Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Celebrate the fucking wins.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Republicans in disarray!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

We still have time to mess this up!

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

When we show up, we win.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

This country desperately needs a functioning Fourth Estate.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Fight them, without becoming them!

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2016 / Open Thread: Any GOPer Need Himself A Veep?

Open Thread: Any GOPer Need Himself A Veep?

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Governor Jindal officially announced his candidacy today, and he’s not even the top media joke story of the day. Although there are certainly jokes to be made about a dark-skinned Papist immigrants’ son proclaiming he’ll focus on the ‘disgruntled elderly white Southern don’t-call-them-racists’ niche. McKay Coppins at Buzzfeed, reports from “Inside Bobby Jindal’s Iowa-heavy, Duck Dynasty–driven plot to troll his way to the front of the 2016 pack“:

… When he officially announces his bid for the Republican nomination here Wednesday evening, Jindal will be launching a campaign with little money, virtually no grassroots organization, and a principal who sits at around 1% in national polls. The most generous pundits call him an “underdog.” The less generous ones call him a “dumbed-down” self-parody who “will never catch fire.”

In multiple conversations with BuzzFeed News — as well as a candid, on-the-record briefing with reporters ahead of the announcement Wednesday, complete with a PowerPoint presentation and an expansive Q&A — Jindal’s top strategists laid out their theory of the race and what they view as their candidate’s most plausible path to victory…

Camp out in Iowa “It wouldn’t be bad to have $100 million,” said Curt Anderson, Jindal’s chief campaign strategist. “I’ll be honest about that.”

But for now, he said, all they really need is enough cash to buy roundtrip plane tickets from Des Moines to Manchester, New Hampshire. Jindal’s advisers repeatedly stressed that they’re running an “early-state campaign,” and that the first “signs of life” for the Jindal candidacy will likely register with improved polling in Iowa…

Harness the power of Duck Dynasty Jindal will hardly be the only Republican candidate pinning his hopes on a strong showing in Iowa. Ted Cruz, Rick Perry, Carly Fiorina, Ben Carson, and Huckabee will all likely be pursuing similar strategies, and they will have to compete for attention with Donald Trump’s high-profile political torch-juggling act. But one Jindal adviser noted that their candidate has something none of his rivals have: the Duck Dynasty endorsement… Jindal has known the family of Louisiana natives for years, and he used the flare-up in the culture wars to warn of a triumphalist secularism in American society that aims to bully conservative Christians like the Robertsons out of the public square…

Straddle the line between culture warrior and policy wonk At the same time, Jindal’s aides said they wouldn’t pigeonhole him as the social conservative candidate… Jindal is a Rhodes scholar who is well-versed in public policy. One slide in their presentation called Jindal “the sharpest knife in the Republican drawer.”…

Win the trolling primary…

Target-rich environment, certainly.

I’m thinking Jindal’s actually going for the “wonky second banana who’ll provide both intellectual and not-a-racist cover for whichever milky-white dimwit the RNC eventually drags to the front of the Klown Kar Kavalcade”. But Jeb(!) is a Catholic convert too, and Walker seems like he’s not secure enough to let a credentialed smart person share his Koch-sponsored spotlight…
***********
Apart from Obvious Jokes being obvious, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

136Comments

  1. 1.

    lamh36

    Sent this in email to you AL, but I don’t know if it worked.

    Posted downthread but posting again.

    Little Known Black History Fact!

    I’ve never heard the story that Maddow is telling about the first African American male cheerleader at Ole Miss, who refused to wave the Rebel Flag, instead the white cheerleaders would wave it.

    Maddow is now interviewing him!

    John Hawkins is his name!

    Find the video guys!

    ETA: Found the link to the NYT story from 1982
    http://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/04/us/black-cheerleader-balks-at-waving-the-rebel-flag.html?smid=tw-share

  4. 4.

    lamh36

    I have no use for Sen Tim Scott of SC. But I will give him props for the speech he gave on the Senate floor remembering the victims of Charleston

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I know he’s Rhodes scholar and whatnot, but I still think he would manage to be a Palin-esque disaster on a national ticket. He’s snakebit

    One slide in their presentation called Jindal “the sharpest knife in the Republican drawer.”

    At 5′ 10″ I’m the tallest man in my family in three generations.

  6. 6.

    Brachiator

    @lamh36:And it wasn’t just about touching the flag:

    A professor who asked not to be named suggested that the true concern of the more vocal alumni and other protesters of the flag incident was that Mr. Hawkins’s cheerleading partner was a white woman.

    ”A great many people really don’t like the idea of a black man touching a white woman and lifting her over his head and catching her and all that kind of thing,” the professor said. ”They’ve only been waving that Rebel flag as a school symbol since the late 1940’s, but those other concerns go back a lot further than that.”

  7. 7.

    madmommy

    Our Governor is a wanker, and this folly is costing all of us money that would be better spent on, well, damn near anything else! He’s done his best to wreck education and healthcare here, infrastructure is a joke statewide and the flagship university is facing bankruptcy. If he had any sense of decency he would resign his office, go home and never show his miserable face in public again.

  9. 9.

    Alex

    The latest Fox news poll has Jindal at 2%, well behind 2nd-place Donald Trump at 11%.

    Note — that would knock Jindal out of the top 10 for debate purposes.

    Further note — Current top ten, in order — Bush, Trump, Carson, Paul, Walker, Rubio, Huckabee, Cruz, Fiorina, Santorum,

    Missing the cut is Christie, Jindal, Kasich, Perry, Graham, and Pataki. And the rest (seriously, are there more than 16 candidates?)

  13. 13.

    Bubblegum Tate

    Wingnut I know is a huge Jindal fan (largely because Jindal, like said wingnut I know, is Catholic). He claims that “a Jindal/Walker ticket would be unbeatable,” and he has rejected all corrections that tack the word “comedy” onto the end of his statement.

  15. 15.

    lamh36

    @aasif 2h2 hours ago Los Angeles, CA
    U might be a #Jindian if u r the son of immigrants who is anti-immigrant. #bobbyjindalissowhite @harikondabolu @ShaifaliP

    Let me tell ya from a Louisiana view of Piyush “Bobby” Jindal.

    First, NOBODY like him. Now you have strong GOP voters who will vote GOP regardless, but even then, it’s a hold your nose kinda support. Find anyone whiter and better Jindal means nothing. Dude won’t even be enough to carry his own damn state, and I can see GOP folks not even coming to vote for Prez w/Jindal on the ticket.

    Second, there is an Indian American contigent in NOLA, and part of Louisiana, not big as AA or White, but they do donate to Indian pols. So the pathologist at my hospital is Indian American, and he tells the tale of being a member of some big Louisiana Indian American association or some such. The group comes together and members contribute to award a scholarship to a deserving Indian American Louisiana resident. The group backs Indian American pols and the like too. They aren’t some big lobbying group, but they are big backers of Jindal. Keeping in mind that this group has contributed, campaigned and supporeted Jindal all during his political life. So one year they asked to see if the Governor would come to speak at one of their annual meeting wrhere the scholarship would be awarded. The Governor thru his press secretary declined, and per the Pathologist, told the group “the Governor doesn’t give speeches to small groups”!!!!

    Jindal is ambitious. His political career in Louisiana is done once he leaves the governor’s mansion. He knows he’ll never be President. He’s too dark for the base, and I’d say he has been all but a joke since he Kenneth the Page State of the Union response. But he still wants and need power to feed his ambition. So my money trying to finagle his way into a Cabinet position in the next Republican administration if the GOP wins.

  16. 16.

    madmommy

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Meh. He is a terrible public speaker, as we’ve all seen. Nikki Haley has a similar backstory, possesses extra melanin and is pretty enough to send those all-important tingles down the legs of the geriatric males that make up Fox’s viewership.

  19. 19.

    NotMax

    Bumper stickers not far behind:

    “Say Yes to BJ!”

    “Time for a BJ in the USA!”

    “America Needs a BJ!”

  24. 24.

    Cervantes

    @lamh36:

    First, NOBODY [likes] him. […]

    Second, there is an Indian American contigent in NOLA, and part of Louisiana […] The group backs Indian American pols and the like too. They aren’t some big lobbying group, but they are big backers of Jindal. Keeping in mind that this group has contributed, campaigned and supporeted Jindal all during his political life.

    So when you say “NOBODY” likes him …

  26. 26.

    Cervantes

    Although there are certainly jokes to be made about a dark-skinned Papist immigrants’ son proclaiming he’ll focus on the ‘disgruntled elderly white Southern don’t-call-them-racists’ niche.

    Yes, I bet there are.

  28. 28.

    lamh36

    @Cervantes: they like that he’s Indian American, they DO NOT LIKE what he’s done to the state and the way he bashes immigrants, when he comes from an immigrant community

    The people don’t LIKE him, they just HATE the other folks more

  29. 29.

    Felonius Monk

    The Klown Kar has now become the Klown Bus. Now, if it would only drive out into the ocean and disappear from sight with all the Klowns on-board, America would be a better place.

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @Cervantes:

    A priest, a rabbi, and a dark-skinned Papist immigrants’ son proclaiming he’ll focus on the ‘disgruntled elderly white Southern don’t-call-them-racists walk into a bar…

  32. 32.

    madmommy

    @lamh36:
    So it would seem at some point they would say to themselves, hey, this guy is wrecking the state, bashing immigrants and treating those who have supported him all along like dirt. Why are we still supporting him??

  35. 35.

    Mike J

    @lamh36:

    Let me tell ya from a Louisiana view of Piyush “Bobby” Jindal.

    As despicable as he is, this is a bullshit thing to focus on. People should be called what they want to be called. Nobody has to answer to anybody for their name.

  36. 36.

    Debbie

    Jindahl’s certainly bringing out the comedians here. I’ve almost dropped my iPad twice reading this thread.

  37. 37.

    lamh36

    @madmommy: you’d think so right? but when you are part of a group that has barely any representation and power and all of a sudden you have a chance at the semblance of power sometimes you still back them?

    But yeah…the like if more “tribal’ for lack of a better word.

  39. 39.

    Cervantes

    @lamh36:

    they DO NOT LIKE what he’s done to the state and the way he bashes immigrants

    And yet they are “big backers of Jindal,” and have “contributed, campaigned and [supported] Jindal all during his political life”?

    Are they a minority within the Indian-American community?

  41. 41.

    lamh36

    @Mike J: Meh…I don’t care if you like it or not.

    Barack Hussein Obama embraces the name that his father and mother gave him. He was called “Barry” when he was younger, but then he embraced and honored the name his parent’s gave him.

    I respect Obama for that. I do not respect “Bobby” Jindal, who goes completely out of his way to piss on immigrants and his immigrant background so he can be more amenable to white folk.

    So sue me.

  43. 43.

    madmommy

    @lamh36:

    It’s no different than poor whites voting R no matter how much it hurts them. Tribal loyalties till the bitter end. Sigh…

  49. 49.

    Cervantes

    @lamh36:

    Jindal gave himself that nickname when he was a toddler watching The Brady Bunch. It stuck.

    His policy positions are daft, and no less so if he were to abandon the nickname.

  51. 51.

    schrodinger's cat

    This is anecdata, and I don’t live in Louisiana but I have to yet meet an Indian-American person who likes Jindal or supports Republicans for that matter. Not one. I know a fair number Indian Americans. Of course I have lived either in college towns or big cities on the east coast, so that might have something to do with it, as well.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    She is another odd movie. Pin-up night late in the month is turning up some real gems. Ursula Andress cannot act.

  58. 58.

    joel hanes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Ursula Andress cannot act.

    As nearly as I can remember, when I (as a just-entering adolescence male) first encountered her in Dr. No, I didn’t care if she could act. I only remember that she dropped the towel.

  62. 62.

    jl

    @Valdivia:

    ” now everyone thinks I am weirdo. ”

    Huh… really? You might be qualified to run for GOP pres nomination.
    You could save the day. Think about it.
    Cole could put up a contribution thingee.

  67. 67.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Kudzu and oil spills

    I think we just found the GOP dream ticket.

    Can we throw in an “Anthrax and Tire Rims” for the Both-Sides-Do-It award?

  68. 68.

    Valdivia

    @Omnes Omnibus: Being a weirdo in general not a bad thing, being the weirdo in the metro car not the same thing.

    As a girl all I remember is that Ursula Andress’s bikini was the coolest. I am sure you all noticed the same thing

    @jl: ok not *that* much of a weirdo ;)

  73. 73.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Valdivia:

    now everyone thinks I am weirdo.

    Gibble gobble gibble gobble
    We accept her, we accept her,
    One of us! One of us!

  75. 75.

    lamh36

    @lamh36: Dang…is the link working for anyone? I can’t get it to work.

    I’ll have to check back with Maddow Blog again

  81. 81.

    Chris

    Jindal looks like a TSA profiling suspect. Nobody who looks like him is touching the GOP presidential nomination with a thirty foot pole. And it really is that simple.

  84. 84.

    gf120581

    Question; who’s the more delusional, Jindel or Christie? It’s striking how similar they are; both former GOP wonderboys who are now walking jokes, drowining in scandal and controversy, absolutely loathed in their home states and giving utterly hilarious excuses for their unpopularity (Jindel saying his approvals plummeting is proof he’s done a good job; Christie saying NJ natives don’t support him for President because they don’t want him to leave them because they love him so much).

    It’s a tough choice.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: Be still, my beating heart. :-)

    I am about done with my (somewhat) maniacal efforts to reclaim my back yard this spring, 2 years after the tree crashed, so I suspect I will be here more again. As it is, I skim days/hours after the thread is dead, so there hasn’t been much point in commenting.

  86. 86.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @gf120581:

    Question; who’s the more delusional, Jindel or Christie?

    I believe this is a “both/and” not an “either/or” blog.

  88. 88.

    beltane

    @Chris: It’s going to be Jeb Bush because GOP primary voters really are that predictable. All the other clowns are just there to help distract attention from his clown brother’s failed presidency.

  91. 91.

    WaterGirl

    @Valdivia: One good turn smart-ass comment deserves another! I say go for it!

    edited again, another formatting error. ergh.

  100. 100.

    Baud

    Late night BJ is fun, but I think I’m going to turn in before Little Boots shows up and everyone starts linking to YouTube videos. Good night.

  102. 102.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: ‘Night, Baud. Sweet dreams.

    P.S. BJs are fun nearly any time, not just late at night, are they not?

  104. 104.

    Valdivia

    @Baud: And yes, hhis, more than once.
    Good night!

    @WaterGirl: I totally believe in that. Though it was totally accidental. The dancing on the metro thing.

  105. 105.

    22over7

    @Valdivia: No, but that’s spiffy too.

    Also (on topic), I look at the ever-growing list of GOP contenders, imagine Hilary debating any of them, and laugh and laugh.

  107. 107.

    lamh36

    @Omnes Omnibus: it’s the same link as i my tweet, except now it’s working ok…oh well, at least it’s working.

    It’s a great story that I had NO idea about!

  108. 108.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, if you guys aren’t going to make any smart-ass comments, I may just have to leave in a huff!

    Or I may just leave because I have to get up at 6:30 for early morning swim, and I go to bed so late that I just don’t want to get up.

  111. 111.

    joel hanes

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I have read the Haggard novel.

    _She_ ?

    (Notable for being the origin of “She-who-must-be-obeyed”, Rumpole’s epithet for his wife)

    I’ve read that, and _King_Solomon’s_Mines_ too. Classic genre.

    The Tarzan comics mined them for ideas for decades.

    Obscure early genre stuff: many of Jules Verne’s less known works are now available; see Amazon for details. Holy ned! the guy was prolific.

  112. 112.

    Valdivia

    @WaterGirl: Buenas noches. I promise next time you’re here I will deliver a smart ass comment. Even if it has to be urbi et orbi
    @WaterGirl: It’s an unconscious thing that happens to me when I hear music. I have to actively focus on not doing it. I slipped, a couple of times.

    @NotMax: More hhis: I was stone cold sober. Can’t imagine how being not so would have affected the dancing :)

  114. 114.

    WaterGirl

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, that would be downright mean!

    @Valdivia: I will look forward to it. If I am keeping score correctly at home, you still owe Omnes a wicked comeback from a previous late night comment.

    Goodnight, all.

    P.S. Valdivia, that’s awesome that you start dancing without even thinking.

  118. 118.

    Kay

    The NYTimes covers their ass on the trade deal:

    Labor unions, environmental groups and most Democratic lawmakers opposed the bill. They are worried that the deals the administration is negotiating will hurt American workers, make it harder for people in poor nations to buy generic drugs, lead to environmental degradation and provide outsized benefits to big corporations that will not necessarily be shared by workers.

    Mr. Obama has dismissed critics of his trade agenda like Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, saying their concerns are misplaced and hypothetical. Because trade agreements are understandably secret while they are being negotiated, it is hard to determine who is right. But now the burden of proof will rest squarely on the shoulders of the president and his trade representative, Michael Froman.

    “We asked absolutely no questions prior to passage of Fast Track even though we know Fast Track = passage, but we’d just like it on the record that we issued this stern warning and are actually very concerned”

    Put it in the file. If anyone asks later, they can produce it.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/opinion/president-obama-must-use-trade-authority-to-reach-better-agreements.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1

  119. 119.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @NotMax: If I weren’t sitting and waiting for someone, I would have turned it off long ago. Wait, that’s not true; the train wreck aspect was there – one wanted see what horror came next.

    @Valdivia: There is that. And the book from which the movie was made wasn’t bad.

  120. 120.

    lamh36

    Uh huh…this should surprise NO ONE!

    Dylann Roof may have been regular commenter on neo-Nazi website
    It appears that the Charleston church shooter Dylann Roof may have been even more immersed in the online white supremacist movement than previously thought.

    @Salon
    Dylann Roof’s ties to the white supremacist movement run deeper than originally thought http://slnm.us/5Dpk8Pj

  121. 121.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    the train wreck aspect was there -one wanted see what horror came next.

    Suffered the exact same syndrome watching Event Horizon all the way through.

  122. 122.

    Mike in NC

    About 16 years ago my wife and I agreed to visit New Orleans and Baton Rouge to see friends. It was really an appalling experience. How did they ever end up with a sad sack and freak like Piyush Jindal as their governor?

  124. 124.

    NotMax

    @Omnes Omnibus

    Dunno if you saw the 20th anniversary as host tribute which aired on TCM a little while back.

    Included a short clip (must have been done for an office party or some such) of Robert Osborne acting a bit tipsy while giving the introduction to an unnamed film.

    (Paraphrasing.) “Go ahead and sit through this one – if you must. (pause) It really <is a piece of sh*t. (pause) Now where’s that bottle? I need another drink.”

  128. 128.

    fuckwit

    @Cervantes: This is not as much as a contradiction as it may seem. I’ve seen people-of-ethnic-group-x band together to give money to and support politician-of-ethnic-group-x out of loyalty, and then complain that the politician is an incompetent boob, and despite the fact that the politician shits all over ethnic-group-x.

    Come to think of it… imagine of all the white people who support idiotic politicians just becasue they are white, and even though those politicians are aggressively implementing policies that shit all over those same white people. “What’s The Matter With Kansas?” indeed.

    There’s nothing specific about ethnic-group-x. This phenomenon plays out everywhere in politics. I’ve seen it several times.

  129. 129.

    danielx

    @madmommy:

    If he had any sense of decency he would resign his office, go home and never show his miserable face in public again.

    So pretty much like most other Republican pols at this point. And in connection with those same pols, what is this sense of decency to which you refer? They don’t have any sense of decency and they aren’t going home any time soon, unfortunately.

  131. 131.

    jl

    @Alex:

    Thanks for rundown on the clown car pecking order.

    ” Further note — Current top ten, in order — Bush, Trump, Carson, Paul, Walker, Rubio, Huckabee, Cruz, Fiorina, Santorum,

    Missing the cut is Christie, Jindal, Kasich, Perry, Graham, and Pataki. And the rest (seriously, are there more than 16 candidates?) ”

    Going to take a lot of fancy polling shenanigans to get Trump out of there, but probably Fox News will try. But I am up for it.

    I’m pretty sure there are far more than 16 eligible to stand in primary in some state or other. I saw a site the listed all the very minor vanity and perennial candidates, some eligible to stand in just one or two states. Seemed like over two dozen or more altogether. Probably would get similar number of micro-minor candidates on Democratic side if interested in adding them up.

  132. 132.

    joel hanes

    @jl:

    Bush, Trump, Carson, Paul, Walker, Rubio, Huckabee, Cruz, Fiorina, Santorum, … Christie, Jindal, Kasich, Perry, Graham, and Pataki

    A motley crew indeed.

    The only one I would consider serious is Kasich, who may be a son of a bitch, but he’s not a stupid nor criminal nor deluded nor irrational son of a bitch. Closest of these to what Republicans once were. Does the occasional sister-Souljah on crude Republican shibboleths — accepted Obamacare Medicare expansion with public ethics rebuke to other Republicans, who walked out; has most recently said (paraphrase) “of course we can’t simply deport every undocumented immigrant. It’s not possible”
    which is simply a truism to you and I
    but in the 2015 land of Wingnuttia, is a profanation of the temple of Belief

    I think the Union might survive a Kasich presidency.

  133. 133.

    Paul in KY

    @Mike J: He’s the one who panders to people who would tar & feather him, if they knew his original name was ‘Piyush’. Just letting them know…

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