 |
| Cover of Bill Clinton |
“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.GOP soul-searching, 2016 edition
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
running the GOP governors association would make Jindal and Christie key GOP players in articulating the Republican view on the president's agenda during his second term .... Previous heads of the Republican Governors Association, most notably Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Romney, who served as Massachusetts governor, followed their leadership terms with presidential runs. ..... Jindal, who is term limited from seeking a third term as governorThat is what Bill Clinton was before he ran for president, chair of his governors' association.
New York Times: G.O.P. Uses Obama ‘Otherness’ As Campaign Tactic: Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, who this week accused Mr. Obama, whose father was a Kenyan economist and spoke out against the occupying force in his country, of exhibiting “Kenyan, anticolonial behavior.”
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u3pI43BBTicc79Uvn24uI1AiBGMaoGXK22Zs2NnaD3O3MnSWcDr6Xa92bNY9rOZVYz1iJbf-yfGLg6_TXUZQ9Hp2O_Rd18NjWndkmYfiQsIpnptB8Hk2F2y1YX-ca9lFXkQaTpSmSELT-IlrNspVaI=s0-d)
