Andrew Sullivan on Kenneth Jindal's response

[Wetzelbill]

The clips at the link are hilarious. -WB

Kenneth Jindal

Close your eyes and think of Kenneth from 30 Rock. I can barely count the number of emails making that observation.

Stylistically, he got better as he went along but there was, alas, a slightly high-school debate team feel to the beginning. And there was a patronizing feel to it as well - as if he were talking to kindergartners - that made Obama's adult approach so much more striking. And I'm not sure that the best example for private enterprise is responding to a natural calamity that even Ron Paul believes is a responsibility for the federal government. And really: does a Republican seriously want to bring up Katrina? As for the biography, it felt like Obama-lite. With far less political skill.

It was also odd for Jindal to keep talking about the need for tax cuts - when Obama just announced a massive tax cut for 95 percent of working Americans. He gave no alternative proposal on the financial collapse; and tried to attack government spending simply because it's government spending. In a deepening depression, grown-ups can take a slightly different view of such spending in the short term. But give him his due: he did in the end concede that the GOP currently has a credibility problem on the fiscal issues they are now defining themselves with. This matters - it matters for the future of the GOP and the possibility of minimal accountability after an age that disdained it.

The rest was boilerplate. And tired, exhausted, boilerplate. If the GOP believes tax cuts - more tax cuts - are the answer to every problem right now, they are officially out of steam and out of ideas. And remember: this guy is supposed to be the smart one.



http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/02/jindal.html

[rvablue]

1. Kicking...Sullivan probably got it from DU! n/t

[Wetzelbill]

3. he said he got it from people emailing it to him

during the speech. It seems to be a fairly popular comparison,lol.

[Wetzelbill]

2. kick

[ejpoeta]

4. i'm sorry, i don't watch that show, so i don't get the image.

[grace0418]

5. I noticed it right away and even posted about it. The character of Kenneth is very

naive and speaks in a very stilted, overly optimistic manner, usually saying a lot of things that don't make any sense. Hence the comparison.

[Wetzelbill]

6. I don't either

But if you see the clips you'll get it right off.

[WinkyDink]

7. Don't get it; don't watch. It's not like the 1950's, with only 3 channels.

[Wetzelbill]

8. you don't need to watch the show

I don't. Just watch the clip provided at the link for a minute and a half, you'll get it in a few seconds.

And the post is more about the speech than the comparison of Jindal to a character on tv, Sullivan just starts with that line.

[progressoid]

9. Not fair. (I kinda like Kenneth)