Vice President Jindal?
By Steve Benen Sunday May 04, 2008 9:00pm
The headline on Bill Kristol’s NYT column today reads, “McCain-Jindal?” It suggests to the reader that the column is about John McCain considering Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for the Republican presidential ticket, as has been rumored elsewhere. As it turns out, the first three-fourths of Kristol’s column was actually about Jeremiah Wright and Barack Obama’s chances in November.
Eventually, at the end, Kristol gets around to the point.
[I]n separate conversations last week, no fewer than four McCain staffers and advisers mentioned as a possible vice-presidential pick the 36-year-old Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal. They’re tempted by the idea of picking someone so young, with real accomplishments and a strong reformist streak.
It might also be a way to confront the issue of McCain’s age (71), which private polls and focus groups suggest could be a real problem. A Jindal pick would implicitly acknowledge the questions and raise the ante. The message would be: “You want generational change? You can get it with McCain-Jindal — without risking a liberal and inexperienced Obama as commander in chief.” I would add that it was after McCain spent considerable time with Jindal in New Orleans recently, and reportedly found him, as he has before, personally engaging and intellectually impressive, that the campaign’s informal name-dropping of Jindal began.
On the surface, I can appreciate why Republicans would be buzzing about Jindal. He’s almost ridiculously conservative on social and cultural issues, and a darling of the James Dobson and Rush Limbaugh crowds. He offers McCain regional and age balance — Jindal is only a couple of years older than me — and he’s the governor of what ostensibly might be a swing state in November.
But this scenario still strikes me as unlikely.
Kristol’s argument is that McCain could tell voters that Jindal represents the kind of generational change they crave, without taking a “risk” with Obama’s “inexperience.”
But Kristol conveniently brushes past the obvious flaw — Jindal makes Obama look like a seasoned veteran. Obama was first elected to public office 12 years ago. He served eight years at the state level, and four in the U.S. Senate. Jindal, in contrast, was first elected to public office four years ago. He served three years in the U.S. House, and one at the state level.
Given that McCain would be the oldest president ever elected, it seems odd to have a 36-year-old governor, with four years of service in public office and no military or foreign policy experience whatsoever, one heartbeat away from the Oval Office.
My friend dnA argues, “[T]he main reason for a Jindal pick, I’m guessing, would be his fanatical opposition to reproductive choice in all circumstances, including rape and incest, which might help McCain rile up the base.” I suspect that’s right. Indeed, my hunch is the McCain campaign is touting Jindal to friendly media personalities like Kristol under the assumption that the far-right base will be thrilled to hear that Jindal is even being considered.
But it still seems like a stretch. As Kevin Drum put it, "'Confront' the issue of McCain's age by picking a running mate who's barely old enough to run legally and has a grand total of four years of experience in elected office. Doesn't that, um, actually highlight the issue of McCain's age?"
I’d just add that Jindal is Indian-American. If the far-right is uncomfortable with Obama because he strikes them as “too different” — the color of his skin, his untraditional name, his finding Christianity as an adult — Jindal may also prove problematic in intolerant circles.
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Bobby Jindal?
LOL
An East Indian Catholic?
Go for it.
As a Louisianan, I can tell you Jindal ain't gonna do it. He's already said no about three weeks ago. McPapen can beg all he wants, but Bobby knows he (McPapen) hasn't a snowball's chance in Hell of winning, so it won't happen. As for the Christofascists hating him, hell fucking naw. They love him. Too much. I have a bad feeling about this, Luke.
If the far-right is uncomfortable with Obama because he strikes them as “too different” — the color of his skin, his untraditional name, his finding Christianity as an adult — Jindal may also prove problematic in intolerant circles.
But he'll be wonderfully useful 4 months from now when the Republican party launches a thinly veiled racist "he's not one of us" attack on Obama and they get called on it. They'll point to how Bobby Jindal was on the short list and mercy me, if Bobby were on the short list we couldn't possibly be divisive racists who are happy to appeal to intolerant whites in order to win their vote.
He's basically a beard.
On Sunday, septuagenarian and Republican presidential nominee John McCain's advanced age once again jumped to forefront of the 2008 campaign. Over at the Politico, Jonathan Martin ponders whether McCain's age will emerge as an issue. Meanwhile, the New York Times editorial page demands 71-year old Arizona Senator finally release his long overdue medical records, a disclosure especially important in light of his bouts with skin cancer. For everyone but John McCain himself, the man who has repeatedly joked about himself as being "older than dirt," the GOP candidate's age is no laughing matter.
For the details, see:
"McCain Tries to Make Age Issue a Laughing Matter."
anonymous @ 3:
Now why do you have to insult gay men's play straight partners that way?
You fellas haven't heard me start on Gov. Jindal, yet.
ignore this neocon hack. he just need to fill a column that creates buzz.
"But Kristol conveniently brushes past the obvious flaw — Jindal makes Obama look like a seasoned veteran"
and Dan Quayle was???
Never happen. Unless BushCo makes him a massive offer he can't refuse.
McCain's VP is going to be his administration's Cheney. He (and it will be a he) (and it will be a white guy) is going to be the one playing the tune Grampa FlipFlop is going to be doing during his puppet dance. The puppeteers will be the same however.
Wonder if little Bobby will campaign with his PURPLE thumb.....He sure made a lot of it supporting bush when Iraqi voted.
General_Rennenkampf, on point.
Cheers from district 1.
grimcity @ 10:
Well, yes, I tend to suspect politicians who get elected and who get every religious nut's support while the atheists either know full well reforming Louisiana is like herding cats, or supported Boasso. Damn. I really shouldn't have drunk the Kool-aid on Jindal. When the SoBaps (not the good kind, the give-me-a-chance-and-I'll-top-Tomas kind) and the Assemblies support someone...
I don't like it.
Oh, I get it. If McCain is 72 and Jindal is 36 then the average age for the McCain/Jindal ticket would be 54, which is (according to focus groups) the ideal age for a president. Suddenly I'm beginning to understand why Republicans are so hopeless when it comes to balancing the books and managing the economy.
But seriously, this is a red herring. Seeing as there is a good chance that McCain's VP could become the president sometime in the first term, there is no way the Republicans would be able to attack Obama on inexperience without the same argument blowing back on 37 year old President Jindal. Rice, Jindal, and Fiorina are all red herrings to distract from the real VP candidates, Huckabee, Romney, and Tom Ridge.
Jindal would be perfect. All the racists in the GOP would stay home or vote for a third party, and Obama's win would turn into a massive landslide!
I don't think Jinal is a serious idea. The GOP will want a serious, experienced charlatan to take the helm if McCain dies in office.
Billy Kristol is the PR spokesperson for the Great Globalist Conspiracy.
I Like Pie @ 15:
I think you got their name wrong. If i am not mistaken it is the Just US conspiracy.
Pericles @ 12:
Didn't Jindal just get elected Governor a few months ago? Yeah, that would go over well with Louisiana voters. My bet for McBush's VP pick is Mark Sanford, who is Gov. of South Carolina. The fundies love him and he doesn't have Pawlenty's baggage.
The Rove wing of the GOP is floating out all of these African-Americans, like Neo-Condi Rice, J.C. Low-Watts and the Indian American Piyush 'Bobby' Jindal because the GOP has a race problem.
The problem is the GOP has been attacking as un-American anyone who isn't a caucasian Christian for decades.
Nice head fake....
They'll pick a white, Southern male.
-GSD
Obama simply has to counter this by picking someone with profound and very serious experience as his Veep. There you go -- on the decision of who the person is who is a heartbeat from the White House, which candidate showed better judgement? McCain with Boy Jindal, or Obama with Wesley Clark, Sam Nunn, Bill Richardson, or even Hillary?
Well this would be rather funny - can you think of the hysteria that ensues once the media finds out Piyush Jindal was raised HINDI and switched to Catholicism in his teens? I can't wait for his childhood spiritual advisor gets interviewed on TV ... this would be theatre!
Aside from that Jindal is one of the more frightening republicans around today,whose politics combines all the elements of puritanism and crony capitalism.
Whether it's him or not, it will be a religious nut who will get the rest of the religious nuts in this country behind mccain.
communist homosexual menace @ 20:
Well, if he were a Jain, it might be worth considering.
communist homosexual menace @ 20:
Your name is downright inspiring. :)
xoites (Bitter before Country was Cool) defends Constitution @ 16:
Kristol is above all a shady neocon, not a web stereotype but the real deal. Americans must take anything he writes or says with that in mind. It's sad so many political junkies still take him seriously, of course here everyone knows he's a crook.
observer @ 24:
For years.
if kristol says it, you know it's not true.
If I lived in Louisiana and had supported Jindal for governor (neither of which would ever happen), I'd be outraged, if after a few months in office, he sauntered off to DC. After all his talk about cleaning up the state, are his constituents supposed to believe that he could do that better in Washington as a member of the fourth, fifth, or whatever branch of government Cheney has moved the VP to?
Even if McCain wins, and Jindal becomes VP, who says McCain won't run in '12? A man of his towering ego will have to be taken out on a stretcher -- he'll never quit. That would leave Jindal as VP for another four years. That means he couldn't assume command until 2016, which would be a plausible year for him to run on his own, and by then the situation in this country will be so completely hopeless that he won't have any time to worry about cleaning up Louisiana -- he'll be apologizing for McCain round the clock.
Still, it's not like there is an overabundance of integrity in the GOP, and no one could responsibly call them smart.
Funny how some people get jobs with newspapers when they can hardly write a complete paragraph kristol is marginally good as a waste of space
YourMom @ 7:
Kristol's sock puppet.
As an Indian student I hate this guy. Here's an excellent article in the Times of India by Shashi Tharoor : "Should we be proud of Jindal?" http://www.shashitharoor.com/articles/toi/jindal.php
Oh yeah, this is really gonna sit well with McCrazy's base. And if he does go with Jindal, he can forget about getting the votes of the Hillary supporters who won't back Obama because, you know, he's one of those people. In any event, it occurred to me that what we're seeing with the McCain candidacy is a replay of the ascendance of George Duhbya Bush. McCain's a witless puppet; I'm waiting to see who's gonna be selected to be the new stand in for Dick Cheney. McCrazy's going to need a puppetmaster - and it ain't gonna be Piyush "Bobby" Jindal.
JINDAL SAID HE WOULD REJECT THE VP if he was offered it... on Jay Leno's show... watch the episode online at nbc's website to check for yourselves..
he said he wanted to help the people of Louisiana first.
What happened to Kristol's recommendation of Clarence Thomas?
Man, I had really bit off on that idea.
A Democratic President
A Democratic Congress
One less neo-con on the SCOTUS.
There was simply no down side.
So in a nutshell, Kristol is WRONG AGAIN.
Do neocons succeed at anything?
It's unlikely to the point of nonexistent.
This is the McCain campaign floating false "possiblities" to garner attention and to appear as if they're open, youthful and energetic. And that the GOP isn't the party of closet racists.
They have absolutely no intention of having him as VP. This is so Kristol and his ilk can attack Obama later with all manner of race-baiting slimes and then point to their "consideration" of Jindal as proof they're really not racist.
Remember, most words out of Kristol's mouth are lies. And if not deliberate deceptions on his, than very very poor analysis of the situation. He's a piss-poor political intellectual with a limited intellect and poor writing skills. If he's not directly shilling for a particularly virulent conservative, he's probably lying.
Kristol has no intellectual intergrity.
Fuck a billy.
The only upside to having Jindal is that good things happened LAST time there was a Rhodes scholar in the White House....
Oh, brother. It's so frickin' obvious: "See, we got our own Obama, but he's acceptable to you
rube bible-thumpers because he's one of you." SHIT.
Jindall as gramps Mcsame puppet master? That would keep the three groups I am most worried about from showing up on election day (racists, conservative independents, bible thumpers) for him. But more importantly it would neutralize everything he has going for him in angling for that vote and most attack ads. He's gonna pick a veep who has less experience, is younger, and even more foreign then Obama? To bad it won't happen, it would sure make for some entertaining spin come fall.
We should all want to have someone of color (even if it's an 'honorary' color like those of Indian descent) because it helps neutralize the concerns of, well, racists when it comes to Obama. Support Condi, or Bobby J., or whomever!
My guess for McCain's VP choice will be JEB Bush for reasons other posters have identified (white, male, puppeter).
You mean McCain is going to put this guy in as VP?. With this new revelation, they really need to leave Obama alone.
Two things:
First of all, this has been a truly enjoyable thread. The intelligence, wit, sarcasm, and irony displayed held me keenly interested through two ice cream bars. Bravo C&L. This is definitely the cool kids' table.
Secondly, and I say this as a lifelong liberal Minnesotan, and in my best Henny Youngman impersonation: "Take my governor, please..."
oh really @ 27:
You know the crackers down theah in Dixie believe this little shit....that would be their problem. Promises...keep....hah....hah...snort....choke....un...fuck...ing...believable.....
None of his supporters here will be mad about him abandoning one office to run for another just months after being elected governor. He already screwed us with that move this year when he ran for re-election to the U.S. House, won, and within a couple of WEEKS declared for governor. Why'd he run for re-election at all? Why not just declare for governor and let us elect someone to the House? We just now finished that special election.
Bobby Jindal's entire work history is of moving quickly from position to position, most of them appointed. He's a professional bureaucrat.
observer @ 24:
Wow! In that wiki-article it says Kristol was dubbed "Dan Quayle's Brain" ! Is that something to be proud of???
Who said Republicans don't balance their tickets anymore? It seems like the Anti-Catholic pastor embracing nominee could balance the ticket with a stanch anti-protestant like Jindal. I swear if McCain can't be scrutinized on religion with Jindal on his team on the level of the Wright crap then nothing will get to McCain the whole season.
Tommy Hussein @ 43:
Tommy,
I think even the GOP has standards that are too high for Tim (kick-backs good-n-)Pawlenty to be seriously considered. I was a HUGE Hatch supporter. That one hurt, more than just a little.
Although he really had little to nothing to do with it, methinks 35W ended Pawlenty's political career and Al Franken is good enough, smart enough and gosh darn it, people like him a lot more than Norm Coleman. America may be headed down the tubes but Minnesota is about to turn a corner in the right (as in positive) direction. I really believe that. Even Colin Peterson has broke with the blue dogs on a couple of issues and is coming around.
Good things are on our horizon (actually Montana is on our horizon because North Dakota is so flat). ;-)
So much so that I may even leave Japan and return home to N. Minny.
Tim in Japan @ 33:
They also floated Scalia, but I think Thomas and Scalia were having too much fun reaching under each other's robes. Still, I was glad to hear Krystol admid what everybody else in the country already knows all to well. Namely that, if you can use the Supreme Court as a treasure trove of right wing political hatchet men, then it follow that the Supreme Court must have become a treasure trove of...well...you know....
Besides which, if you were a psychotic fascist nutcase, wouldn't YOU have more fun spewing your twisted philosophy, and exercising supreme power in a place that is completely beyond the reach of democracy, and is not answerable to the public in any way?
CD @ 1:
Perhaps a better choice than an Afro-Indonesian muslim in the White House, methinks. Personally my head doesn't look too good wrapped in a towel, but that'll be all the rage in the men's clothing stores next year, I'd bet.
Four more years of Jimmy Carter might be a better choice for the Dumbocrats.
Pericles @ 49:
Agreed. No term limits. No elections. Just power. And, the ability to sleep on the job.
sgb @ 50:
So, if Sen. Obama is a muslim, what's all the hubbub about Rev. Wright, bub?
I'll tell you what camper, why don't you have someone from Fox issue you a new opinion. Yours seems to be a few news cycles out of date.
Marge @ 9:
Thank you.. With that gesture Jindal exposed himself as a CHICKENHAWK when Democratic Congressmen called him out on his disparaging their patriotism. They suggested he was young enough to go and serve, since he was so "patriotic"/ He proved as patriotic as Cheney and Kristol.
White uber conservative Rovian Republican picks tan skinned running mate with name harder to read or pronounce than Obama? All right, I got $1,000 on this one...
http://www.jindalisbad.com/
Tyler82, I'll meet ya...$1,000..
1. Daddy Exxon
2. Governs by Fiat~ No Transparency~ Secrecy to a fine art.
Smacks Around Louisiana national guard
3. Brown Skin Color (inclusive GOP)
4. Young ('youth vote', 'change' mantra)
5. Teflon tyrant
6. Mask of 'political correctness'
The above hyperlink is to a web site by those living under the tyranny of 'Bobby J'.
Down with Crooks and Liars! Take Back Our America!
20 communist homosexual menace Says:
Beware this guy came here with an agenda ;) -- bet on it. (signed: a member of the committee)
50 sgb Says:
Perhaps a better choice than an Afro-Indonesian muslim in the White House, methinks. Personally my head doesn’t look too good wrapped in a towel...
===================================
I'll go out on a limb, and suggest your head would look best wrapped by your ass.
SO IF THEY AVERAGE THEIR AGES..... IT IS STILL 105
MCCAIN BETTER PICK SOMEONE NEGATIVE 88 TO GET THIS RIGHT
.............AGAINST THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE? AND WHAT ABOUT THAT WONT WORRY ANYONE
.......YEAH...YOU GOTTA WORRY ABOUT THAT RUSH CROWD
No, no, he HAS to pick Pawlenty for the VP slot! That way, if he loses, Pawlenty loses too, and if God forbid he WINS we here in Minnesota at LEAST get rid of Governor Pretty Boy and his sycophantic wingnut policies...
Being stuck with a disconsolate, rejected, pouty Governor Tim Pawlenty is about the most dreadful outcome I can imagine...
Hmmm, Bobby Jindal....Started Hindu, turned R.C....Reverend Hagee ain't gonna' like that. You know, the Great Whore stuff and all that.
The D's have it easy...many people are asking about Edwards signing on with Obama. It would be a good choice as Edwards fired up is just scary enough to keep some cracker Pubbie from offing Obama.
But a Jindal would not be so good for McCain...Jindal has a dynamic that reaches folks, and that would mean a competitor that would overshadow the oldster. First, I don't think McCain's brittle and very vertical ego would allow that, nor would the campaign want someone more politically desirable to movement cons than "Huggy Bear" showing off. I see McCain reaching out to Joe Lieberman, Colin Powell, or Huckleberry Graham, all of whom would be politically savvy enough to not upstage "Huggy."
MCCAIN/CLINTON 2008
Hillary can't win the Dem nomination. She is trashing the Dem Party. Destroying the Party.
Obama will not ask her to be his VP.
McCain can't win the General.
So perhaps McCain & Hillary have cooked up a split ticket, attention grabber! UGH!!!!
McCain's VP is expected to eventually become the President so is Hillary going to use
this tactic? Hmmmmm
NASTY!!!!!!!!!!!
one guy way too old (and corrupted), one guy way too young....are republicans insane? oh yeah, i forgot myself....they are.....
nice
When speaking about McCain, whether it’s disgruntled conservatives or hostile democrats doing the speaking, I haven’t heard anyone not use the obligatory “great war hero, great American, respect him as a stand up guy, etc.” prior to slamming him. I also haven’t heard him speak without overusing the phrase “my friends”, which sounds more like a plea than an expression of secure camaraderie. To be coldly realistic, the Republican veep nominee had damn well better be able to handle the presidency, because, through no fault of his own, McCain is beginning to sound a little like Reagan after the Gipper’s second term was over. (www.loosekannon.com)
If the GOP wants a Christian conservative as VP, why not pick Huckabee? He's right-wing enough, fairly young enough, already has the support of the neo-con Christian leaders, and from the South. And he doesn't come with the accompanying problem of brown skin. And the last time Bill Kristol was correct about something was...?
Bill Kristol = excrement with no ethics. Somebody please take care of that asshole for us!
Even though Jindal's never stayed on a job, elected or not, for more than two years (some experience!), he won't be the choice for Veep. Nothing to gain from it but some news coverage for the all but invisible McBush. Besides Jindal is a sock puppet of our previous governor (Mike Foster) who has no real stoke anywhere but Louisiana. Now Jindal wants it (bad) because he is the soul of ambition and thinks he will be the president sometimes soon. He might do a Bammer and give a good speech (but he really can't outspeak..well out read or out telepronpt too well; just good at self-serving platitutdes) but he won't be on the ticket.
Great parody troll. Completely wrong in every detail :)
Combined age: 36 + 71 = 107
Average age: 107 / 2 = 53.5
Perhaps an East Indian war monger will help ease the blow of bombing Iran.
Jindal's been saying "no" to this idea for a while now. So has Condi Rice. Both don't wanna be used to gain the "ethnic vote" at the price of their "reputations" whatever remains of those, that is.
Why run attached to McCain and suffer thru that embarrassment when he can do a "good job" (yeah, right) in his state and then run for it in 2012, like...President Bush!
McSame is wearing a Navy cap.
Gee, I didn't know he was a veteran. He should tell people. Not be so secretive about it.
I saw Jindal on Leno. Definite Damien - "The Omen" child - all-grown-up vibe going on there. Uber-Creepy.
General_Rennenkampf @ 2:
We should be so lucky. Here's a new CNN reader poll. The question was directed at Dems and asked what they planned to do if their candidate didn't get the nomination:
Not vote 15% 14890
Vote for the nominee 45% 46436
Vote for John McCain 40% 40830
Granted, this is an informal poll and there is no way to know who actually responded, but it is somewhat shocking that 40% would rather continue the disastrous path we're on than vote for a nominee not of their choosing. We are truly our own worst enemies. Failing to grow up and get our act together subjected us to two terms of Bush. Have we learned nothing?
"... governor, with four years of service in public office and no military or foreign policy experience whatsoever, one heartbeat away from the Oval Office."
i would love to see him on the ticket -- it's a twofer:
1) that precisely describes george bush's political experience, look where that's gotten us; and
2) jindal was in training to work for the bush administration as an employee of McKinsey & Company, whose "clients include, among others, three of the world's five largest companies, two-thirds of the Fortune 1000. aside from McKinsey's close ties to the carlyle group, is alleged by the Louisiana Attorney General as "being the 'architect' of sweeping changes in the insurance industry, starting in the 1980s ... "[advising] insurers to 'stop 'premium leakage' by undervaluing claims using the tactics of deny, delay, and defend ..."
i can certainly see where he might appeal to the dead-enders (he created the "faith-based office" at health and human services for the bush administration, "witnessed a friend being possessed by a demon" and although a catholic convert "has ... offered testimony before Baptist and Pentecostal congregations since the beginning of the 2007 campaign season") but it is precisely that which makes him attractive to the deadenders which the majority are thoroughly sick of -- he is another republican opportunist with close ties to the bush administration and its corporate handlers.
(quotes in comment clipped from wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McKinsey_%26_Company#Criticism; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jindal)
(see also http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030213b.html)
Are you kidding? Just look at him. He's clearly a terrorist.
I can't really comment until my sheet gets back from the cleaners. The eyeholes were off center.
An Indian in America. Really.
What must you be smoking? Amerika can't even handle a black man or a woman in that capacity.
Jindal is actually the "illegitimate black baby" that Karl Rove tried to warn us about in 2000.
"Bobby" is just a nickname he picked up when he got into politics. His real name is "Piyush". And unlike Obama who was never a Muslim, Jindal converted from Hinduism to Catholicism as an adult. How convenient, that a politician from a Roman Catholic bastion like south Louisiana would just so happen to find Catholicism more appealing than Hinduism.
Obama/Webb in '08
[Deleted-Sitemonitor]
Jindal is not even on the list, unless it has at least 15 names. Huckabee, Ridge and Romney are the only three even being considered by now. Huckabee to placate the conservative base (remember they were dumped with McCain) Ridge because he has no baggage and is an experienced white male which they must have and why Jindal has no chance. Romney for his business knowledge, national exposure and least we forget, a lot of money. If you like long shot horses you can go for Crist, no baggage and help with his state.
Rice is way too close to Bush, ditto for Jeb (too bad we might need help in Fla.) Thompson said he won't run and likely actually means it.
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