Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Paul A. Rahe ·
October 24, 2011 at 1:37pm
Here is something to warm the cockles of your heart. In Louisiana, on Saturday, they held a gubernatorial primary. Louisiana being Louisiana, it is an open primary. There were nine candidates, and the expectation was that the two leading vote-getters would then square off in November. But Jindal -- a Republican (of all things!) with skin of dark hue, running in a deep-South state -- won 65.8% of the votes cast, which means that there will not be a gubernatorial election in November. Think what that suggests about November, 2012!
ADDENDUM: There is an excellent profile of Jindal that was posted on National Review Online by Jim Geraghty this morning. I just came across it.
- Comment (33)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (2)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
May '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Not only that, but his closest rival got only 17%.
Edited on October 24, 2011 at 1:57pmFeb '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Must be all those Indian-Americans in Louisiana, who go 99% for one of their own.
May '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Well it is obvious, people in Louisiana are just a bunch of racists....... oh wait a second......
May '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Gov. Jindal, you've got 70 something days to get up and running in Iowa. Get to it, man!
Jul '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
It means competent candidates should win easily on our home turf.
Apr '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Sorry to be a Debbie Downer, but my enthusiasm is tempered by last week's news - which has been IGNORED even in the conservative media - that so-called conservative Gov Jindal put his signature on a disgraceful statewide ban of cash purchases of second hand goods. (check out the scum that passes for a Republican in La. with the comments from the sponsor of this bill).
This is such an egregious abuse of government power - not to mention a direct assault on small businesses and the poor - that, at least for me, it's a deal breaker.
Bobby Jindal is politically dead to me.
Sep '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
A big aspect of this win is no doubt the oil spill. Jindal was out there in his suit with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up practically every day. Also, many Louisianians are really ticked off at the offshore drilling ban, which they no doubt associate with the democrats. One has to wonder what would have happened had Jindal beaten Blanco and been governor when Katrina hit. One imagines that we would not have seen parking lots full of empty busses or other images that many Americans false assume are based on racism rather than incompetence and, in the case of Ray Nagin, bizarre fantasies of greatness.
Jun '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Why don't you guys get him on a podcast and ask him yourself what he thinks it means. He has endorsed Perry.
Feb '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
A cynic would say that a loser in 2012 means no incumbent in 2016. But we don't have any of those around here.
Aug '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
I put Jindal in the same category as Chris Christie. I don't want these men to run for president because they are still desperately needed in their states. New Jersey can't afford to lose Christie at this moment in history, and Louisiana cannot afford to lose Jindal.
If someone can show to me that there are equally competent successors being groomed in NJ and/or Louisiana, then I'll change my mind. Until then, I do not relish the thought of sacrificing those states to the Dems.
May '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Having lived here since Katrina and had the pleasure of voting for Jindal twice, here's the intent of the law you are complaining about. There is a spectacular rash of metals thievery going on down here. Industrial sized A/C units are being stolen off the roofs of churches with amazing regularity. It is almost impossible to complete a new home construction project without all the wiring being ripped off multiple times. This new law merely requires that scrap dealers pay you for your scrap with a check to enable easier tracking of thieves.
One of the larger complaints is that pawn shops are exempt. This is mainly because they are already legally required to obtain ID information from sellers.
So, if you'd rather vote for a lib, go ahead, but that seems silly to me.
Edited on October 24, 2011 at 3:16pmMay '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
double post
Edited on October 24, 2011 at 3:15pmNov '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
2evil, thanks for the clarification. The political pure bloods all too often are looking for anything they can pounce on, without considering the context.
Apr '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
2Evil4U,
Then law enforcement must come up with ways to prevent theft that doesn't grossly infringe on the basic every day rights of law abiding citizens.
You're going to tell me that I can't use CASH - "Legal tender for all debts public and private" - to pay for an item at Goodwill, or at a fricken garage sale? You're going to force small businesses to keep records on every single purchase - including personal information on every customer?
What are poor people without debit cards or credit cards supposed to do? You might as well enact an individual mandate that all citizens must open a checking account.
This is an absurd overreach built on the same logic of unlimited government power as the individual mandate. It is an outrage and I hope the people affected revolt against it.
As conservative, how can you possible justify this? What, then, in your opinion can the government not do?
Apr '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
And just to clarify, before this I was a huge fan of Jindal, and I'm willing to wait for an explanation.
Also, it does not only apply to scrap dealers. From the text of the bill these are the items listed after the wiring/building components:
"... furniture, pictures, objects of art, clothing, mechanic's tools, carpenter's tools, automobile hubcaps, automotive batteries, automotive sound equipment such as radios, CB radios, stereos, speakers, cassettes, compact disc players, and similar automotive audio supplies, used building components, and items defined as cemetery artifacts is a secondhand dealer."
Anyone who buys, sells, trades in, or otherwise acquires or disposes of junk or used or secondhand property more frequently than once per month shall be deemed as being engaged in the business of a secondhand dealer."
So, if Grandma has a garage sale of old clothes and doo wop tapes on Saturday and Sunday she'd better contract to accept Visa/Mastercard and then fill that newly freed up space in the garage with financial records on her neighbors.
You can read the bill in full here.
Edited on October 24, 2011 at 3:59pmMar '11
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Cutlass' comments notwithstanding ("Scum" seems a little over the top), I for one admire what has been done in Louisiana under Jindal's watch. One need only recall the ineptitude of the state and local response to Katrina to see how far the state's come. Jim Geraghty has a long piece in today's National Review Online that describes Jindal's work in turning things around down there. In the larger scheme of things, a bill intending to put the brakes on stolen goods is way down the list of state priorities. Focus on the big picture and the smaller things will take care of themselves.
Edited on October 24, 2011 at 4:13pmMay '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Cutlass: 2Evil4U,
Then law enforcement must come up with ways to prevent theft that doesn't grossly infringe on the basic every day rights of law abiding citizens.
This is a good point. Sometimes the cure can be worse than the disease.
Aug '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Does this law have a sunset clause? I'm not universally opposed to legislation that restricts economic liberty under extraordinary circumstances, but ONLY if the legislation includes a rock-solid sunset clause that ensures the legislation will become void once the extraordinary circumstances have passed.
Personally, and speaking as a non-expert, I doubt this legislation would be able to survive a court challenge. Seems to me it violates Article 1, Section 10 of the constitution, in that it's a law which "impairs the obligation of contracts".
Edited on October 24, 2011 at 5:01pmNov '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
Cutlass, the law says "Anyone, other than a non-profit entity, who buys, sells, trades in or otherwise acquires or disposes of junk or used or secondhand property more frequently than once per month from any other person, other than a non-profit entity, shall be deemed as being in the business of a secondhand dealer." Unless the garage sale is held more than once a month, it will still be okay.
I realize that the law would, technically, apply to any person who frequents garage sales, even little old ladies who go to garage sales for fun, but that appears to be bad drafting, not the intent of the law. I seriously doubt sheriffs are going to arrest people for using cash at two different garage sales the same month.
"Junk theft" is a huge problem here in Mississippi, as it is nationwide. I'm not sure this law is the best way of dealing with the problem, but it certainly doesn't smack of a tyrannical police state law either. Just sayin'
Aug '10
Re: Bobby Jindal's Astonishing Victory
I think that's an overly rosy view of law enforcement.
In an age when children's lemonade stands are busted for operating a business without a license, RICO cases are brought against organizations like the Catholic Church and Major League Baseball, and "honest services" are defined as whatever a US Attorney happens to dislike, I would never underestimate law enforcement's ability to ignore the "intent" of any given law.