Black & White and Cardinal Red All Over

The Hypocrisy of Bobby Jindal

The fine folks of Louisiana sure got themselves a winner with Bobby Jindal, the republican from India that took the name of one of the Brady Bunch kids instead of the Indian name (Piyush) he was born with. In a nutshell, that tells me everything I need to know about Jindal: he likes the ridiculous, the pretentious, and the simple minded stuff instead of the complicated ideas that are present in politics. He must think we all grew up watching that stupid ass show given how he’s been acting on the national stage.

Bobby was one of the most outspoken opponents of the stimulus plan. He called it wasneful spending and was even tempted to return the money back to the federal government. As the recession got worse, he quietly changed his mind and allowed the money to flow into Louisiana. He still spoke out against Washington and their intrusion into Louisiana with this cash booty.

As the money began to arrive, Bobby took a different tack on the stimulus. He commissioned someone to make over-sized checks with his name on them and then went around the state “awarding” those checks to different organizations to foster job growth or a public works project. Nowhere on those checks did it say that the money was coming from the federal government but that’s where the money was coming from all right. He went all over the state taking credit for something that he had spent months railing against. Isn’t this beginning to sound like a really bad Brady Bunch episode to you? It does to me.

Then, the director of the state transportation department, who was appointed by Bobby, stopped his department from making signs that indicated that the projects that were funded by the federal government’s stimulus from erecting signs that gave credit to the federal government. It’s OK for the governor to hand out bogus checks but it’s not OK for the public to know that those mean, nasty, all-powerful federals actually helped li’l ol’ Louisiana with some taxpayer money. The plot deepens on the newest episode of the Brady Bunch…

Now comes the latest chapter in this book of hypocrisy. A few days ago, Vice President Biden held a conference call with all of the nation’s governors (or their representatives) to encourage them to submit quarterly reports on how many jobs were created with the stimulus money flowing into their states. 49 out of 50 governors were represented at this conference call. The missing governor? Yep! You guessed it: Bobby Jindal.

I’d like to say that the call was mandatory and that not calling in meant you could not collect the $200 and you do not pass Go but it doesn’t quite work that way. In this Brady Bunch episode, Bobby takes credit for something he did not do or even want, keeps one of his employees from giving credit where credit is due and then doesn’t call the house when he’s supposed to call. What’s the ending? What’s the punch line you ask? There is no punch line on this sad joke, unfortunately, and Bobby gets away with it because no one calls him out on it. I hope Louisiana voters are watching and will remember his actions in the next election. That won’t happen, however, because Bobby is a republican and republicans do not believe in oversight or accountability anymore since they discovered that voters, especially republican voters, don’t care as long as they are getting the money.