A Man to Watch: Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Comes out Swinging

By Keith A. Fournier
11/16/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Remember, Governor Jindal had supported the Romney candidacy, even speaking during the campaign as a surrogate

We have got to stop dividing the American voters. We need to go after 100 percent of the votes, not 53 percent. We need to go after every single vote. And second, we need to continue to show that our policies help every voter out there achieve the American dream, which is to be in the middle class, which is to be able to give their children the opportunity to get a great education, which is for their children to have even better-paying jobs than their parents. So, I absolutely reject that notion, that description. I think that's absolutely wrong.

Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana

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LAS VEGAS, NV (Catholic Online) - Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is the 55th Governor of Louisiana. He has achieved great popularity among the people of his State by a record of proven leadership with real results. That same record has earned him tremendous respect nationally. He was just appointed the Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, succeeding Governor Bob McDonnell of Virginia. He is highly regarded by his peers.

Governor Jindal is a devout, practicing, morally coherent Catholic Christian. His journey to the Catholic Church is a fascinating one. He was raised in a Hindu home in Louisiana, the child of Punjabi immigrants who was born in the USA after his immigrant parents arrived from India. He was raised as a Hindu, reading the Vedic scriptures

As a teenager he began to read various religious texts searching for truth. He read the Bible, at first intending to disprove its claims. However, as is the case in the story of so many who come to embrace Christianity, the book read him. Following an admittedly intellectual path in his faith journey, he eventually embraced Christianity.

While a student at Brown University he continued along his intellectual faith journey. It led him to the Catholic Church. I understand why. I am a revert to the Church. I came home to the faith into which i was baptized as a child after a similar intellectual journey. He was sponsored for Baptism by his roommate.

St Jose Maria Escriva often said "Men, like fish, have to be caught by the head" and Bobby Jindal is a well formed Catholic Christian who intelligently grasps his faith and seeks to live it out in a unity of life. He was caught by the head. His policy positions are well informed by the wisdom he has garnered along his journey into the Catholic Church. His wife Supriya is also a Catholic Convert.

The Governor is known to be very bright - but also very down to earth. He is real, comfortable with regular people, a man of the people with no airs. He holds an M. Litt. in Politics from Oxford University and was a Rhodes Scholar. However, he is said to be very apporachable, warm and kind. His public policy positions on an array of vitally important matters such as his defense of the fundamental human right to life and his support of authentic educational reform through parental choice, all flow from a consistent and integrated worldview.

Following the abysmal defeat of the Republican Presidential ticket on November 6, 2012, the Governors Political Party, the Republican Party, has been going through necessary and serious reflection. This past week, he met along with all of his fellow Republican Governors met in Las Vegas, Nevada. The agenda was full and meant to be reflective. However, the reflection was interrupted when the vanquished nominee of their Party, Mitt Romney, made some comments on his loss which properly raised the ire of many - and were widely reported in the Media.

On Wednesday Governor Romney made comments to his former supporters on a post election telephone call. This excerpt is not an official transcript but a portion of lengthier comments and based on a reliable source: "What the president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition. Give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote."

"The Obama campaign was following the old playbook of giving a lot of stuff to groups that they hoped they could get to vote for them and be motivated to go out to the polls, specifically the African American community, the Hispanic community and young people. In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups."

Governor Bobby Jindal came out swinging in response to the comments by Mitt Romney and the implication they contained that votes were somehow "bought". I was very glad he did. His comments to the Press at the Governors Association have now been widely reported throughout the media. They also seem to have lit a fire under many disenchanted Republicans.

When Jindal was first asked about the discussion the Republican Governors were going to have at their meeting he said, "This election is a wake up call. There is going to be a period of introspection where we discuss what went wrong." Then, when he was pressed specifically about the comments made by Governor Romney, he came out swinging.

Remember, Governor Jindal had supported the Romney candidacy, even speaking during the campaign as a surrogate.

In his characteristically respectful way he began, "Gov. Romney's an honorable person that needs to be thanked for his many years of public service, but his campaign was largely about his biography and his experience. And it's a very impressive biography and very impressive set of experiences."

"But time and time again, biography and experience is not enough to win ...

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1 - 10 of 11 Comments

judy claar
5 months ago
Juneau Alaska: Mike, Why is it, that whatever statement is made of a Conservative, Republican or Believer, it is unintelligent?

If one of those persons are an atheist however, and made that same comment, it is of course a different matter. Why? Because they are smart enough not to be as silly as to believe in God.

If one is intelligent and a non-believer, they more than > likely, belong to the Democratic Party.

Why is it, that atheism, religion, Rep., Dem., people of different ethnicity's , still can not get along?
It is the human Heart. To Respect one another. To Love each other. Not to lie. To be Honest and Truthful. Can we not do that? No, sadly we can't. We are still little children. With that, I will end in agreeing with Jo Ann's post. The human Heart needs a Huge Overhaul! Blessings..
Rob
6 months ago
Agreed mike, problem has become a numbers game. There just aren't enough people in the upper class for the GOP to give more away too. More poor than rich. Guess maybe both parties could actually start serving this country for a change instead of giving away the farm.
Juneau Alaska
6 months ago
I reject the claim in this article that "the Governor is known to be very bright." This is the same politician who signed the Louisiana Science Act. While that may sound bright, the Act is a gimmick to allow unscientific methods into the teaching curriculum; specifically, the promotion of anti-evolutionary conjectures. Jindal ignored his former genetics professor who wrote, "without evolution, modern biology, including medicine and biotechnology, wouldn't make sense" and signed the Act. That does not sound "very bright" to me. All in all, the Republican Party is quickly becoming synonymous with scientific illiteracy.-Cheers! ~Mike, friendly atheist.
mgm.
6 months ago
You do know that he's a secret Hindu ! just kidding !
JoAnn
6 months ago
Michael: To do that, we must get the communist professors out of our colleges. We must get the Progressives out of our text books. We must get the political correct idiots out of our culture and get back to TRUE not manufactured history of our country. God bless.
mike robertson
6 months ago
I admire Gov Jindal, who is one of an impressive number of pro-life, economic conservatives who can free us (if, as I pray daily, it is God's will at the next election), from the disaster brought to us by Catholic democrats and the evil man in the White House they supported.

Jindal will be attacked by the rabidly secularist media-racism will be used-acceptable racism, in the eyes of the media and Catholic democrats, because Jindal has the nerve to defend innocent human life and marriage-as God defines it. Jindal will be attacked by Catholic democrats like Biden, who made an ugly, racist remark about Indo-Americans and convenience stores

Jindal loves God and His laws-Catholic democrats should learn from him. He loves hard work and, like JFK and so many others, knows it is the best anti-poverty program known to man.

Catholic democrats justify voting for evil (infanticide-even after birth, attacking God's definition of marriage, and a war against the Church and her institutions via "health care" reform) by claiming their economic policies are "compassionate". We see the results of such "compassion" in Greece, Spain, etc....Jindal's program of economic freedom will provide a buyer's market for job-seekers like myself. We will have a variety of jobs from which to choose, with rising incomes over time. Catholic democrat "compassion" kills the chance for us to work our way up.
Jim3031
6 months ago
Gov. Jindal is right, but Mitt Romney was also right. What Mitt Romney did wrong was fail to explain to the voters that many of them could do even better for themselves by participating in the free market than taking freebies paid for by those who are participating. However, this is a very difficult thing to explain, especially when so many people seem willing to live at a level just above poverty where they have to do next to nothing rather than get up early and go work and compete to achieve what is often a living that is significantly better to be sure, but no where near what the Romneys of the word manage to achieve for themselves, so they figure if they can't have that, why bother? It's also difficult to explain when there's a media that gives traditionalists absolutely no help at all and casts them as hard-hearted, cruel and out of touch when what they really want is for everyone to be the best they can be. Then there's also that group that as teenagers just won't look past the present and get involved with "drugs, sex and rock and rolll", end up with no high school degree, several kids with different fathers/women, etc. They completely destroy their futures so what are they going to do except vote for Dems and collect welfare for the rest of their lives if they don't end up in prison or dead. We're at a really tough cross roads and I'm worried that four more years of Obama will put us squarely on the path to Greece. The problem with all these freebies is that eventually you run out of other people's money.
DarthJ
6 months ago
Unfortunately, as long as well-fare entitlement programs continue, those people receiving them will continue to vote for more entitlement politicians.
MikeKC
6 months ago
Sorry, but I have to agree with Mitt. Free prescriptions for women, college education for children of illegal immigrants, ownership of GM to UAW members, free cell phones, food stamps (now debit cards), section 8 housing. The Democrat party has been enlisting membership with entitlements since the sixties and have done a great job of increasing and maintaining membership by giving handouts. The values of hard work and making it on your own have been replaced by what are you gonna give me. You don't need a husband to have children and support a family, the government and tax payers will support them for you.
Michael
6 months ago
The good governor of Louisiana is already running for 2016. He will be one of many who will seek to drop Romney quickly and move on. Granted that Romney was a "moderate' Republican...read liberal...he had flashes of "conservatism" which gave some hope. But obviously Romney did not bring out the base. But Bobby Jindal has made the huge political mistake...a mistake made by many including Romney who said he was for the 100% in the second debate. The first thing one learns in campaign school is 50.1%...that's all you need to win and winning is everything in politics. Republicans just don't get it. The reason the Demoncrats won is because they divided the nation and suppressed the vote. They appealed to single women with the scare of no contraceptives...oh what a frightening thought that it. They appealed to homosexuals with a sodomitical platform. They appealed to Blacks and Hispanics because these communities are more dependent on government assistance. And yes, the Demoncrats did give out gifts especially to unions like the UAW. But, at the same time, the Demoncrats lost the married women vote by a wide margin. They lost the church going group by a huge amount. But they don't care. The Demoncrats haven't won the white vote in years and they never will until they return to sanity. But they, the Demoncrats don't care...divide and conquer is their strategy. Elections are won because of forming coalitions. If the Evangelicals had come out in full force, Romney would have certainly won Virginia and maybe even Ohio and Florida with its Panhandle. The GOP is not going to get the black vote for now and they're are not going to get the Hispanic vote for now. So don't try to win them, rather form another coalition and get that part of the electorate out on voting day. The GOP must get it's base revved up. Appeal to social conservatives with no compromise on abortion. Reject the gay vote and get family friendly Christians on your side. Call for a fence on the border and get the anti-illegal immigrant vote on your side. The libertarian lean amongst the young can be exploited with a return to limited government intrusion in our lives and exiting from foreign wars, i.e., Ron Paul's people can be appealed to. Finally, Santorum has a key voice amongst the populists and Pat Buchanan Republicans. We need to appeal to white, blue collar workers in the Rust belt. Bobby Jindal's dream of appealing to 100% is just hogwash and a politician he knows it. In politics, you have to get 50.1% Demoncrats know this and that's how they won.

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