Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
In response to Mitt Romney's analysis of why he may have lost the election -- specifically, that the President was successful in promising to bestow financial gifts on various constituent groups -- the Governor of Louisiana has remarked on CBS (correction CNN) and on Fox News Sunday this morning that the Republican Party needs to stop talking down to voters and stop being ... wait for it ... the Stupid Party.
So, let me get this straight. It's not acceptable to call into question whether voters fully comprehended the consequences of their actions in their desire to hold onto or get more government handouts, further bankrupting the nation while ignoring the vast historical evidence about the failure of socialist policies and states that have brought rampant poverty, misery, and destitution to their people? But, for Governor Jindal, it is quite acceptable to call those who did comprehend that "stupid?" Gee, thanks for not talking down to us, Bobby.
Jindal went on to say that Republicans need to be more civil in the way they conduct their debate with the opposition. Hmm ... let's examine that, shall we? Was it Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan who were uncivil? Were their surrogates and supporters uncivil? Or was it Barack Obama, Joe Biden, the Obama campaign, their surrogates, and their supporters who accused the Republicans of being racist, homophobic, anti-women, murderers, and (in the case of Paul Ryan) gleefully pushing the elderly over a cliff in a wheelchair? Yes, by all means, let's be more civil.
Jindal further added that the Republican Party needs to be the pro-growth, pro-middle-class party and let the Democrats be the progressive, big government party. But what's missing from this equation? Would it be uncivil of Republicans to mention that an unrestrained and growing federal government has the unfortunate consequence of stifling, frustrating, and quashing the private sector and entrepreneurs? That espousing support for entrepreneurs and small business doesn't necessarily result in smaller government unless one is insistent that big government needs to severely downsized and confined only to its constitutionally-allowed mandates? Dare we mention that? Or would that be too condescending? Wouldn't want to be all uncivil. Of course, I'm not very smart ... but with the Governor's help I know I can work on that.
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Comments:
Jun '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
There goes Bobby Jindal, right along with Chris Christie. I think they have both decided resistance is futile.
Oct '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
I do find it insulting to be called a member of the "stupid party."
Edited on November 18, 2012 at 6:51pmJun '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
This Jindal thing really bugs me.
Way back when Obama was giving his first State of the Union address, the Republicans chose Jindal to give the response. That's a big opportunity.
The result was less than stellar. Some piled on, but what Jindal seems to forget is that most on his side either kept their mouths shut or were complimentary. Did Mitt Romney say anything? I don't know, but I doubt he criticized Jindal.
Now we have Mitt Romney, the defeated Republican nominee, discussing one of the reasons we lost, which is that the Democrats promise a lot of free stuff, which a lot of voters like. Before the election the entire Republican party was saying the same thing, and it just happens to be true.
What a difference a week makes. Jindal calls out Romney for incivility (really?).
NRO ran a poll asking if Jindal was right to say that the Republican are too supportive of big business. 54 percent disagreed with Jindal.
Possible lesson: Act like an ungrateful jerk and people push back. Bad political calculation, and it's firm in my mind that Jindal is a jerk.
Jun '12
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home?
Sep '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
We are all members of the stupid party, including Bobby Jindal, including me more than anyone else. :) I don't spend any time wondering or worrying about where liberals are going wrong, because I don't want them to win. I am more critical of conservatives, because I want conservatism to prevail.
During the democratic convention, Bill Clinton gave a detailed account of something-I can't even remember what, but he went on for a very long time explaining the ins and outs of some policy: that kind of approach works. Paul Ryan told an interviewer that he did not have time to explain the ins and outs of his policy; it seemed as though he expected people to just trust him. Liberals have done the same thing and gotten away with it: it's not fair, but that's life. I am not in a position to criticize others for communication problems, but I welcome constructive criticism: I would love help to become better at connecting with people. Being aware that there is a problem is the first step.
Oct '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
Jindal sounds as frustrated as the rest of us, he's just being unwise venting publicly. He should do what the rest of do and rant to his wife so she can point out the flaws in his thinking. Then hold a press conference.
Dec '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
So long Bobby, we thought we knew you ...
Mar '12
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 5 minutes ago
I won't stay home and I won't vote for him. In 2014 and 2016, my focus will be on the state level races.
I am glad Jindal is sticking his foot in his mouth. None of the national level GOP "leaders" are small government or social conservatives. They play lip service to those ideas, but they act like Dem-Lites. We need this circular firing squad to weed out the ninja RINOs that too many see as conservative candidates. We need to rebuild the GOP leadership from the grassroot levl.
Our hope lies in the states. To reduce the Federal government we need to dominate at the state level. We need the states to resist things like Obamacare.
All politics is local.
Sep '12
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
With friends like these, who needs enemies!
Nov '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
Do I agree with Mitt Romney or Bobby Jindal more about why the election was lost? I would say that about 60% of me agrees with the Romney analysis while about 40% of me agrees with the Jindal analysis.
Conservatives by their very nature need to be the pessimist party. However, politicians running for elective office almost have to be optimists to get elected unless they are running in a very conservative district or in very favorable conditions.
I say lay off Bobby. He worked hard to get Romney elected, and he didn't gush over Obama like Christie did when his state was in trouble. A Romney-Jindal ticket couldn't have done worse that the Ryan one.
I believe his Stupid Party comments referred to Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock. Who doesn't agree with this?
Jindal didn't like Romney's "47% comment". Romney initially defended this comment but later rejected it. It didn't help as it was constantly featured in television commercials in every swing state. I just don't see how Romney was supposed to run a perfect campaign where he never said any controversial comment in an age of private cell phone videos.
Jun '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 14 minutes ago
Doubtful he will get that far. Hard to see how insulting your base is a strategy for winning the nomination. Perry has shown that he's an effective governor but the consensus that evolved was that he couldn't seem to grapple with issues without putting them in a Texas-context. Jindal may also be a competent governor, but on a national level he continues to un-impress.
Jun '12
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
Brian Watt
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 14 minutes ago
Doubtful he will get that far. Hard to see how insulting your base is a strategy for winning the nomination. Perry has shown that he's an effective governor but the consensus that evolved was that he couldn't seem to grapple with issues without putting them in a Texas-context. Jindal may also be a competent governor, but on a national level he continues to un-impress. · 3 minutes ago
We'll see. People have come from ignominy to the nomination before.
Sep '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
When Obama performed badly in the first debate, many liberals were extremely critical of him. They were critical because they wanted him to win.
Jun '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer
Brian Watt
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 14 minutes ago
Doubtful he will get that far. Hard to see how insulting your base is a strategy for winning the nomination. Perry has shown that he's an effective governor but the consensus that evolved was that he couldn't seem to grapple with issues without putting them in a Texas-context. Jindal may also be a competent governor, but on a national level he continues to un-impress. · 3 minutes ago
We'll see. People have come from ignominy to the nomination before. · 10 minutes ago
Now I feel better.
Jun '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 49 minutes ago
No question for me. I criticized him above, but I'll vote for him against a Democrat. He just put himself near the bottom of my list of favorite Republicans: Paul Ryan sits at the top of my list.
My willingness to vote for him against a Democrat doesn't dampen my criticism of him for this unforced error. We all know Mitt lost and we also know he is no longer (if ever he was) the voice of the Republican party. Which only makes me wonder why Jindal felt it necessary to use him as a stage prop for Jindal's own political ambitions. I think the criticism was substantively wrong--but worse, it was a dumb thing to say.
Edited on November 18, 2012 at 8:11pmApr '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 44 minutes ago
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, I will campaign vigorously for him, unless he turns out to be even worse on trade than he has suggested and the Democrats nominate a conservative Dem along the lines of Manchin. Under those circumstances, I would campaign vigorously for some other race.
I don't think it's enormously likely that Jindal will be the nominee, but I agree that it's perfectly plausible. He was Perry's best man, and if Huckabee and Santorum campaigned hard for him in Iowa that could make a significant difference. He'd want to avoid splitting the southern vote, but not many of the up and comers are Southerners. At the very least, he'd be likely to be the Huckabee/ Newt Southern Regional candidate, putting himself in a good position for 2020 (if he behaves well, and he generally does, although this was a disappointment).
Oct '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer
Brian Watt
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 14 minutes ago
Doubtful he will get that far. Hard to see how insulting your base is a strategy for winning the nomination. Perry has shown that he's an effective governor but the consensus that evolved was that he couldn't seem to grapple with issues without putting them in a Texas-context. Jindal may also be a competent governor, but on a national level he continues to un-impress. · 3 minutes ago
We'll see. People have come from ignominy to the nomination before
Conwan, weren't you the one that wrote that Corey Booker wouldn't be the Dem Presidential nominee because of the remark defending Bain in the face of Obama's attack? Apologies if I'm mis-remembering.
Jan '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
Dennis Prager -- that famously lefty, Conservative-hating radio guy -- has said about 40,000 times that there are two parties in the US: the destructive party and the stupid party. Dumb is better than dangerous.
But honestly, who cares about this? You were called stupid -- so what?
For the record, I think Ricochet is full of fantastically intelligent, aware, knowledgeable, kind people who are flat-out "stupid" in the way they approach spreading Conservative ideals and impacting public policy. Plenty of folks think I'm naive and wrong-headed.
Again, so what? I might be right, you might be right. Stop whining, get to work and let's find out.
Nov '11
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
Ye gads, if this is his follow-up to that previous SOTU Response, count me out, for now. CW, I vote from home anyway.
May '10
Re: Bobby Jindal Thinks You're Stupid
ConservativeWanderer: Let me ask everyone here this:
If Jindal turns out to be the 2016 nominee, are you going to vote for him, or sit at home? · 1 hour ago
Vote for him of course. "Thank you sir, may I have another!"
Campaign for him too, being a conservative activist.
Like the old Faro player said "I know it's rigged, but it's the only game in town." [Sorry Libertarians, you all keep on being spoilers, I'm not going to spend my time helping someone get 7% of the vote]
Here's the rub. I know, barring some retraction of his remarks, that my enthusiasm will be lukewarm. I'll work fewers hours, probably not contribute any money. And, it will be a harder sell, and heavier lift with the disaffected voters I'll be trying to convince.
On the other hand, when Pat Caddell calls the GOP "The Stupid Party" he's right, just for different reasons (like an unanswered barrage of negative commercials in Ohio, Florida, and Virginia)>