Jindal’s Rebuttal
After Obama's State of the Union speech, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana gave the Republican rebuttal. A misnomer, that, as I didn't actually hear him rebutting anything Obama actually said.
Most of Jindal's speech was an attack on the stimulus bill or Democratic positions in general. He repeated the usual Republican "cut taxes" mantra as the most effective means of getting us out of the current crisis, asserting that the stimulus bill will raise taxes. Interesting comments, considering that Obama explicitly mentioned twice in his speech that 95% of Americans will get tax cuts from the recently passed stimulus package. Jindal also told his audience not to let anyone tell them that America's best days are behind her, alluding to a comment Obama made weeks ago that the economic crisis could potentially be irreversible. Again, interesting comments considering that in Obama's speech tonight he essentially said that our best days are ahead of us.
That was the extent of the Jindal rebuttal, rebutting points that were the opposite of what Obama said in his speech tonight. What's worse, though, was his tone of voice. In first grade, I remember my teacher's husband coming to school one day to talk to us about art. That's who Jindal reminded me of tonight. He kept alternating between that talking-to-first-graders tone and an infomerical-narrator tone. Does he expect that his target audience have the mental acuity of first graders? Is he trying to tap the gullible to sell what no one really wants to buy? I've never heard him speak before, but if it's always like this I dread seeing him all over the news in the prelude to the 2012 campaign.
Yeah, so this speech was based on the same old, tired Republican tactics. Making wild claims and false accusations, distorting reality, and trying to dupe as many people as possible. All while smiling and pretending to be a good ol'boy, average Joe, guy you'd like to have a beer with. Haven't the Republicans realized that this song faded from the charts some time ago?