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ETpro's avatar

What did Bobby Jindal get right, and where is he in error? See details.

Asked by ETpro (34605points) June 23rd, 2013

Rhodes Scholar and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal recently said:

“Because the left wants: The government to explode; to pay everyone; to hire everyone; they believe that money grows on trees; the earth is flat; the industrial age, factory-style government is a cool new thing; debts don’t have to be repaid; people of faith are ignorant and uneducated; unborn babies don’t matter; pornography is fine; traditional marriage is discriminatory; 32 oz. sodas are evil; red meat should be rationed; rich people are evil unless they are from Hollywood or are liberal Democrats; the Israelis are unreasonable; trans-fat must be stopped; kids trapped in failing schools should be patient; wild weather is a new thing; moral standards are passé; government run health care is high quality; the IRS should violate our constitutional rights; reporters should be spied on; Benghazi was handled well; the Second Amendment is outdated; and the First one has some problems too.”

Is such a statement likely to promote bipartisan cooperation? Where is it factually challenged, and where is it accurate? Why do you think an intelligent leader such as Jindal felt the need for this sort of rhetoric?

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11 Answers

CWOTUS's avatar

His biggest mistake seems to have been creating a run-on incomplete sentence. If I can trust your paraphrasing, which I usually cannot.

janbb's avatar

Someone seems to be running for President. (But yes, the Israelis are unreasonable.)

elbanditoroso's avatar

I’m not going to respond point by point, only as a summary.

Basically it looks like he has assembled a shitload of hot-button issues, put them into a sentence, and is trying to scare the electorate by lumping them together. It’s another manifestation of the “big lie” technique (if you tell a lie long enough, people tend to think it is true).

The issue with Jindal’s lava flow is that every one of those issues is debatable by reasonable people. In other words, smart and honest people can have smart and useful discussion. But he has already made his decisions (without benefit of thought or discussion).

But this is the trademark of the republican party. The position is what’s important, not rational thought or support for that position.

As someone else said, this is the sound of a politician revving up for a presidential campaign.

filmfann's avatar

The mistakes seem to be believing Jindal is intelligent, and that he wants cooperation between the two parties.

talljasperman's avatar

If they win elections then it is democracy at work and what America wants.

Blueroses's avatar

I basically agree with @elbanditoroso

I think that by grouping together such a large number of unrelated issues, he’s certain to hit on at least one that you’ll agree with regardless of your political beliefs. By achieving that, he’ll get people to think “I don’t agree with everything he says, but that was a good point. He sounds bi-partisan.”

Pachy's avatar

I agree with @elbanditoroso 110%!

bkcunningham's avatar

The first mistake is trying to find anything logical or unbiased with a story from the Daily Kos titled, “An investigation into the intelligence, or lack thereof, of Bobby Jindal, Rhodes Scholar.” Gimme a break.

Where did you get that BS @ETpro? Do you just make it up?

Here is the actual op/ed written by Governor Jindal:
(CNN)—The latest problems with the IRS witch hunt, the seizure of phone records from The Associated Press, the conflicting Benghazi stories and disastrous attempts to enforce Obamacare may all seem unrelated, but they are not.

Each of these events is the direct byproduct of two central philosophies of the Obama administration—the massive expansion of the size and power of the federal government and a lack of trust in the American people.

These scandals were bound to happen. In fact, it was inevitable, and there will be more. President Obama has grown the size, the scope, the debt and the power of the federal government to such irresponsible proportions that problems like these are an inevitable result.

Lord Acton famously noted that “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

In a pathetic attempt to defend President Obama, another noted statesman, David Axelrod, said that the president couldn’t possibly know about all these scandals because “the government is so vast.” Therein lies the problem. The government is so vast.
Just a few years ago, President Clinton assured us that the era of big government was over. He could not have been more wrong. Now we have not just big government, but big brother running big government.

We don’t know what the president knew of these matters before they became public, and it strains credulity to suggest that his top political advisers were in the dark. But again, when you grow government this big, these kinds of scandals are inevitable, and he bears the responsibility for that.

Are these scandals the byproduct of liberalism or incompetence? I’d say the answer to that question is yes, both.

The Obama presidency, and liberalism in general, are based on not trusting the American people—a belief that big government is better for people. The latest scandals show why liberalism and big government don’t work.

The scandals cut at the core ideology of the Obama presidency. Indeed, these issues aren’t just the failure of an individual, but the failure of a system in which liberals put too much trust in big government.

Look at liberalism across every issue, from healthcare to energy to spending, and one thing is crystal clear: Liberals don’t believe in the dynamic and transformative power of freedom. Bigger government and more power in the hands of a few means the interests of the public will be violated.

Many are wondering aloud if these scandals will tarnish Obama’s legacy or weaken his presidency or cause his popularity to drop. Some of that will probably occur, but it’s not the ever-charming Obama who will suffer the most from these scandals. No, fortunately the biggest loser here will be the paternalistic big government liberalism that Obama has foisted upon us.

We need leaders who have more confidence in the American people, and more skepticism for big government. Maybe we can get Clinton to pronounce the second end of the era of big government? It’s time for Big Brother to be put down.

Source

woodcutter's avatar

@bkcunningham

It is against fluther law to ever slight a sourse from @ETpro. This law was enacted because the mod team has concluded he is all knowing and fair and balanced and is charged with verifying that all other members’ sources are indeed fair and balanced and meets his approval.

Dont fuck up again.

Linda_Owl's avatar

First you have to remember that Bobby Jindal is (after all) a Republican & like most Republicans his elevator does NOT go all the way up. And I agree with @elbanditoroso , the Republicans seem to think that if a lie is repeated frequently enough – people will begin to believe what ever the lie is saying. His so-called “statement” is full of generalizations… there is nothing simplistic about the situation(s) in which the United States is caught up. Our infrastructure is falling apart (we need a Public Works Project), President Obama is about to sign the new secret Trans Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement (which will be devastating to our economy), the income disparity in America has almost wiped out the Middle Class, & college students are struggling with monsterous amounts of student loan debt by the time they get out of college, the corporations are running our country into the ground, & fossil fuels are leading to runaway Climate Change & the drought has large portions of our country with runaway wild fires, and on top of that, the NSA is spying on our phone calls & our emails (& probably spying on both our Allies & enemies as well). Politicians have gone a long way to assure us that they cannot be trusted, no matter what the particular party that they belong to. There are a handful of Democrats that can be trusted, like Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Alan Grayson, etc., but I have no problem with thinking that the Republicans have taken leave of their senses.

DaphneT's avatar

@ETpro your list lumps together issues that I’ve been believing have been caused by the Right, the Conservatives, the Tea Party, and the Republicans.

From past events, I’ve concluded that Jindal is a Hypocrite. This would be due to his demands that the Federal Government rescue his Louisiana from the mistakes of a global corporation.

I don’t trust Hypocrites in Politics, however I can trust that they will spin their webs in their personal pursuit of power. We seem to have many sitting in the Federal Congress and ruling each of the States.

Sadly, between your paraphrasing and @bkcunningham‘s reference, I am left with the belief that Rhodes scholars are not the statesmen they should be, not all they are puffed up to be. Perhaps Rhodes scholars should stay out of politics just to avoid the taint.

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