have to offer, it was tonight. man, 2012 is gonna be a rout.
Posted by: raft | February 25, 2009 12:10 AM
As a Northwesterner, let me testify that volcanic analysis is DEFINITELY worth the money. And as Seitz sez, its pennies compared to Iraq. Really, all talk of spending should be filtered through this lens.
Posted by: Stefan | February 25, 2009 12:19 AM
Umm, is that Harry Lee even true? We can't check with the other guy there, he is dead. It's really convenient he found a popular Democrat to spew some perfect anecdote.
Posted by: Dan | February 25, 2009 12:49 AM
My wife kept waiting for Jindal to scare GOP moderates back into the big tent by waking the spirit of the evil hill witch, a favorite of Kenneth's on 30 Rock.
How sad. It's going to be a while before the R's find their way.
Posted by: Beer for my horses!!! | February 25, 2009 2:16 AM
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
Posted by: ethan salto | February 25, 2009 3:40 AM
could anyone have listened to bobby jindal's speech last night, following president obama's brilliant address, and still consider him a bright, rising star in the republican party?
he seemed more like one of those fizzling roman candles on the fourth of july.
Posted by: jacqueline | February 25, 2009 4:38 AM
did you hear him say that the strength of america does not lie with our government?
that is encouraging coming from a governor.
he looked like he was giving a bar mitzvah speech in tara!
Posted by: jacqueline | February 25, 2009 4:50 AM
Sure, Bobby. You and Harry Lee were all about helping the citizens of New Orleans but were prevented from doing so by some nameless bureaucrat. Except that's not how it went down, now was it? Some of us without wingnut dementia actually remember how JPSO didn't help.
Posted by: milo | February 25, 2009 7:14 AM
Can anyone explain why the high-speed rail link between Anaheim and Las Vegas has become the GOP's poster child for wasteful spending? Leaving aside the fact that it's a total myth that the project has been funded, it seems to be exactly the kind of project we should be funding. The road from L.A. to Vegas is a pretty well-traveled one, and I suspect has more than its share of drunk driving incidents. A train could reduce both. The route runs through pretty long stretches of nothing, so it's one of the places where such a project could actually be built at reasonable cost. It would be a pilot project for possible future high-speed rail projects that could, long term, reduce carbon emissions from both car and air travel. And it could boost tourism by making it easier to get from Disneyland and Las Vegas - two destinations popular with tourists, particularly high-spending foreign tourists. To say nothing of the jobs created in the short term.
Maybe the costs exceed the benefits, but this hardly rises to the same degree as a bridge connecting fifty people off the coast of Alaska to the mainland.
Posted by: Sanjiv Sarwate | February 25, 2009 9:58 AM
Interesting that the imaginary Las Vegas SUPERTRAIN now connects to Disneyland.
Posted by: Spike | February 25, 2009 10:02 AM
The American spirit has triumphed over almost every form of adversity known to man
Even volcanoes - because we monitored them so we could get people out of the way. I'm old enough to remember Mt. St. Helens (albeit a little vaguely) - isn't Jindal? It killed about 7,000 deer and elk - and only 57 people, because the rest were evacuated in exactly the way New Orleans wasn't.
Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery - so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment.
And as a Republican, I'm committed to making sure millions more poor people will have to go through the uncertainty and fear my family did!
Posted by: Chris | February 25, 2009 10:47 AM
P.S. I wonder if Jindal regularly scores political points in Louisiana by mocking other parts of the country - people who live near volcanoes and want to monitor them, people who want to build trains to connect cities separated by miles of desert, and especially people who administer the federal government that provides much more support to his state than it ever gets back in taxes.
Maybe he just didn't think about how those habits were going to play on a national scale. Winning the South *is not enough* to play with the big boys in national politics. If you can't dent the coastal enclaves of liberalism you need to at least compete in the Midwest and Southwest. How is this speech going to help Jindal do that?
Posted by: Chris | February 25, 2009 10:52 AM
Gee, if they're going to eliminate volcano monitoring, they'd better eliminate hurricane monitoring too. It has the same effect on a huge number of people, but in a different location--volcanoes just don't erupt as often as hurricanes hit, is all. But an eruption in the northern Cascades (Mt. Rainier, Mt. Hood) has the potential to make Katrina seem like a walk in the park.
Posted by: Erika | February 25, 2009 11:02 AM
Republicans believe in a simple principle: No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage - period. We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. We oppose universal government-run health care. Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients - not by government bureaucrats. We believe Americans can do anything - and if we put aside partisan politics and work together, we can make our system of private medicine affordable and accessible for every one of our citizens.
Everyone at this blog already knows that the Republican alternative to government bureaucrats is insurance company bureaucrats, of course, but even aside from that it doesn't make any sense. Given the standard definition of "health coverage," it is simply impossible that the private market can make it so that no American has to worry about losing it. You can argue that the government is too incompetent to offer that kind of assurance either, but the private market simply can't do it in any way. HSAs can obviously get used up. Affordable premiums and fees for coverage can become unaffordable if they increase (a new baby, say) or if your income drops. Even the wingiest of wingnuts can see that if the goal is freedom from worring about losing health care coverage, there has to be some kind of public option that's a lot more substantial than what we have now.
Posted by: Cyrus | February 25, 2009 11:04 AM
I guess that when we stop monitoring volcanoes, we should also cut spending on monitoring hurricanes. Since neither of these things uses people in any way whatsoever so in no way could lead to job creation. Instead, we should cut taxes for businesses so they provide more jobs for people willing to live in unmonitored volcanic / fire / flood / tornado prone places. Fantastic thinking!
Posted by: John | February 25, 2009 11:07 AM
Can anyone explain why the high-speed rail link between Anaheim and Las Vegas has become the GOP's poster child for wasteful spending?
To be fair, it looks funny (assuming that such a specific project exists, which I'm not sure of) because Harry Reid is a Senator from Nevada, so it looks like pork. That's not to say that every project in the district of a Congressman supporting it is a bad idea (and, again, does this SUPERTRAIN plan actually exist?), but it's fair to be more suspicious than usual.
Posted by: Cyrus | February 25, 2009 11:07 AM
Any idea who wrote the non-"I'm from Louisiana" parts of Jindal's speech?
Posted by: bdbd | February 25, 2009 11:47 AM
Jindal's sneering at government help is the old incompentence dodge that women are all too familiar with. The at-home version goes like this:
HE: Men can't change diapers (wash dishes, cook meals, vacuum...). That's women's work.
SHE: Do it, buster.
(HE changes little Caden's diaper/washes some dishes/vacuums the living room completely incompetently, leaving an enormous mess.)
HE: See?
Posted by: Cardinal Fang | February 25, 2009 11:48 AM
No debate. America was rickrolled by Bobby Jindal last night.
Posted by: Andrew | February 25, 2009 11:55 AM
I dont' know any of the details on planning for the high-speed Vegas train, but I can tell you the idea has been kicked around out here for at least a decade, and probably a lot longer...
Posted by: Brian | February 25, 2009 11:57 AM
Posted by: Tom Hilton | February 25, 2009 12:11 PM
Tort-reform dogwhistle? I thought it was more of a don't-rely-on-government-rely-on-yourself kind of thing. But OK, I can see your point, too.
Posted by: Rick | February 25, 2009 1:09 PM
The Sheriff Lee story reminded me of a similar anecdote Reagan told about a plane crash into the freezing Potomac. He praised a lone rescuer as a a sterling example of individual initiative as opposed to burdensome government intervention. This ignored the fact that most of the survivors were rescued by burdensome government helicoptors.
Posted by: Virginia | February 25, 2009 1:18 PM
Did Jindal just say his mother was 4 1/2 months pregnant when she anchored here? In wingnut math, doesn't this make him ineligible forPresident?
Seriously. I've been so inundated with nativist crap from the Right that I honestly thought that Jindal was going to say was, "I was what folks now call an 'anchor baby'." It's disturbing that I've internalized that message even though I support it.
Posted by: eRobin | February 25, 2009 1:27 PM
Gah - don't support it. I really have to learn to love preview.
Posted by: eRobin | February 25, 2009 1:29 PM
This ignored the fact that most of the survivors were rescued by burdensome government helicoptors.
And all the planes that don't crash because in order to pass burdensome government safety regulations, the airlines have to actually make them safer.
Posted by: Chris | February 25, 2009 1:34 PM
To be fair, it looks funny (assuming that such a specific project exists, which I'm not sure of) because Harry Reid is a Senator from Nevada, so it looks like pork.
Except the funding for high speed trains does not specify where it will be built. It could be Ohio. Or Louisiana. Or the Northeast corridor. Or Las Vegas/Los Angeles.
Posted by: lou | February 25, 2009 1:55 PM
Looks like several people made the Jindal-Kenneth connection:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aH9KHZp-u-I
Posted by: Chris_ | February 25, 2009 2:42 PM
Kenneth is a much more dynamic speaker, and while easily duped, doesn't lie.
Posted by: Batocchio | February 25, 2009 4:11 PM
Even after landing a job, he could still not afford to pay for my delivery - so he worked out an installment plan with the doctor. Fortunately for me, he never missed a payment.
Best ad I've heard in a while for comprehensive national health care.
Didn't any actual grownups look over this speech before it was given live? Or has the Republican party run out of grownups altogether? Sheesh.
Posted by: Leaves on the Current | February 25, 2009 7:09 PM
The one thing that struck me immediately as a fundamental difference between Barack Obama's speech and Bobby Jindal's was the sense of "who all, or what all, the Government is." (Pause for apologies to my high school English teachers)
Barack Obama uses that term to describe not simply an agent of "the People," but rather our amplified voice, the collective extension of our individual efforts, the expression of our will, and the means to implement our values in concrete ways that benefit both the individual and the whole. In short - The People and The Government are inseparable. Government is not something alien or apart from the citizens of this country - rather it is the citizens of this country. I believe this is what our Founding Fathers intended when they designed a form of government under which they wanted to live, and for which they were willing to die.
For Bobby Jindal, that's not true. Instead, Government is some faceless, irrational collection of bureaucrats operating under an insane system of rules and regulations, and standing in the way of our "individual freedoms." It's something foreign to be feared, limited, and resisted. And the most profound irony of all is that for me, and I suspect the majority of this country, that was exactly how we felt during the Bush administration. But now, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I believe that we're finally in the process of beginning to feel that we own our Government. That's a profound shift into a shared sense of individual and collective responsibility - and an accomplishment more than sufficient to make Barack Obama's first 100 days in office an unqualified success.
Posted by: susan kidder | February 25, 2009 7:53 PM
With office rental increasing, it doesn't make much sense to have a physical office. I believe the future of most businesses will be virtual and leveraging off using a virtual office space.
Posted by: savantadmin | February 25, 2009 10:01 PM
wow, susan kidder, that nails it totally. I salute your capture of this moment in our country's life. Yes. It's as simple as you say, and it runs as deep. This is why our hearts swell.
Posted by: Ross Hunter | February 26, 2009 1:01 AM
Of the people, by the people, for the people. It seems ironic that it was a Republican who wrote that phrase, but when you look at all the ways the parties have shifted since then, it's clear that Jindal's party is not the party of Lincoln anymore. (Southern whites are their base - how much more of a reversal do you want?)
Posted by: Chris | February 26, 2009 11:20 AM