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What’s the deal with Bobby Jindal?
Republican Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal has been in the news of late with press conferences about Hurricane Gustav, and he’ll be speaking tonight at the RNC. If this campaign season has a theme, it’s all the new faces and people who are in politics. Only half of the four presidential and vice-presidential candidates are old white men, and then there’s Jindal, who turns identity politics on its head. Not just with his Indian descent and his last name, but even with his accent, which must sound unfamiliar to people from other parts of the country. Here’s a recent interview with Jindal from the Times, where, among other things, Jindal says he’s absolutely conservative, he’s absolutely for universal healthcare, he turned down admission to Harvard Medical School, how he manages to know a lot about biology and still believes in a creator God, when he converted from Hinduism to Catholicism, what his parents thought of it, when he changed his name, and how much his kids cry during church.
back to top21 Comments to “What’s the deal with Bobby Jindal?”
Jindal says he’s absolutely conservative, he’s absolutely for universal healthcare,…
Either he doesn’t know what “conservative” means or he doesn’t know what “universal healthcare” means. That’s a deal breaker for this conservative.
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Or maybe it is possible to have a variety of views and still be a conservative?
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Maybe the reporter covered it up well, but not knowing what a “cry room” is means to me that she doesn’t attend church and doesn’t have kids. A better question would have been “Do you have to take your children in there often?” or “Do you have conversations in there with other parents while your kids are quieting down?”.
But then again, this is the NYT, so it’s possible that the reporter is disconnected from the concept . . .
Disclaimer: I like the Times, and really wish they were the paper they used to be.
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Libidiots should be careful what they wish for. The same abortucrats who scream out for the govt to keep its hands off their bodies (at least if the body has within it an unborn innocent child they want to terminate) would eagerly have our health care rationed out by the same folks who have have kept the price of snail mail going up and made our tax system even more byzantine.
Some allege that in the social democracies of Europe (where they have better support for pregnant women) abortion is much less frequent. I cant confirm that allegation but it makes sense that a gal who stands to gain monetarily by caring a child to term would do so rather than abort.
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As one living in Louisiana, I think Jindal should focus on reforming the state govt. His veto of the legislature’s self-imposed pay raise was widely cheered down here.
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Jindal probably saw all the publicity Ray Nagins, the mayor of New Orleans received during the last hurricane and he wants to jump of that bandwagon.
True, not all of Nagin’s publicity was positive but Jindal probably learned for his mistakes.
Jindal probably also saw the fawning treatment Obama has received and he might try to be the 2012 election version of that.
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Maybe Catholics don’t call the cry room a cry room. Maybe they call it a mother’s room, as it was called in my old church. I don’t even know if the Catholic Church across the street has a cry room. The few times I’ve been in there, people kept their children with them.
Now, Nick, do you think Palin saw all the fawning treatment Hillary once got and thought she’d go for it?
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The deal is that McCain will announce that he is running for one term. Palin and McCain will get elected. Palin will take Jindal as her running mate in 4 years and win. She will serve as President for 8Then Jindal will serve as president for 8 years. The Bush twins will run as a team and one of them will be president for 16 years. That gets us to 2037 and the Socialists and Marxists will still be saying the world is ending any number of ways, the USA was wrong about everything it has done for decades and that the Republican candidate is running as 4 more years of what ever Republican president came before them and that everything evil in the world and so horrible is still the fault of George Bush.
It is best to pay no attention to them and get things done instead because these whacks jobs won’t ever do anything worth doing but they will always be with you like the bad cold that just won’t go away.
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To NJ Lawyer
No as a conservative white women and a member of the NRA I highly doubt Ms. Palin thought she would get special treatment.
After the MSM tires of Obama they may adopt Jindal as their new pet in the 2012 Presidental election. As an Indian and former Hindu he won’t be as fashionable as Obama but he may do.
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Sorry, the Bush twins each being president takes us to 2042.
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Some sort of provision for “universal healthcare” is not necessarily anti-conservative.
A single-payor system entirely run by the government is about as far from conservative as one can get.
But there should be room to discuss possible methods of getting everyone some sort of basic health care through other means that don’t have ot conflict with conservative values.
I respect Jindal even more for beng willing to entertain the idea of finding something in this area.
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I think it unfortunate that McCain chose Palin and not Jindal. he would have brought more intellectual heft into the office and actually appeal to independents.
And last night? Saw the end with the old white guys talking (Fred & Joe). That’s why I want to see Jindal tonite.
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Jindal is even younger than Palin several years so.
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McCain might have preferred Jindal, but Jindal removed himself from consideration.
KRM, try as I might, I can’t conceive of any system of “universal healthcare” that doesn’t involve the forced redistribution of wealth. That’s why I can’t see it as consistent with any conservative philosophy.
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This is probably silly, but what about letting people in on the plans the government offers their employees (there are a ton to choose from) and let people pay to be part of that pool?
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Stubob = we have a welfare system as a safety net for the general population. Yes, there is some ‘redistribution of wealth’ involved. We have many other safety nets that involve a degree of redistribution.
I am not by nature favorably disposed to more government. But the more I think of it, it seems to be a matter of minimal decency (or good Christian values) to provide at least a minimum healthcare safety net for the population. Perhaps we could provide a two tier system vaguely similar to Britain, or some sort of wide spread barebones health insurance reqirement (similar to auto insurance mandates in order to drive), with some sort of tax credit deal to insure adequate funds for the poor to purchase such insurance.
I don’t profess expertese in the health field, but I think that the sort of system we have now is not acceptable. There should be some better method than the current ‘dump the expense on the hospitals’ method we have now.
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Outside of the US universal health care is not considered left nor right but rather standard. The question which divides the left and right is the correct mechanism, the use of the private sector, funding mechanisms, extent of coverage etc. Only the odd think tank, the Fraser Institute in Canada for example, speaks out against universal health care. Even my Friedman loving friend supports universal health care since its one of several commodities that have barriers to normal market corrections — he named pipelines, transportation systems, airwaves, health care etc. All which need some form of greater gov’t intervention than other commodity markets.
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Llama- You forgot about another Bush that shows promise: Jeb Bush’s son, George Prescott Bush, an up and coming politico with Hispanic roots.
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Will Louisiana lose delegates and representatives when God finally reclaims New Orleans for the ocean? That nasty place should be abandoned.
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Llama, when the Bush twins run, I will be 112. I’m looking forward to it.
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I’m not saying “universal healthcare” is a good or bad thing. All I’m saying is that it isn’t “conservative” to make the government bigger, and there’s no way to universalize medical care without a zillion new regulations, government funding, and Big Brother making medical decisions.
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