Posted on 11/09/2008 9:33:27 AM PST by rvoitier
So what’s the radio jock’s problem? The hemming and hawing, or the need for a ratings bump?
Moon’s problem, along with a lot of other of us conservatives here in Louisiana, was that Jindal had to be MADE to do what he promised to do. Namely a tax cut and to reign in government spending. We had to throw a ring-tailed fit to get Jindal to do what he promised in his campaign.
In my simple-minded way of thinking, a tax cut and cuts in government spending should be the very first things a conservative should do when elected. Doubling the pay of the Legislature doesn’t fit that agenda.
Okay that’s reasonable. Small government conservatism is at the top of the Doohickey agenday. I’m officially tired of “evangelicals” and their temper tantrums that end up putting milquetoast Republicans and liberals in office.
Maybe you have not heard of her.
A national party in a country of fifty states and 300 million people needs more than one rising young leader.
I totally agree. Although I can not prove it I am sure that Reagan would also agree that government must collect taxes to provide certain necessary services that only government can provide.
Before you jump down my throat I will grant that every state and the Fed provides many services that are neither necessary nor unable to be provided by the private sector and you need not mention bloated bureaucracy, duplicated programs, waste and corruption.
I am a conservative libertarian by nature. My ideal is the smallest government possible.
But above all I am a realist. You can not change government over night unless you are a banana republic and you are the leader of a revolution.
Jindal is the inheritor of a preexisting government bureaucracy with preexisting entitlements and debts put there by previous administrations and legislatures. He is required by law to administer and fund these programs and pay those debts.
Paring down government will take many years, much pain and a great deal of political backing by a grass roots force of nearly unimaginable proportions. A political body of the size that is only possible by forming a coalition of widely varied interest.
If you want it to happen and you don’t think Jindal is the one to do it I suggest you find someone to support and start building a coalition. But that will require compromises.
John McCain couldn’t have stated it any better...
Governor Jindal had said he would not interfere in their decision to raise their pay. However, after the great outcry from the citizens, he admitted he had made a mistake and would not allow such a huge pay raise to go forward. He ran on the promise not to allow pay raises to be voted on for current sessions. This seemed to many to be a break in faith with the citizens who voted for him. In addition, many in the state were still not working and were struggling financially because of the hurricanes. This was a slap in the face. Having said all of that, he did admit he had been mistaken about his first position. Personally, I like our governor very much and believe he’s the best thing to come our way in a very long time. Before throwing him under the bus, I hope people will give him a chance and see what develops from his administration. He is young to the office yet.
Odd. When the same idea gets trotted out in front of the social conservatives they go berserk. If a candidate has even looked cross-eyed at a woman other than his wife, even if it was back in the wild and wooly seventies, he is somehow too flawed to be a candidate. They are all too ready to throw him under the bus.
I agree that insisting on perfection is a good way to lose. Too bad the social conservatives are too busy digging dirt on potential candidates and dismissing them over anything remotely immoral while welcoming with open arms any big-spending pork-loving dolt with an R beside his name.
No more.
Because for far too long the social conservatives have been calling the tune. The fiscal conservatives have been told to shut up and take it.
Those days are over. The next time the social conservatives start bellyaching that we keep losing, I'm going to be there to shove it down their throats that social conservatism without fiscal conservatism lost us this last election, sweeping in the most socialist government in our nation's history.
I don't really care how social conservative Jindal is. If he's not a fiscal conservative, he's a loser. Now and forever.
Best bet. Find a candidate that is a fiscal conservative with only a few times going off the reservation. Then extend that same rational to their social conservatism.
The message: WANTED. Social and fiscal conservative. Minor flaws in either will be allowed.
Damning with faint praise are we?
Let me make myself as clear as I can. My purpose is not to defend Jindal’s actions. My purpose is to explain that he does not have a totally free hand to block all of the actions of the legislature if he intends to accomplish any of his goals as governor.
Also remember that La. is a newly Republican state and Jindal wants to be reelected. He can not totally alienate the political center.
Other than that I wish to persuade you to support Jindal as governor because in all reality as a Republican he is your best hope of accomplishing any of your political goals.
The Republican Party is a coalition of Small Government, Fiscal Conservatives, Social Conservatives, Pro Business and Free Traders (and barely noticeable Conservative Libertarians).
A coalition can not survive if everyone has to have everything their own way all the time.
I'm a seventh generation Louisianan. There's not much you can tell me about Louisiana politics. I served on the Louisiana GOP State Central Committee for four years. Dave Treen was elected as a Republican Governor in 1979. I campaigned for him. Mike Foster, a RINO was governor from 1995 to 2003.
Jindal campaigned as an unreconstructed fiscal and social conservative. We have all the video and campaign ads to prove it.
Within three months of inauguration, he tried to sabotage a tax cut bill introduced by Republican Sen. Buddy Shaw of Shreveport. Meanwhile, Jindal was handing out pay raises to government deadheads like Halloween candy. We have the documentation to prove it. Finally, we managed to raise enough hell that he signed the tax cut bill, after delaying its implementation for 18 months into the future.
The legislative pay raise was secretly ok'd by Jindal before it was put out for debate. He tried to say it he didn't want to interfere in the internal workings of the legislature, but he had SPECIFICALLY PROMISED in his campaign to not sign any legislative pay raises. Furthermore, it wasn't just any raise - it would have DOUBLED their pay and built in an automatic yearly pay kick that wouldn't have to be voted on.
And one more time, I say that on balance I like Jindal. I want him to be successful. I live and work in Louisiana, my family is here and I intend to be buried here. And he may not backslide again. But I'm telling you what happened and I'm telling you he will have to be policed closely.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Exactly. If you want to be a perfectionist, fine. But do not expect to ever find a candidate who fulfills your expectations
You can’t fix a party with one person alone.
Thank you.
I didn’t mean to be rude or sarcastic.
I am just totally tired.
My apologies.
In the end, it is not going to be we the people’s choice anyway. It is those in power that are going to plant their puppet upon us as usual.
My best regards.
“You can’t fix a party with one person alone.”
Appoint me Empress or Czarina and I will fix that stupidity. : )
This was from a NYT interview, so maybe something was twisted, but it’s pretty scary to read Jindal saying, “I am conservative. No doubt about it. But when you go back to what it means to be a conservative, I also think, as conservatives, we should believe in universal health care coverage.”
Good catch. I behooves us here at FRee Republic to properly vet those who would be our standard bearers. That is all I’m saying on this thread. We do research better than anyone else and we should know everything there is to know about our candidates before 2012.
Even Reagan wasn’t Reagan. He compromised and signed anti-gun bills, pulled troops out when attacked, and did a whole slew of less than conservative principles. You fight the battles you know are going to help and retreat when you’re going to at best get a Pyrrhic victory.
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