Bobby Jindal is the latest in a now-long line of GOP governors willing to completely destroy their own state for the national spotlight
(certainly Sam Brownbeck is eyeballing the White House the way he's destroying Kansas.)
From 2009 on, Jindal has steadily debased himself for right-wing
votes. He’s run Louisiana into the ground and spent most of his time
fellating conservatives across the country with gaseous stump speeches
and childish Op-Ed pieces. Since becoming the GOP’s golden boy, he has
thought of nothing beyond his national conservative brand. Instead of
reforming the stupid party, he’s encouraged it.
This reminds me of my old dream in which governors
can't run for President:
It's too bad there can't be a rule that governors can't run for
president. I've noticed the recent trend is for governors to throw their
own state under the bus in the name of "fiscal responsibility", a la
Walker/Christie/Perry et al, hoping to use their "tough love!" to
impress the rest of the country for their eventual presidential
run. Otherwise, if there's so much work to be done in New Jersey, why is
Rex Ryan Chris Christie on Morning Joe every ten minutes
screaming about how "tough and serious!" he is? Why would the rest of
the country give a shit? Why is he making his "case" on national tv?
Of course these governors are hoping to cash out their own states'
electoral votes for many more across the country. They know that come
campaign season, voters will hear how "kick ass!" these governors are,
will be impressed with their bluster in front of the cameras, and won't
really bother to look any further and see the things they brag about
were in fact crushing their own state's economy and people. With 10
seconds of homework, someone could see that [Scott] Walker's little aria
could be avoided with slight changes that make things better for
everybody, but he's chosen to do the OPPOSITE, a la Koch-fueled tax cuts
for the wealthy etc. He's actually making things worse, but is creating
a very impressive national narrative by being on the news 24/7, which
is more important if one has presidential hopes. Likewise, people will
be impressed with Christie pounding the podium about refusing federal
money in the name of "fiscal responsibility"; pretty much nobody will
notice that doing so loses thousands of potential jobs, crumbles
infrastructure even more and sets the state back another decade or so,
all of which will of course end up COSTING New Jersey billions of
dollars. But that doesn't matter, since being a shithead YouTube
sensation fuels a hopeful presidential run better than thoughtful,
competent governing does.
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