Bobby Saying All The Right Things

Biden, Bobby
Bobby Is Going To Run And Win In 2016
Bobby Will Run In 2016
Bobby Converting Is Not A Problem
Bobby Jindal
Bobby Jindal: Streamliner
Bobby For McCain's VP?
Bobby Jindal For President Of The United States 2016
Bobby 2016, Until Then Adios
Barack, Bobby

Bobby has to do nothing less than reconstruct the Republican Party, and I think he is making good early noises. You borrow money from China with which to give tax cuts to the rich, and the poor and the middle classes are saddled with interest payments on that borrowed money. How is that small government?

Paul Ryan is a fake intellectual. Bobby is the true intellectual.

Quote of the Day: Bobby Jindal Joins Ranks of GOPers Edging and Urging Towards More Moderate

“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.” ...... “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.” ....... Calling on the GOP to be “the party of ideas, details and intelligent solutions,” the Louisianan urged the party to “stop reducing everything to mindless slogans, tag lines, 30-second ads that all begin to sound the same. “ ..... He added: “Simply being the anti-Obama party didn’t work. You can’t beat something with nothing. The reality is we have to be a party of solutions and not just bumper-sticker slogans but real detailed policy solutions.”

Bobby Jindal, newly compassionate conservative, gives interview to Politico

Jindal, a skilled political sailor who can tack into the slightest change in the current wind, provided Politico with a series of remarkable quotes ..... Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was one of President Barack Obama’s most effective lines of attack against Mitt Romney. ...... On cultural issues, he suggested the party not retreat from its stances opposing abortion rights and gay marriage but rather soften its tone on such matters. ..... “We’re a populist party and we’ve got to make that clear going forward,” he said. ....... “I got the best job in the world and I’m going to be focused on being governor of this great state for the next three years and being chairman of RGA next year and getting a bunch of great Republican governors elected”

Jindal: End 'dumbed-down conservatism'

Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich. ........ He was just as blunt on how the GOP should speak to voters, criticizing his party for offending and speaking down to much of the electorate. ...... his pointed comments reflect his intent on playing an active role in the party’s conversation and perhaps to pursue a presidential bid when his term is up at the start of 2016. ........ his analysis Monday suggests he’s aligning himself with an emerging school of thought on the right that the GOP’s consecutive White House defeats can’t merely be solved by passing an immigration reform bill and appealing more directly to nonwhites. Jindal, a Brown Graduate and Rhodes Scholar, is already a favorite of conservative intellectuals and his assessment that Republican difficulties owe as much to economics as demographics will be well-received by right-leaning thinkers. ...... not enough discussion of what they see as the party’s unimaginative, donor-driven fiscal policies. ...... Jindal, the son of Indian immigrants, said the GOP “must reject identity politics” and “treat folks as individuals, as Americans, not as members of special interest groups.” ...... “The Republican Party is going to fight for every single vote,” he said. “That means the 47 percent and the 53 percent, that means any other combination of numbers going up to 100 percent.” ...... “I think the president has said he wants to present a comprehensive approach; I think we as a party need to hear what he has to say and offer our ideas.” ...... Where Jindal showed a bit more daring was on the banking industry, something that Obama blistered Romney on and to which the GOP nominee offered little response. ...... Declaring that Republicans “can’t be beholden to special interests or banks,” the successor to Huey P. Long indicated support for provisions in the Dodd-Frank law, which requires banks to increase their reserves to prevent future taxpayer-funded bailouts. ..... Even more notably, Jindal suggested he’d look favorably on something akin to the “Volcker rule.” ...... “You’ve seen some conservatives come around to the idea that if banks are going to be using FDIC-insured deposits, they shouldn’t be allowed to co-mingle those funds with some of their riskier investment banking activity,” Jindal said. “There needs to be stronger walls between insured deposits, the taxpayer protected side of business and riskier side of business that generate these risks and profits.” ........ “I think special interests in general have certainly too much influence in Washington, D.C.” ...... Jindal decried “agnostic” lobbyists who work both parties. ..... “They’re access donors because they know whoever is in power — that’s who they want to be friends with to get their special perks in the Tax Code” ....... “We’re a populist party and we’ve got to make that clear going forward,” he said...... To Jindal, that means improving the quality of education for kids across class and racial lines. The author of a major school reform bill this year, he said education is one example of how government needs to be changed to adapt to the times....... “Let the dollar follow the child instead of making the child follow the dollar,” he said of his policies to support charter, private and home schooling...... More broadly, he called for “a bottom-up government that fits the digital age.” ...... calling for expanded oil and gas exploration while also looking more favorably than some Republicans on renewable-energy solutions. ....... Jindal, decrying the GOP’s tendency to reminisce about how things were “better in the good ol’ days,” is tougher on his party’s tone than its substance. He’s an unapologetic conservative who doesn’t want to deviate from small-government principles. But he’s firing a warning to Republicans that they must change how they’re perceived. ..... “You’ve got to give the president’s team credit: They did a very good job portraying the Republican Party as wanting to just preserve the status quo for those who’ve already been successful and burn the bridge behind them,” he acknowledged. “That’s not what we as a party stand for and what we as a party can stand for.”

Jindal: No comment on 2016 run

In his first interview since Mitt Romney's defeat, Jindal told Politico that the party needs to, "stop being the stupid party".

What's Ryan and Jindal's Solutions to What Ails the G.O.P.?

Some party leaders blame Republican voters and donors for being stuck in a rightwing media world ...... Romney and Ryan "got wiped out in the overwhelmingly white state of New Hampshire, and they underperformed in non-urban sections of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa." On taxes, Ryan said he and House Republicans had already presented a plan, and called on Obama to offer his own. ...... Jindal says the problem actually is the Republican plan. ..... Jindal rejected Romney's 47 percent comments, and the idea of makers vs. takers, which Ryan has promoted ....... Jindal thinks the GOP must explain things better, but not necessarily with better slogans. ...... Jindal wants the GOP to "soften its tone" on social issues.

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Finally, the Republican Party has to set a tone that is more respectful, positive and inclusive. The immigration rhetoric that came out of the Republican primary seemed harsh, unwelcoming and offputting to many minority voters. Obama increased his share of the Hispanic vote and won it 69 percent to 29 percent (per The New York Times exit poll); likewise he built a huge margin among Asian voters, 74-25, almost doubling the margin of his support compared to 2008. Both of those constituencies are hardworking, upwardly mobile, family-oriented, and should be open to Republican appeals if we don’t make them feel unwelcome....... And if another Republican man says anything about rape other than it is a horrific, violent crime, I want to personally cut out his tongue. The college-age daughters of many of my friends voted for Obama because they were completely turned off by Neanderthal comments like the suggestion of “legitimate rape.”

Obama defends Rice in face of GOP opposition

What about Rebecca Kleefisch for Bobby's running mate?

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Bobby Converting Is Not A Problem

How Indian immigrants could save the Republican Party

Further, could it be just coincidence that both politicians converted to Christianity? He’s a Hindu-turned-Catholic and she’s a Sikh-turned-Methodist. Perhaps they have their legitimate reasons—it doesn’t get more personal than your name and your religion—but the party needs to proceed carefully: There’s a red flag if immigrant candidates don’t appeal to their own immigrant brethren. Indeed, Jindal and Haley have upset some Indians, who feel the candidates can take their campaign donations but had to become something else in order to be accepted by the Republican Party—and by America.

I was born a Hindu. I grew up a Hindu. When I came to America with 200 dollars in my backpocket - 70 of which I blew on my first cab ride from the airport to the college town - I was a Hindu. One year in America I became a Buddhist. This was in the Bible Belt South.

I recommend conversion to the hundreds of millions of Dalits - also known as untouchables - in South Asia. Become a Buddhist, become a Christian, become anything. Stop being a Hindu. I feel like that is the only way to break the back of the caste system.

Nothing that any black person goes through in America compares to what Dalits go through in India. And I have to face that fact, as I remain hypercritical when it comes to race relations in America. The status quo is not okay. Racial equality is not here yet, although we continue to make steady progress.

I note that both Bobby and Nikky are Pujabis. In 1984 there were major anti Sikh riots all across India. If I were a Sikh I might have wanted to dissociate myself from the larger Indian identity once and for all. It was that bad. The minority problem is there in every country. Look at the Buddhist-Muslim thing in Burma, the Buddhist-Hindu thing in Sri Lanka.

I was an Indian in Nepal growing up and I suffered. I was a political minority, though not a numerical one. I identify with the blacks in America because of who I was growing up in Nepal. But also because of the British unfairness at the British school in Nepal I went to. And the racist demonization at the white college in the South I attended that the powers that be happily participated in.

I don't know of any Indian Democrat who is Governor anywhere in America, not in New Jersey where a lot of Indians live, not in supposedly diversity friendly states like New York and California. And I never felt like Bobby was trying to hide his Indian identity, or that he had ever managed to hoodwink whites into thinking he was anything other than Indian. He is married to one. His children are Indian. He takes great pride in his family's story.

One of the things that I find fascinating about Bobby is he is truly conservative. He is hard core conservative like I am hard core progressive. He truly believes. And it is so obvious to me that he is very, very smart.

One has a right to choose one's party, one's political philosophy. One has a right to choose one's faith. I mean, why are we even arguing? That's basic stuff.

Bobby's presence at the other end of the spectrum has, if anything, made me want to take a second look at the conservative philosophy. It has made me want to take a second look at the Republican Party itself. Not that I want to join it - no, hell no - I am a happy Independent, a Democrat till 2008, ironically.

If I were to not see common cause with Bobby, it would be for social reasons. I am for gay marriage, for example. If this were the 1950s, I would have been anti segregation. Being pro gay marriage today is for me the same thing. I don't want to wake up 10 or 20 years from now having been on the wrong side of history today.

But if Bobby were to say gay marriage is an issue to be decided at the state level, I would agree. We could agree to disagree on the issue, but agree on how the country should go about it.

I moved to New York from Kentukcy/Indiana because I was not white. Maybe the gay people can too. For the time being.

I am for a small government. I think I always have been. When you move from an autocracy to being a democracy, you are reducing the size of the government. And I am all for that.

I am for common sense gun laws. The right to go hunting - I am more of a shoot with a camera kind of guy - does not mean allowing for machine guns on easy hands. Makes no sense. But I see the pro gun philosophy as one being for a small government. I am okay with the underlying meaning.

It should be possible to distill the conservative philosophy to its bare essentials, and to apply them to new facts, and come up with new sets of policies that go for social inclusion and economic growth, nationally and globally. Maybe Bobby the biology major at college will do that. But his party has not done it yet. There is work cut out for him.

Bobby Is Going To Run And Win In 2016

The conservative philosophy has to make sense in all income brackets, for all racial groups. It can't be a philosophy to give tax cuts to the super rich with money borrowed from China to be able to hoodwink white guys with high school diplomas for life in the South to come along for the ride.

The party of Lincoln has to go back to its roots and become a party that competes for black votes, not engages in voter suppression.

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Cliff Notes

CBO: Letting upper-income tax cuts expire would barely hurt economy

Letting the high-income Bush tax cuts lapse, for example, generates $42 billion in 2013 but hardly hurts GDP at all. By contrast, the defense cuts amount to $24 billion but hurts growth by 0.4 percent

What's in the fiscal cliff?

$7 trillion worth of tax increases and spending cuts over a decade. ..... While that might seem like a deficit hawk's dream come true, it's anything but. ..... "It's too big, too quick, and focuses on the wrong parts of the budget" ..... reductions in both defense and non-defense spending; the expiration of the Bush tax cuts; the end of a payroll tax holiday and extended unemployment benefits; and the onset of reimbursement cuts to Medicare doctors. ...... If left in place, the fiscal cliff would lead to the biggest single-year drop in the annual deficit as a percent of the economy since 1969. ...... But because it would be so abrupt and arbitrary, it also could throw the United States back into a recession next year, when more than $500 billion will be taken out of the economy. ...... automatic spending cuts to commence on Jan. 2 that will amount to $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction over 10 years. ..... $55 billion will be cut in 2013 from projected levels of discretionary defense spending. That translates into at least a 10% cut to every program, project and activity that's not explicitly exempt. ...... $55 billion will be cut from projected levels of nondefense spending, which includes things like education, food inspections and air travel safety. Budget experts estimate the cuts will result in at least an 8% cut to programs, projects and activities .... Income tax rates: Rise to 15%, 28%, 31%, 36% and 39.6%, up from 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33% and 35%.

Here's What's Probably Going To Happen With The Fiscal Cliff

an agreement will be reached AFTER January 1st - so that the Bush tax cuts can expire and certain politicians can claim they didn't vote to raise taxes (silly, but that is politics). ...... the tax cuts for low to middle income families will be reenacted ...... tax rates on high income earners will increase a few percentage points to the Clinton era levels ..... Not only is there no 'bang' event on January 1, but letting the tax rates jump is a way for politicians to then vote to lower them, which is easier

CBO warns of fiscal cliff risk

The biggest threat posed by the $7 trillion fiscal cliff is that it could throw the U.S. economy into recession next year. ..... Congress may choose to avert the cliff in whole or in part ..... The fiscal cliff as a whole, if it went into effect for all of next year, could result in a drop of 0.5% in real gross domestic product, according to the CBO. And that contraction could push unemployment to 9.1% by the end of 2013

My Reason To Drive Off The Roof
Bad Advice From Paul Krugman

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Republican Move On Immigration: Most Welcome

Republicans Reconsider Positions on Immigration

The prospects for an immigration overhaul next year improved with stunning speed after the vote, with John A. Boehner, the speaker of the House, who had long resisted any broad immigration bill, saying on Thursday that “a comprehensive approach is long overdue.” Haley Barbour, a Republican elder statesman and former governor of Mississippi, echoed Mr. Boehner, and Sean Hannity, the conservative talk show host — in a startling turnaround — joined calls for measures opening pathways to legal status for illegal immigrants. ...... forcing Republican leaders to wonder if they could ever regain the presidency without increasing their appeal to Hispanic Americans. ...... Latino organizations, business and agricultural employers, libertarian conservatives, evangelical Christians and law enforcement groups.

2013 is year to do immigration reform.

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War And Peace

Via Occupy Wall Street

My Reason To Drive Off The Roof

I mean, to fall off the fiscal cliff.

Bad Advice From Paul Krugman



A great thing would be the unwise Bush tax cuts that should never have been implemented - I am for tax cuts that are paid for, not tax cuts that are paid for with money borrowed from the Chinese - would go away without the Republicans having to agree to the idea. They get to tell their base, we did not do it, the whole thing fell off the cliff, don't blame us.

A major cut in defense spending is long overdue. American leaders need to be more proactive about spreading democracy globally and about bringing forth rule of law between nations. Those steps allow America to bring down its defense spending by a large margin. Bring it down to $1 from $4. But cutting defense spending is politically unpopular. So letting some of it fall off the cliff might be smart politics. Look we tried, the thing fell off the cliff.

It is hard for Democrats to even think in terms of restructuring the entitlement programs. But some restructuring is necessary. The cliff can help you do that. It can be a huge political help.

Go over the cliff. Then close a trillion dollars in loopholes. Then bring about a second stimulus. I say a trillion dollars. Spend half of it to bring forth gigabit wireless broadband to every human being on the planet. Let there be light.

If you go over the cliff and don't bring a second stimulus, you are staring at a recession. But the stimulus is a one time thing. All the savings from going over the cliff help bring down the deficit and the debt in the subsequent years.

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