Jindal supports continue to attack controversial ads (Gov - LA)

[funkybutt]

Source: Times Picayune, New Orleans

BATON ROUGE -- Before he began climbing the ranks in the Louisiana Republican Party, gubernatorial front-runner Bobby Jindal, the conservative son of Indian immigrants, endured years of emotional and intellectual struggle as he left behind his family's Hindu faith and embraced Catholicism.

It's a journey that is detailed in seven articles Jindal wrote between July 1994 and February 1998, and which became the focus of intense controversy this week when the Louisiana Democratic Party launched a TV commercial in North Louisiana accusing Jindal of insulting Protestants.

While Jindal and his supporters have denounced the ad as lies and demanded that TV stations take it off the air, state Democratic officials have stuck by the spot and suggested that readers judge for themselves at www.jindalonreligion.com, where links to the stories are found.



Read more: http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/08/jindal_supports_continue_to_at.html

[msongs]

1. likely jindal knew he couldnt get "anywhere" being a hindu in the southern USA or

the northern USA for that matter.

Msongs
www.msongs.com

[pacalo]

2. I'd rather ads focusing on Katrina & on his rubberstamping the Bush fiascos.

The Katrina ads should compare how Katrina recovery was (mis)handled to how Hurricane Betsy was expediently handled in 1965.

Judge for yourself: http://tapes.millercenter.virginia.edu/exhibits/betsy/

[funkybutt]

3. you got that right

good to see someone else sees this campaign's lack of direction. These (probably) effective ads lack any facts. A bunch of clowns getting out of a car in front of the state capital. The text says something about these guys (Foster Cambell, Walter Boasso) not being "serious" and how they stand with those corrupt politicians of the past.

[pacalo]

4. The funny thing is...

that I agree with the Jindal quote from the article:

"I was disappointed by a mildly interesting sermon delivered by a part-time preacher who reminded me of, and may have been, a used car salesman; the cheap theatrics failed to entertain, much less inspire me," he would write years later in "From New Delhi to Rome: Reflections of a Seven-Year-Old Catholic."

Now, I have a lot of relatives who live in North LA, & I'm thinking this quote may hurt him up there.

I was more amused by the quotes at the end of the article:

"The politicization of religion and religious language undermines the electoral process and disrespects the important role that faith plays in Americans' lives," reads the letter by the organization's president, the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, who is also a pastor at Northminster Baptist Church in Monroe.

"The manipulation of religion has no place in our politics," Gaddy wrote.

After Bush's indoctrination of religion into government affairs, how ironic is that statement.

All I can say is that I see no hope for us in the governor's race. Jindal will win on name recognition alone.

[David__77]

6. Oh he can be defeated.

If the Democrats play their cards right, he will lose. But they need to be prepared to get very, very nasty and filthy. They just need to appeal to the base instincts of rural voters.

[David__77]

5. These anti-Jindal ads are BRILLIANT.

Anything to keep the focus on Jindal's background is a positive thing. It is cynical politics, but it's the politics of victory. Educating the citizens to rise above such things is a long-term project; in the meantime, no available tool should be surrendered in the fight for political power.

[liberalsoldier5]

7. Damn!

I wonder how you'll feel when the GOP uses "every available tool" against Kieth Ellison next time around. Think about it...

[David__77]

8. I would feel that they are stupid.

If I understand what you are implying, it wouldn't work in the slightest in Ellison's district, which is pretty solidly progressive. Our goal should be to gain political power for progressives, and to transform the institutions of the country so that people are won over to a good worldview. But we cannot ceded political ground and working tools in the interim, especially in more politically backward places. Sometimes the ends do determine the means.

[liberalsoldier5]

11. "Transform the institutions of the country"

Hopefully you can explain what you mean so I can feel a little less creeped out about that. Also, what exactly does it mean to win people over "to a good worldview"? In our country, doesn't our "worldview" come from the people to the elected leaders, not from the power to the people? IDK, but your obession with seizing power even at the result of vulgar campaign tactics and more or less tricking the people is disturbing; that a picture of Karl Marx is your avatar only adds to the disturbance of your arguments.

[KingFlorez]

13. Turnabout is fair play

You sound really "concerned". The Republicans constantly use rough tactics, it's time to hit back. The GOP has proven they aren't fit to govern, so if this is the kind of thing it takes to keep them out of office, then so be it.

[David__77]

16. My avatar should really be Macchiavelli. Or Sun Tzu.

Politics is rough business. Some liberals do not feel comfortable acknowledging that there IS an actual, transcendent morality in the universe, and human solidarity is its core. The right-wing is anti-human and immoral. The "good worldview" is the one that supports a pro-human perspective.

People transmit their worldview to their leaders; but the opposite is also true, that leaders influence the people. They interact in both ways. I want progressive leadership to use its influence for the good.

Power is at the very heart of politics. Politics is about power to order society and reshape it in a definite manner. Every law implemented has the force of police backing it up. That's pretty "disturbing" in a sense, I suppose. But it's a fact.

I am simply advocating for having two, equally important goals: educate people politically insofar as possible to win them over, and also to win political power using the political means that are successful, without harming the long-term interests of the political education. One could argue that this might be one of those cases. I'd be receptive to that argument...

[Tempest]

9. The GOP did that the first time around

And Ellison still got elected.

[rmgarrette64]

10. Naturally you support the GOP Swift-Boating Kerry too

Or do you wish to draw a distinction between these two, utterly despicable attacks?

R. Garrett

[David__77]

12. The distinction is that one side is correct and the other is wrong.

One side or just, the other unjust; one side deserves victory, the defeat; one side is moral, the other immoral. Of course I draw a distinction. I would hope that the right would not use all tools available to achieve victory. What I want for the progressive forces is political power and victory over the right.

[rmgarrette64]

14. I assume you're joking

The attacks on Jindal, at least the ones we're talking about here, are scurrilous lies. It's not a subject that's open to debate, sadly. Our side is absolutely not moral in this case - you cannot advance a moral case through lies. Ever.

Anyway, what with using Marx as your avatar, and your strident invocations, I'm assuming you're being sarcastic and joking. Alternatively, you're a troll. Or, finally, you may be serious. In none of these three cases do I have any interest in continuing the conversation. The last word is yours, if you want it.

R. Garrett

[David__77]

15. I will gladly take the last word.

I am not "joking," but I am certainly embellishing my position. I am being "strident," because I think it's an important subject that should be debated. Honestly, I don't know enough about this case to make an ironclad judgement. I simply was making an argument in the manner I did because I think that progressives' first political instinct should always be to attack the opponent, not to defend them. Let the right-wingers defend their own. Jindal deserves no protection on this issue when he pursues a fascist agenda. If he repents, that is a different case.

[KamaAina]

17. Take a look and judge for yourselves

Daily Kos had a PDF of one of the Jindal articles in question. New Oxford Review then employed the DMCA to make them scrub it. :grr:

Not to worry, though, one of the many dedicated NOLA bloggers has located a mirror:

http://web.archive.org/web/20061213075345/http://images.dailykos.com/images/jindal.pdf

This makes for, shall we say, most entertaining reading. Not only does Jindal get involved in something closely resembling an exorcism (toward the end of the piece), the whole thing seems to revolve around a close -- he actually says "intimate" -- relationship between Jindal and someone named "Susan". Who is "Susan"?

Way'at funk! :hi: I'm already on a heavy NOLA wavelength today 'cause the said bloggers are gathering tonight for the second Rising Tide conference. Maybe next year... :shrug:

edit: "in questions"? Dr. Freud, check your inbox...

[southern_belle]

18. This REALLY needs some

recc's and kicks. Our primary is on October 20th of this year, and then election day is November 17th!!! Please help us folks in Louisiana by recommending this thread to keep Jindal from the governor's mansion!!!! :hi:

As of now, he seems to be the frontrunner. :(