Pirate's Cove

Yes, I know, Bobby Jindal supposedly has some problems, but, then, what politician doesn’t? Including Republicans. It all depends on the level of problems. Jeb Bush? Big problems, such as Common Core and his amnesty belief. Marco Rubio? Amnesty. Rick Perry? Never sure what blunder will come from his mouth. Mike Huckabee? I like the guy, he says some great things, but, he is a bit too much of a Social Conservative for my liking as a presidential candidate. Someone is always going to have a problem with candidates. The American Conservative is upset because they say Jindal’s “victim act” is pitiful, but, then, the writers have long been against Jindal.

(Politico) In the past few weeks, Bobby Jindal has been attacked for insisting that Europe allows Muslims to control special “no-go zones,” belittled by the Weekly Standard for offering a “bizarre, anti-intellectual” position on overturning Obamacare, and dismissed as an underachieving lightweight for the Republican 2016 nomination.

The Louisiana governor is relishing it all.

No go zones are real, they are areas where it is a Bad Idea for you to enter. Much like Detroit, parts of New Orleans, parts of South Chicago, Birmingham’s Bluffs, sections of Atlanta. Syria.

During a 40-minute interview in Washington late last week, an energized Jindal hit back at his critics on the right and left, dismissing them as elitist hacks who can’t stand the idea of an Ivy League-educated, unapologetic conservative. He accused GOP bosses in Washington of trying to sanitize the nomination battle and “get us to stop being so rude.” He blasted right-leaning writers who’ve criticized him, saying they’re just out to curry favor with the editorial page of The New York Times and get booked on the Sunday shows. And the 43-year-old governor argued that some Republicans are fine with crony capitalism, as long as their pockets are being lined.

It’s all part of a concerted effort by the likely presidential candidate to run as the purest anti-Washington conservative in the GOP field – one who unlike, say, Ted Cruz, boasts years of executive experience.

“There’s this tendency amongst even conservative elites to back away from our principles,” Jindal told POLITICO at the offices of the Republican Governors Association. “We need to be unafraid…We don’t need to apologize for our beliefs.”

He’s absolutely correct. There’s a schism between the Inside The Beltway establishment Republicans and the Conservative base. Just like there is a schism between the average Democrats and the hardcore Progressives in the Democrat Party. A conflict of ideas is a Good Thing. Should we all simply be homogenous and refuse to stand for principles and ideas?

Jindal argues that any Republican replacement plan must focus on reducing costs and not replacing taxes with new revenue hikes.

“I said famously in ’12 that we can’t be the party of no, that we can’t be the stupid party,” he added. “We’re beginning to realize we have to offer solutions, especially now that we’re in the majority in both chambers. But there’s still a reluctance to go all the way and stand up for our conservative principles.”

The big question, is he the one who can offer the ideas and stand up for Conservative principles?

Red State notes

It’s another budget year in Louisiana, which means that it’s time for the annual festival in which lily-livered Republicans and the media they enable gather to wring their hands about Bobby Jindal’s fiscal policies. This year the hand wringing is perhaps more fervent than ever given governor Jindal’s elevated national profile due to the speculation that he will run for President. A sample of the kvetching can be found in Politico and the New York Times. Over at AmCon, serial changer of religious and political convictions Rod Dreher shows us how some alleged “conservatives” are doing it.

Here are the undisputed facts on the ground: 1. Lousiana is facing a $1.6 billion shortfall heading into this budget year. 2. A significant portion of that, by all accounts, is due to falling oil revenues, which are more or less constantly in flux. 3. Louisiana over the last several years has faced several such budget shortfalls and has, every year of Jindal’s tenure, made up the shortfalls by making real cuts in the budget as opposed to tax increases. If you add all these facts together, you have a perfect stew for the anxious and weak-willed to simmer in and complain about how Bobby Jindal has destroyed the State of Louisiana. I was privileged to be on the ground in Lousiana when the poltroons were playing this exact same chorus in 2011 and you can read some of the stories I wrote about this then and note the eerie similarities.

These stories crop up every year in Louisiana and have several features in common: 1. an observation that the state faces a budget shortfall, 2. complaining from various Republicans indicating that revenues (read: taxes) should be raised 3. anecdotal evidence that previous years’ budget cuts have wrought terrible hardships on the people of Louisiana. They always conveniently omit 1. Actual data 2. The context of previous years which indicates that this truly is another instance of same song, different verse.

Interestingly, if you actually look at Jindal’s record and beliefs, you find that they dovetail very well with the Conservative Base.

• He’s heavily against Common Core
• He’s heavily in favor of tax reform
• He’s against slapping higher taxes on “the rich”, otherwise known as “producers”
• He signed a bill authorizing chemical castration of sex offenders
• The Business Journals ranked him #5 on a list of governors with the best job growth
• He’s most definitely pro-life
• He’s pro-offshore drilling
• Seriously anti-Obamacare
• Heavily pro-2nd Amendment.

And so much more. He’s a more outgoing version of Tim Pawlenty, who sadly dropped out of the 2012 primaries too early. Great ideas, unfortunately, Pawlenty was rather, um, boring. Jindal is not.

Unsurprisingly, with Jindal’s prospects for a presidential run rising, many liberal media outlets are taking shots at him. The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank runs a big hit piece, which includes a rather unpleasant looking picture of Jindal.