Wednesday, November 14, 2012

The Stupid Party

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal thinks he knows what’s wrong with the Republicans:

“We’ve got to make sure that we are not the party of big business, big banks, big Wall Street bailouts, big corporate loopholes, big anything,” Jindal told POLITICO in a 45-minute telephone interview. “We cannot be, we must not be, the party that simply protects the rich so they get to keep their toys.”

Um, we already have a party that isn’t like that.  Perhaps you’ve heard of them; they’re called the Democrats.

“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”

If Mr. Jindal really wants the GOP to stop being “the stupid party,” he can start with himself; Steve M has a wide assortment of offensive and bizarre comments uttered by the governor.

I’m willing to bet that there are a number of folks in the Republican Party who are proud of the reputation their party has created and would take great pride in being the dumb-down party.  After all, no one ever lost an election by underestimating the greed, fear, and loathing of the American electorate.

5 barks and woofs on “The Stupid Party

  1. As someone who lives in the same state as Mt. St. Helens, I thought Jindal’s disparagement of volcano monitoring was pretty stupid. As would be a governor of Washington dismissing “something called hurrican monitoring.” That said, I would like it if politicians of all parties worked for the public interest instead of for pressure groups like billionaires and theocrats.

  2. Perhaps the next time you come across a budget shortfall you can repeal a tax break for corporations instead of taking a meat cleaver to the education budget that might help with the dumbing down problem

  3. I’m not sure what Jindal wants. The Republican base is primarily the rich. That’s the take home from Red State Blue State Rich State Poor State. I talk about it here:

    It’s the Poor, Stupid

    If the Republicans aren’t the party of the rich, what are they? In The Reactionary Mind, Corey Robin argues that what defines conservatives (for centuries) is their reaction against social changes. This is why with the exception of Edmund Burke, conservatives rarely turn to any thinkers more than a generation back: they all hold such vile positions.

    I guess one exception to that would be Ayn Rand, but it isn’t because she isn’t vile. BTW, I just had an idea for a sequel to Atlas Shrugged. It would be a dystopic novel about what really happens in the “producer’s” perfect land. Rand had incredibly primitive ideas about psychology, sociology, economics, and pretty much everything else. And that includes fiction. Her nonfiction is readable. I don’t think I could get through AS again. And that’s why I won’t be writing that sequel.

  4. You got to wonder about a guy brought up as a Hindu who converts to Christeranity. Ask yourself why he would do a thing like that. Does the word, “opportunist” ring any bells?

  5. Quoting the writer:
    “After all, no one ever lost an election by underestimating the greed, fear, and loathing of the American electorate.”

    I would humbly submit, except for this one.

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