Wednesday, February 25, 2009

How Dumb Is the (Dying) Republican Party?

Pretty dumb. So dumb, in fact, they didn't even LISTEN to Obama's State of the Union Address yesterday.

The main thrust of Obama's speech was, of course, the economy. His two other main themes were healthcare reform, which he said could not, must not, and WOULD NOT wait another year, and education reform. Boiled down to a few words, the President said that, while against big government, he would, with the government's help of funding, work hard WITH the American people, with our ingenuity, our resourcefulness, and our resolve never to quit, to lift this country out of the quagmire it's been in for quite a while (due, of course, to Republican bumbling over the last fourteen years).

Came along Bobby Jindal, who quite obviously did NOT listen, or at least did not pay attention, to Obama's address. He tried to out-minority Obama with stupid personal stories about how his parents, who emigrated to the US when his mother was four months pregnant with him, couldn't even afford to have him delivered. Right. Because no hospital in 1971 would have taken a woman in labor. Uh-huh. Right. Then he went on to say, essentially, the following (background from the article as well):

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, a rising star of the Republican party, on Tuesday said the answer to America's problems lay in its citizens and not in big government.

Jindal, often cited as a possible Republican presidential hopeful in 2012, gave the party's rebuttal to a speech by President Barack Obama to a joint session of Congress and accused the Democrat of spreading doom, gloom and big-spending policies that will fuel recessionary fires.

"Our troubles are real, to be sure. But don't let anyone tell you that we cannot recover -- or that America's best days are behind her," Jindal said.

"The strength of America is not found in our government. It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirits of our citizens," he said
.
Interesting. He accused Obama of spreading gloom and doom. I don't know what speech HE watched, but the one I watched was VERY uplifting and extremely optimistic.

He indicated Obama was telling us we couldn't recover. Um. Again, not in the speech I watched. He indicated Obama said America's best days are behind her. Again, not in the speech I watched last night. Quite the opposite, in fact. Obama was VERY optimistic about this country rising up even stronger than it had ever been.

Jindal indicated America's strength was in her people, not her government, hinting that Obama said the opposite. Again, not true. Obama very directly, several times, said quite clearly that our strength as a country is us, not the government, and that the ingenuity of Americans would get us out of this, not the government.

Again, I'm not sure what speech Jindal watched, but it could not have possibly been the same one I watched.

It was, however, fun to watch yet another Republican make a fool out of himself. And the best part was this little gem:
"Republicans lost your trust -- and rightly so. Tonight, on behalf of our leaders in Congress and my fellow Republican governors, I say: Our party is determined to regain your trust."
Now THAT'S funny. What I REALLY think happened last night, was the death knell, God willing, of the Republican Party.

One can only hope...

1 comment:

Kylopod said...

It might be the death knell of Jindal's presidential prospects. At least for 2012. Or so I've heard. I admit I haven't watched either speech yet, though I've read that the consensus is that Obama soared and Jindal bombed. And consensus is what matters, especially for a young fresh face.

As for the Republican Party, who knows? There are a lot of possibilities for 2012 or 2016, and Jindal was hardly the most promising. My personal feeling is that Huckabee has the best qualities, though the talk-radio crowd hates him.