Bobby Jindal, Meet Truth

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is not only proving himself to be as intellectually bankrupt as the conservative ideology he has embraced, but he seemingly can't even keep his facts straight.

Thanks to the journalists at Mother Jones [2] and a blogger at Daily Kos [3], key portions of Jindal's response Tuesday night to President Obama's speech to Congress have been discredited.

Here's what MoJo uncovered about Jindal's mockery of items in the economic recovery bill:

...[I]t's important to note that Jindal repeated two fairly common Republican lies about the stimulus package. Here's the relevant portion:

[The stimulus includes] $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called "volcano monitoring."

The truth is that the stimulus bill does not allocate any high speed rail money for specific projects. In fact, any stimulus money for high speed rail would be allocated by Obama transportation secretary Ray Lahood—a Republican.

The 'volcano monitoring' part is almost as misleading. According to ProPublica [4], the relevant portion of the stimulus money is for "U.S. Geological Survey facilities and equipment, including stream gages, seismic and volcano monitoring systems and national map activities." It seems obvious that employing geologists, building facilities, buying equipment, and paying people to map the country all have a stimulative effect. But more importantly, why does Bobby Jindal think monitoring volcanoes is a bad thing for the government to be doing?

More significantly, an anecdote Jindal used to bolster his statement that "the strength of America is not found in our government" and his inference that "bureaucrats" are nothing more than a hindrance to getting things done may well be a fabrication:

Jindal said that during the Hurricane Katrina disaster he walked into the office of the now-deceased Sheriff Harry Lee of Jefferson Parish, La., and found him yelling into the phone at "some bureaucrat" who allegedly told some boaters that they could not use their boats without proof of license and registration. The anecdote concludes with the sheriff challenging the bureaucrat to arrest both the sheriff and Jindal, who was a congressman at the time.

But Kos diarist XGC reports:

Katrina hit when Congressman Jindal was returning from a foreign trip. His family evacuated to Baton Rouge, and met up with Jindal at his parents' home. Two days after Katrina passed, Jindal took an aerial tour of the disaster area. It is not clear when he went back on ground. But it is highly unlikely that he was there during first few days. When did he go to this Sheriff's office?

Jindal was interviewed frequently by the media during Katrina. If something like this happened, it would be highly unusual for Jindal to keep quiet and not talk about it when he was interviewed.

Furthermore, based on multiple news accounts at the time...

Harry Lee stayed in greater New Orleans throughout the disaster. It is also clear from records of multiple TV interviews of Bobby Jindal that he was in Baton Rouge at least until after Sept 1. So Jindal could not possibly have "walked into his makeshift office" in greater New Orleans.

Jindal said [5] that when Republicans disagree with the policies of the Obama administration and Democrats, "Republicans have a responsibility to be candid and offer better ideas for a path forward." Jindal flunked on both counts. Instead of candor, he offered distortions and what appear to be outright lies. Instead of "better ideas for a path forward," he offered the same menu of ideas that America has already seen fail and have roundly rejected: tax cuts for the wealthy, status-quo health care, "drill, baby, drill" energy policies, government sidelined as Wall Street and corporations run amok. And, of course, a governor who cares more about his appearance of ideological purity than the fate of residents who cannot find a full-time job.

No wonder that even some Republicans were left squirming [6] by Jindal's appearance Tuesday night. It is uncomfortable to have the public see so plainly the conservative movement's willingness to tell falsehoods, to fan the flames of government disdain and to leave people stranded in the midst of an economic hurricane.