Remind me again: Why isn’t Bobby Jindal at the top of Romney’s VP shortlist?
posted at 8:49 pm on August 9, 2012 by Allahpundit
Obligatory caveat: Maybe he is. No one knows except for Romney’s inner circle. But all of the rumors lately have to do with Portman, Pawlenty, and Ryan, with Rubio and Christie unlikely dark horse possibilities. Jindal’s name seems to have disappeared — even though he’s probably the one guy out there more than any other who would satisfy virtually everyone in the Republican galaxy. As Matt Lewis put it:
To repeat: Bobby Jindal is the safest pick that is exciting, and the most exciting pick that is safe.
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) August 9, 2012
Beat this bio: Son of immigrants, Oxford University/Rhodes scholar, headed La. Dept. of Health and Hospitals, Congressman, Governor.
— Matt Lewis (@mattklewis) August 9, 2012
T-Paw is “meh,” Portman is a Bush guy, Ryan is an invitation to Mediscaring — but what’s Jindal’s big liability? He’s smart as a whip, respected by grassroots conservatives and righty intellectuals, has had plenty of executive experience, brings youth and racial/geographic diversity to the ticket, and on and on and on. The only arguments against him are that he endorsed Perry in the primary, gave a flat response to the State of the Union a few years ago, and once wrote about an exorcism he witnessed decades ago. So what? It wouldn’t be that hard to spin the Perry endorsement: “It was a tough call between him and Mitt, whom I’ve always admired, but my personal friendship with Rick forced my hand. Now, however, I’m committed to helping Gov. Romney lead America back to prosperity.” Case closed. No one’s going to care about the SOTU response — if you want a guy who gives a good speech but can’t govern, there’s already an app for that — and the exorcism thing is so old, petty, and arcane that it’s just not going to get traction realistically. Something like that only hurts a candidate if it jibes somehow with his public persona, seeming to reveal some fundamental quirk in his character. This doesn’t do that. Jindal’s image is that of a consummate wonk, a technocrat blessed with unusual brain power and an enviable grasp of policy. He’s simply not going to be easily demagogued as a wild-eyed religious radical, which of course would be the point of those attacks — although no doubt liberals will try anyway. (In a way, it’d be fitting if this dumb, petty campaign came down to an argument over exorcisms.) Worst-case scenario: Jindal’s forced to answer a few questions about it and gets to gently remind the media that we all do strange things sometimes during youth. Some of us witness an exorcism, others do cocaine. Bygones, etc.
I’m on the verge of talking myself into thinking that he should be the choice, but I’ll hold off on that if only because Portman could at least help deliver a crucial swing state. I’m not sure what Pawlenty, Ryan, or Jindal would deliver, despite their respective strengths. Here’s video of the man himself from the Red State Gathering held recently. Exit question: Why shouldn’t he be the pick? I’m sincerely interested in counterarguments.
Related Posts:
Breaking on Hot Air
Robert Gibbs: Maybe my former bosses should explain this AP scandal
Who’s the mystery man at the IRS who issued the directive to focus on conservative groups?
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Former Club for Growth leader Pat Benedict Arnold Toomey..
Unavailable for comment.
PappyD61 on April 10, 2013 at 6:45 PM
Facepalm…
KCB on April 10, 2013 at 6:46 PM
Pfffttt Entitlements, come on, like… You weren’t expecting us to do anything meaningful about that right? This is not the hill to die on. Immigration isn’t either. Time for Amnesty baby!!! Neither is health care. Obamacare is law of the land!!! Re-election though, that’s the hill to die on fo’ sure! -RNC/Country Club Establishment Class
Raquel Pinkbullet on April 10, 2013 at 6:48 PM
Hey Justin Greene –F-U! I did not have much fun in the 60s like many other veterans. I contributed over half a million dollars (pv) to social security. I has three children, all hard working professionals. You have insulted me and many of my generation with your putrid generalizations.
Old Country Boy on April 10, 2013 at 6:50 PM
No wonder why we can’t have anything nice.
rbj on April 10, 2013 at 6:50 PM
Seriously what’s the new playbook ?? Run to Obama’s LEFT? Heck in 2016 we may run that MSNBC communist nut Harris-Perry…And the RINOs will all be circling the wagons but so what about principles, she’s the MOST ELECTABLE!!!!
Raquel Pinkbullet on April 10, 2013 at 6:50 PM
It’s important that we help the GOP regain power at any cost though. #winning
Kataklysmic on April 10, 2013 at 6:56 PM
Idiot.
Not to mention is one perfect example as to why I don’t give to political parties nor associations…
…individual politicians only, if ever….
ladyingray on April 10, 2013 at 7:03 PM
They will sell their souls and lose anyway.
VorDaj on April 10, 2013 at 7:03 PM
All the arguments against the Federal Reserve’s money printing to facilitate our government’s overspending have been countered by the types like Krugman with “look at how low our inflation is, see printing/digitizing money doesn’t have negative consequences!’
And republicans want to facilitate more of this with lowering the cpi standard even more? If obama had to contend with an inflation measurement as measured when Carter was in office, he would not have been re-elected. The malaise we are in would not be sugar coated with rigged statistics. (see what they did to CPI in the nineties to take out food and energy.) THIS IS BS! And it will just go to screw over the prudent in the middle class who saves their money and won’t be able to find a good interest rate. Get your head out of your behinds, republicans.
Chubbs65 on April 10, 2013 at 7:04 PM
Really, am I really supposed to keep voting Republican because if I go third party it is a sure win for the DEMS? Looks to me like I’ll gets Dems for all practical purposes regardless of if it is an R or D following their name on the ballot. Screw that.
flyfishingdad on April 10, 2013 at 7:07 PM
Is it too late to become a Whig?
KS Rex on April 10, 2013 at 7:08 PM
SHADDUP!!!!!!
Resist We Much on April 10, 2013 at 7:11 PM
Ugh. Hard for the GOP to remain credible on entitlement reform when they attack Obama for offering a tiny step in that direction.
Moron.
changer1701 on April 10, 2013 at 7:11 PM
The party could always be resurrected. The name’s not a sure fire attraction though.
hawkeye54 on April 10, 2013 at 7:12 PM
Apparently Obama isn’t so liberal after all. He’s proposing social security reform without any significant deal from Boehner on the table. If the GOP is serious about deep entitlement reform, Obama is your man. You can’t say the same about Reid and many other Dems. Hopefully this opportunity won’t be wasted. In any case, the true colors the GOP will soon become clear.
Bernie Sanders and others on the left are going ballistic also, but I don’t think anyone saw this attack coming from the right.
bayam on April 10, 2013 at 7:13 PM
What state is he from, and where is his district?
INC on April 10, 2013 at 7:14 PM
I’ll just add this to my list of “Why I’m NOT a Republican” reasons.
Maybe I can wedge it in there somewhere between Toomey’s fold on firearm background checks and the latest immigration “reform” backroom deal.
Socratease on April 10, 2013 at 7:14 PM
Absolutely embarrassing. May as well be done with the GOP.
Raquel Pinkbullet on April 10, 2013 at 7:17 PM
Tell a big lie, Herr Goebbels.
tom daschle concerned on April 10, 2013 at 7:17 PM
Right on Waldo!
Obama is already working on killing old people via Obamacare.
This merely supplements his push to ‘carousel’ us so he can INVEST more in the children (and solar panels).
I say….demogogue it all the way to a Senate majority in 2014.
Then we can get down to serious and moderate reduction of the rate of growth of entitlements.
KirknBurker on April 10, 2013 at 7:21 PM
Shocked by the discussions of reducing inflationary payments to Social Security beneficiaries? Well, TIME TO WAKE UP! For DECADES, we’ve sat there while they gave that money away on Social Security expansion into dependent and disability benefits, knowing all the time we were all living longer on the benefits than the system was designed for. And we kept ELECTING the people who did this.
THE MONEY HAS BEEN SPENT! On our watch. Do we older folks take the hit, or do we simply crush the following generations under unrecoverable debt? Those are our ONLY choices; deal with it!
michaelo on April 10, 2013 at 7:29 PM
We find ourselves in a sad state of affairs. I mean, politics, like everything else around us, is based on optics and emotion. Hey whatever feels good and looks good – do it. El Presidente wants to “show” he is doing something meaningless on entitlement reform which really amounts to nothing and both the left and the right are up in arms. Shees – we are $16 trillion in debt and this budget does nothing to address the deficit.
All these political moves are for optics and emotion. We can’t count on any politicians – Repubs or Dimwits to provide solutions to real world problems. And we just keep on bending over and taking it dry.
We don’t even get a cursory, hey you may feel a little discomfort. We just constantly get the rug pulled out from under us from leaders we thought represented us. We are screwed – pun intended.
rsherwd65 on April 10, 2013 at 7:30 PM
Last straw number 643
motionview on April 10, 2013 at 7:32 PM
Agree 100%. My Mom raised three kids, for part of the time as a single mother, through no fault of her own, and when it was hardly fashionable. Most of that generation worked hard, and contributed mightily to the post WWII miracle that was the U.S. economy. Justin Greene needs to shut his pie hole.
Mr. Arkadin on April 10, 2013 at 7:37 PM
Up to this point, we right-wingers have been told that we need to vote GOP no matter what because the Democrats are even more leftist and destructive. Greg Walden had better be one hell of an aberration, because if he isn’t, we’ll be told that we have to vote GOP because the Democrats are too right-wing-socon for the country in 2016 at the rate that things are going.
OK, maybe not, but having the ever-more-moderate GOP suddenly running to Obama’s left is a little shocking.
Aitch748 on April 10, 2013 at 7:43 PM
Thank you for that, but my generation (Gen X) knows we’re going to get the brunt of it, and I think most of us have pretty much resigned ourselves to it. I don’t know a soul in my age group who thinks they’re going to collect SS or Medicare, or who thinks we’ll get to retire as our parents are doing now. I’d rather get slammed than throw my mother under the bus, or see my daughter’s generation get hit.
Laura on April 10, 2013 at 7:45 PM
Why do I suspect that Obama’s proposals to “reform” entitlements involves severe means testing of “wealthy” seniors.
Doing this turns them into pure socialist wealth redistribution programs. They were originally sold to voters as “everyone pays in and everyone get benefits from” programs.
So if people who pay in may now not qualify for benefits these programs become socialist soak the “rich” redistribution schemes. Which is what the socialists would have liked them to be from the beginning. It took many decades but Mission Accomplished.
Forward, comrades!
farsighted on April 10, 2013 at 7:54 PM
What a joke of an organization
WisCon on April 10, 2013 at 8:22 PM
Seriously, bro?
cdog0613 on April 10, 2013 at 8:38 PM
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
just priceless!
#Obamaproposedweopposed will be the catch line for 2014/2016..
Are you guys really that stupid? Can we do mental health ck before qualifying to run for office? /
lol..just don’t know how to say yes. I wonder some days who is the real threat to America.
Can.I.be.in.the.middle on April 10, 2013 at 9:51 PM
I say….demogogue it all the way to a Senate majority in 2014.
Then we can get down to serious and moderate reduction of the rate of growth of entitlements.
KirknBurker on April 10, 2013 at 7:21 PM
Yes, I’m sure after the GOP takes back the Senate with mediscare, the first thing they’ll get to work on is entitlement reform.
To put it somewhat bluntly, you are the problem here.
RINO in Name Only on April 11, 2013 at 3:24 AM
There won’t be one word against the 1300 Federal entitlement agencies. I guess we are not suppose to know about these.
mixplix on April 11, 2013 at 2:09 PM