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Jindal’s Pro-Life Jujitsu
I’ve written a lot in the past couple of weeks about Scott Walker, and about Rick Perry before that. It’s past time for Louisiana’s governor to experience the poll surge guaranteed by a post from yours truly. And Bobby Jindal earned it today with a smart piece of political jujitsu.
Unlike most politicos, Jindal understands that a major source of liberal power is their ability to set the narrative. Since progressives control most of the media and pop culture, they set the terms of the debate. Ferguson, Missouri, has been wracked by violence for a year due to a coordinated lie accusing a racist cop of gunning down an innocent black teen with his hands up, pleading “don’t shoot!” The press lionized a Texas backbencher for bravely defending women’s health, even though Wendy Davis was blocking a bill favored by the wide majority of Lone Star women.
Unable to spin the brutal Planned Parenthood exposé by the Center for Medical Progress, the media has mostly ignored the videos, hoping the grisly footage will just fade away. Instead, the news has issued dire warnings about a conservative threat to Planned Parenthood’s funding for mammograms, cancer screenings, and the few other services the group claims to provide outside of the forbidden A-word.
Jindal pulled his state’s funding of the non-profit earlier this month, so Planned Parenthood decided to hold a raucous protest outside the governor’s mansion in Baton Rouge. Media passed around the info, hoping to gather great B-roll of an eeevil Republican governor oppressing female victims. A fantastic way to smear not only Jindal, but the entire GOP primary field as out-of-touch meanies.
Most politicians would have ignored the protest as the same old, same old. If a governor responded at all, it would be with an angry counter-protest, which only would generate video of rival mobs screaming at each other in front of his home. But instead of directly attacking the pro-abortion message, Jindal decided to use the strength of the liberals’ narrative against them.
The Japanese term for this technique is jujitsu — literally, “the art of yielding.” Instead of rushing to fight a stronger opponent head-on, a jujitsu fighter wins by co-opting his opponent’s strength. If the attacker throws a devastating punch at your face, you grasp his arm and redirect it to the ground behind you. Sure, the bad guy might be bigger, stronger, and faster, but that power leads to his defeat.
As the pro-Planned Parenthood rally gathers in front of his house, Jindal is setting up a giant outdoor movie screen and playing the sting videos for all to see. All the protesters and reporters will now see the footage. If local media has live coverage, the videos could end up on the nightly news. Now, at the very least, reporters will have to mention the “controversial” videos. Brilliant.
“Planned Parenthood has a right to protest today, but Governor Jindal’s office will ensure that anyone who shows up will have to witness first-hand the offensive actions of the organization they are supporting,” Jindal, who is also a Republican presidential candidate, wrote in a statement.
“We hope the protesters will take a minute to watch them so they’ll have an opportunity to see first-hand our concerns with Planned Parenthood’s practices,” he added.
Planned Parenthood dismissed Jindal’s move as a political “stunt.”
“Governor Jindal isn’t even in Louisiana today, but he’s made sure to prove that he’s always ready to put politics before Louisianan’s health. This stunt is proof he doesn’t have any real answers for the people of Louisiana,” Melissa Flournoy, the Louisiana state director for Planned Parenthood, wrote in a statement.
Enjoy the show, “Women’s Health Advocates.” Take notes, “Objective Journalists.” Bobby Jindal’s stunt will force you to face the reality of your political positions, possibly for the first time. And the viewers at home will know much more about the truly shocking videos you have tried to hide.
Published in General
I really like Bobby Jindal. Of the entire crop of 17 candidates, I think he’d make by far the best President.
Unfortunately, he’s not the best candidate – I just don’t see how he gets the nomination.
Well played, sir. Well played. This guy knows more about policy than just about anyone in the race, now maybe if Rush & others will stop eating up all the oxygen in the room talking about Trump….
Like!
This is an entirely fair point. He’s probably too far back now, but if we could get some of the spotlight off His Donaldness, that’s a good thing too.
I’m gonna guess that that news coverage will be “heavily edited.”
Fantastic. Jujitsu Jindl!
Careful. You’ll peak him early.
That was brilliant.
On a slightly different note on the same topic, the editorial spin in Western Washington state this week is that conservatives’ opposition to Planned Parenthood is tantamount to opposition to access to contraception, which will ipso facto cause more abortions.
That doesn’t even make sense.
Get Mona Charen to explain it to you.
Side note: reading the comments section of the linked article made me really appreciate Ricochet.
Welcome to press coverage in Pugetopia. It doesn’t have to make sense.
This is one of the most encouraging things I’ve read in a long time. Thank you.
Is there a link? Did I miss it?
I should mention that I’ve long advocated using our opponents’ strength against them. It started in the 80s when I realized one of the few joys in life was to use leftwing cliches against the left.
I’ve often heard conservatives here on Ricochet talk about how we need to take back the language. But that’s a fruitless task when they control the entertainment media, the “news” media, and academia. I say let them decide on the language to use, and then we’ll use it against them.
If they talk about income inequality, I point out how their centralizing, regulatory system and Fed policies create income inequality. If they talk about sustainability, I point out the unsustainability of their economic programs. If they talk about corporate greed, I point out that rampant greed of their government corporations.
I sometimes pat myself on the back for my clever turnabouts, but I must confess that I never came up with anything as brilliant as what Jindal did here.
Jindal bells! Jindal bells! Woo-hoo i love this so much! Thanks for posting, Jon Gabriel.
Is anyone else going to a protest against PP this Saturday? Hook up here:
http://iroots.org/2015/08/12/second-nationwide-protest-of-planned-parenthood-scheduled-for-sat-aug-22/
Forget what the media reports…maybe some of the PP supporters will accidently watch some of the videos. Be nice if we could set a screen up in front of the White House since good ol Josh Earnest said none of them have watched them either. I would say most of their supports haven’t
Of course it’s a political stunt…and Jindal is Houdini. CMP ought to get some cameras into the crowd to see how many hide their eyes.
Arguably jujitsu means the ‘gentle art’ rather than the yielding art. Are there any Japanese speakers on ricochet?
Jindal/Rubio 16. Now more than ever.
Good job, Jon. Your article is linked to in today’s LOOP from catholic vote.org (see fourth item in the list).
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21
PP SCANDAL // Now we know why reporters aren’t writing about the Planned Parenthood scandal. http://cvote.it/1Nyj0PA
2016 // Sen. Marco Rubio disagrees with Donald Trump, says birthright citizenship is part of what makes America exceptional. http://cvote.it/1J91qfL
SYNOD // The deeper issue at the Synod: The Kasper approach to theology and morality absolutizes history to the point that it relativizes and ultimately demeans divine revelation. http://cvote.it/1J91xYu
2016 // Abortion supporters picket Louisiana’s governor’s mansion because he cut off funding for Planned Parenthood. So pro-life Governor Bobby Jindal outfoxes them, and plays the undercover sting videos during their protest. http://cvote.it/1J923FU
CV BLOG // Surprising, but true: Millions of Americans think Planned Parenthood doesn’t do abortions. http://cvote.it/1J91ITV
ON THIS DAY // 1959 – Hawaii becomes 50th state. http://cvote.it/1J924Ke
SAINT OF THE DAY // Pope Saint Pius X is best remembered for his encouragement of the frequent reception of Holy Communion, especially by children. http://cvote.it/Daily-Saint
DAILY READINGS // Today’s Readings http://cvote.it/Daily-Readings
TRUTH //
Know someone else who likes to be in the loop? Just forward this email to them. They’ll thank you later.
When Jindal’s good, he’s really good.
Jindal is one of the people I can easily vote for, but as noted above, he would be a much better president than he is a candidate. Unfortunately for all of us.
A few more black eyes for Lefty like this, and Jindal may punch his way into the big ring. He doesn’t excite me no matter how good he is on issues because (to be polite) his presence is about as reassuring, as confidence-inspiring, as effective Gary Johnson’s. Johnson was a good governor, and he just came unglued at “JV” big-tent debates.
But you can’t argue with success, and this is a coup. The season is young. Plenty of time, if we can just hold off the GOP’s spirit-crushing machine.
Republicans can learn a lot from Jindal. He never accepts the liberal narrative. He always restates the issue rooted in truth. Such as , “yes if Obama chooses to shut down the government to preserve support to abortion provider PP… Most Republicans begin with the Democrat narrative, so it was “Cruz wants to shut down the government”. No he wanted to give you idiots a place to bargain from. But then our leadership has different priorities.
This election season is shaping up to be a previously unimaginably wonderful time: A dozen attractive GOP candidates competing to see who is the best at telling the MSM/Narrative Zombies to go to hell. Maybe Donald Trump is the enema the GOP has needed for a long time.
Man this is so right about Cruz. Our side freaking out over the beating we would take over the “shutdown” was retarded and totally based on a Democratic story line. Boy it really killed us in the mid-terms didn’t it??
If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
If all you have is a spirit-crushing machine, everything looks like a spirit that needs crushing.
Racist.
:-)