I didn't hear a lot of what he said, because I was laughing too hard. He sounded like he took a public speaking class taught by Big Bird or Mr. Rogers.

The clip NPR played this morning sounded good to me.

I haven't seen Obama's speech or Jindal's speech yet, so I'll reserve comment, but I will say that I saw Jindal on Meet The Press on Sunday and was reasonably impressed - I can definitely see him becoming a major player in politics. His pro-creationism bullshiat is scary, but if you steer him away from that he at least speaks intelligently, even if you disagree.

My favorite response was from the Freeper who said Jindal looks and sounds like the Indian IT nerd from his office.

Even the choir is heckling the pulpit now.

Am I the only one who thinks he looks like he could be Jimmy Carter's kid?

I missed both Obama and Jindal on TV last night due to homework & chores. But, the comments below sum up how the GOP has been responding to Obama since he took office a month ago.

FTA: 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.

tnpir: I haven't seen Obama's speech or Jindal's speech yet, so I'll reserve comment, but I will say that I saw Jindal on Meet The Press on Sunday and was reasonably impressed - I can definitely see him becoming a major player in politics.

After last night's performance, and the panning that he is receiving in the press right now, his role as Golden Boy of the GOP is likely over.

Slumdog Jindallaire.

Seriously, he sucked on MTP on Sunday. He just spewed a bunch of stuff from the Republican Talking Points bulletin and came across as making his first unofficial campaign speech for the white house in 2012. And last night he was just plain embarrassing. If that's the best the GOP can do then it's really pathetic. Gunga Dim indeed.

ZAZ: The clip NPR played this morning sounded good to me.

Here is the entire video
Part 1 (new window)
Part 2 (new window)

Part 1 is better than Part 2, but his cadence and style are really distracting through out the whole thing.

At least they got someone "ethnic" to give the response...

Code_Archeologist: I didn't hear a lot of what he said, because I was laughing too hard. He sounded like he took a public speaking class taught by Big Bird or Mr. Rogers.

Or Forrest Gump.

TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS TAX CUTS

UberDave: At least they got someone "ethnic" to give the response...

They should have had Michael Steele beatboxing while Jindal rapped his response.

Bobby Jindal: Miss Lemon, may I speak with you?
Liz Lemon: Sure. Can you walk and talk?
Bobby Jindal: Uh... usually, but now you got me thinking about it.

This is pretty damn funny:

MSNBC's inadvertent editorializing as Jindal started his speech:

Link (new window)

Jesus, I tried to watch that, and just couldn't. He's Dain Bramaged. Seriously.

The Republicans are paying for completely jettisoning any sort of platform or proposals of their own in favor of an all-negative, all-the time, constant campaigning style of governance.

In the crisis we're in, you can't just attack Obama. You have to have something of your own. And from TFA -- and I'm about to utter something I never do -- I agree with David Brooks here:

But to come up at this moment in history with a stale "government is the problem," "we can't trust the federal government" - it's just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic right now. They may not like the way the Democrats have passed the stimulus bill, but that idea that we're just gonna - that government is going to have no role, the federal government has no role in this, that - In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff, to just ignore all that and just say "government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending," it's just a form of nihilism.

So what the fark do you think we should do, Bobby?

dodecahedron: UberDave: At least they got someone "ethnic" to give the response...

They should have had Michael Steele beatboxing while Jindal rapped his response.

And have Mel Martinez backing them up with a mariachi band, that way they could have gotten the uncomfortably ethnic trifecta.

The essence of the Republican dilemma: it's very difficult to distinguish your position from a reasonable moderate's without taking on crazy ideas. If they dialogue with Obama and reach equitable agreements (which oughtn't be hard, because in many ways the stimulus could have been spun by them as "right up their alley"... I suspect McCain would have introduced something with similar goals), they're capitulating. If they try to frame Obama's approach as wrong, then they need to reach into the Madness Bucket to find talking points.

Hopefully this will unspool to the point that the Republicans well and truly implode, and then we can have a reasonable party representing fiscal conservatives again.

Senescent Dawn: The essence of the Republican dilemma: it's very difficult to distinguish your position from a reasonable moderate's without taking on crazy ideas. If they dialogue with Obama and reach equitable agreements (which oughtn't be hard, because in many ways the stimulus could have been spun by them as "right up their alley"... I suspect McCain would have introduced something with similar goals), they're capitulating.

If they are going to equate compromise with capitulation then they are going to be wandering in the political wilderness for a very long time.

did anyone else just feel like he struck completely the wrong tone? I couldn't believe they started out by mentioning slavery. Who STARTS a speech being all like, oh, btw, 150 years ago that dude would have been a slave. HAAHA.

Senescent Dawn: The essence of the Republican dilemma: it's very difficult to distinguish your position from a reasonable moderate's without taking on crazy ideas. If they dialogue with Obama and reach equitable agreements (which oughtn't be hard, because in many ways the stimulus could have been spun by them as "right up their alley"... I suspect McCain would have introduced something with similar goals), they're capitulating. If they try to frame Obama's approach as wrong, then they need to reach into the Madness Bucket to find talking points.

I don't know, I think Charlie Crist did a decent job on MTP on Sunday not looking like a deranged moonbat. I think the rest of the republicans could take a tip from his position, which didn't come across as capitulating, sucking up or just pretending to get along. He seems to be one of the more moderate voices out there in a sea of wharrgarbl.

It was all a ploy! Jindal tanked to better set the stage for the NEXT response by the finest orator of this -- or any other -- time: SARAH PALIN!

Katie98_KT: did anyone else just feel like he struck completely the wrong tone? I couldn't believe they started out by mentioning slavery. Who STARTS a speech being all like, oh, btw, 150 years ago that dude would have been a slave. HAAHA.

I was reminded of:

jake_lex: So what the fark do you think we should do, Bobby?

He's said a number of times that he objects to expenditures that result in unfunded mandates for the states when the federal money runs out and prefers alternative such as targeted infrastructure projects and making the tax cuts on the lowest income brackets permanent. If you Google it, you could find out more and he has voiced other ideas, but the notion that he hasn't posed any alternatives is pure rubbish.

Won't you be my neighbor?

Nabb1: If you Google it, you could find out more and he has voiced other ideas, but the notion that he hasn't posed any alternatives is pure rubbish.

So, basically, he wasted two prime opportunities to present these alternative ideas to an enormous chunk of the American public in the space of three days. But I guess we can all just Google it instead to find out what he thinks.

/facepalm

Mr. Coffee Nerves: It was all a ploy! Jindal tanked to better set the stage for the NEXT response by the finest orator of this -- or any other -- time: SARAH PALIN!

Unfortunately, my gut feeling is that you are correct.

stargazer101: Katie98_KT: did anyone else just feel like he struck completely the wrong tone? I couldn't believe they started out by mentioning slavery. Who STARTS a speech being all like, oh, btw, 150 years ago that dude would have been a slave. HAAHA.

I was reminded of:

Bobby Downer? This seriously needs to be a Daily Show clip.

dodecahedron: Nabb1: If you Google it, you could find out more and he has voiced other ideas, but the notion that he hasn't posed any alternatives is pure rubbish.

So, basically, he wasted two prime opportunities to present these alternative ideas to an enormous chunk of the American public in the space of three days. But I guess we can all just Google it instead to find out what he thinks.

/facepalm

And that doesn't answer my -- or David Brooks' -- complaint here: it's the same "AHHH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BAD!" crap we've been hearing from the Republican party for more than 30 years, at a time when voters are so shiat-scared about the economy in the shiatter that they want the federal government to try to save us. It's tone-deaf, at the very least.

CheetahOlivetti: Bobby Downer? This seriously needs to be a Daily Show clip.

What's funny is that some people didn't think Jon Stewart would have any decent material in this administration. I have a feeling tonight's show is going to be comedy gold.

Five years from now, we will either all be working for him, or dead by his hand.

ChemicalRummy: Won't you be my neighbor?

Wow. That is kind of scary.

Nabb1: jake_lex: So what the fark do you think we should do, Bobby?

He's said a number of times that he objects to expenditures that result in unfunded mandates for the states when the federal money runs out and prefers alternative such as targeted infrastructure projects and making the tax cuts on the lowest income brackets permanent. If you Google it, you could find out more and he has voiced other ideas, but the notion that he hasn't posed any alternatives is pure rubbish.

While that may be, Jindal's speech was the same old blabbity bla. It's like he was responding to a different speech, or to no speech at all. He may have some good ideas on policy, but it wasn't evident from that performance.

dodecahedron: Nabb1: If you Google it, you could find out more and he has voiced other ideas, but the notion that he hasn't posed any alternatives is pure rubbish.

So, basically, he wasted two prime opportunities to present these alternative ideas to an enormous chunk of the American public in the space of three days. But I guess we can all just Google it instead to find out what he thinks.

/facepalm

Most of the talk I'm hearing today is how Jindal last night was a bit of a sub-par performance for him from what we in Louisiana are used to seeing. I admit I only caught segments of it. His performance on the "Today" show this morning was more along the lines of what we are used to seeing, and he hit all his points with references to facts, rebutted Biden's idiotic knock about Louisiana job losses by pointing out Louisiana's employment numbers are currently some of the best in the country. Maybe he just wasn't comfortable with the spotlight last night. I don't know, but what I do know is that the most vocal of the wailing and gnashing of teeth about Jindal's treatment of the stimulus plan are coming from people who have absolutely no stake in what he does with it, e.g. Chuck Schumer.

I'm wondering if Chris Matthews didn't verbally punctuate the word "outsource" when talking about Governor Jindal because he's of Indian descent.

Hey, I'm an MSNBC viewer, and about as left as it gets. But whether he has a point about the GOP needing to find a moderate/progressive for the rebut or not, his emphasis on that term to describe it was borderline offensive.

jake_lex: And that doesn't answer my -- or David Brooks' -- complaint here: it's the same "AHHH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BAD!" crap we've been hearing from the Republican party for more than 30 years, at a time when voters are so shiat-scared about the economy in the shiatter that they want the federal government to try to save us. It's tone-deaf, at the very least.

What people want != what will happen.

I hoped he would do good.

He just doesn't sound Presidential, not even close. Don't like him, though I am thoroughly impressed with what he has done in Louisiana, and he seems to be pretty popular down there. I'll give him that.

That being said, if I were the GOP strategists, I'd keep that search going. You can't just throw up your version of Obama and expect to beat the real thing.

Jindal apparently thinks volcano monitoring should be left to the private sector.

MaxxLarge: I'm wondering if Chris Matthews didn't verbally punctuate the word "outsource" when talking about Governor Jindal because he's of Indian descent.

Hey, I'm an MSNBC viewer, and about as left as it gets. But whether he has a point about the GOP needing to find a moderate/progressive for the rebut or not, his emphasis on that term to describe it was borderline offensive.

Are you new to Chris Matthews? Much of the time he doesn't stop at "borderline." My mute button gets a workout whenever he's on.

Seabon: Jindal apparently thinks volcano monitoring should be left to the private sector.

Yeah, of all the stupid things to point out in the stimulus package, he goes for that? Even as a staunch economic conservative, I sat there going "wait, I actually WANT the federal government to be doing volcano monitoring"

When I'm saying that, Bobby, you know you farked up on that one.

As to Brooks' point, I think it's fair to say "government is the problem" because, let's be honest, government IS a good part of the problem. Government has given us this sick, sick deficit that isn't going to go away any time soon.

Nabb1: Maybe he just wasn't comfortable with the spotlight last night.

So he went on the "Today" show?

Face facts, man. He flopped when it was time to show that the Republicans (and Jindal, specifically) have other ideas, better ideas, and that they would work better. He mentioned not a single one during last night's train wreck of a speech. It was a speech constructed with only the oldest and most tired of rhetoric: Fed is too big, tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. It didn't inspire confidence in the party, and in point of fact may have hurt them in a very bad way. It showcased that, in a moment where they could have shined brightest, they had nothing to offer.

Well, gee golly shucks darn darn golly shucks.

KaponoFor3: That being said, if I were the GOP strategists, I'd keep that search going. You can't just throw up your version of Obama and expect to beat the real thing.

I think those Republican strategists are having some sleepless nights right now after Jindal's flop. All of the other Republicans who could challenge Obama in 2012 are never going to be able to survive the gauntlet of extremist groups that have to be pandered to in Republican primaries. They should scrap the 2012 plans and start grooming for 2016.

KaponoFor3: Seabon: Jindal apparently thinks volcano monitoring should be left to the private sector.

Yeah, of all the stupid things to point out in the stimulus package, he goes for that? Even as a staunch economic conservative, I sat there going "wait, I actually WANT the federal government to be doing volcano monitoring"

When I'm saying that, Bobby, you know you farked up on that one.

not to mention, volcano monitoring could actually save thousands of lives by warning of a potential massive natural catastrophe. you know... like a hurricane, perhaps? what an asshat.

Code_Archeologist: They should scrap the 2012 plans and start grooming for 2016.

Not a bad idea. They have to throw someone up there in 2012, but I don't know who would be willing to basically kill their career by taking one for the team. None of the "up and comers" will want to do so, especially if Obama maintains his popularity over the next 3.5 years or so.

KaponoFor3: Code_Archeologist: They should scrap the 2012 plans and start grooming for 2016.

Not a bad idea. They have to throw someone up there in 2012, but I don't know who would be willing to basically kill their career by taking one for the team. None of the "up and comers" will want to do so, especially if Obama maintains his popularity over the next 3.5 years or so.

bob dole?

When he started, I thought "Ok...the Repubs are taking the high road and not going too negative."

Then he wandered off into "Five-year-old on acid" land

tnpir: I haven't seen Obama's speech or Jindal's speech yet, so I'll reserve comment, but I will say that I saw Jindal on Meet The Press on Sunday and was reasonably impressed - I can definitely see him becoming a major player in politics. His pro-creationism bullshiat is scary, but if you steer him away from that he at least speaks intelligently, even if you disagree.

Obama is religious, but nobody complains about that. Why is it only bad when Republicans are religious?