Boy howdy, Washington had better barricade itself into The Palm for the next few days because a storm is a-brewin'. A storm of righteous truth, handed down unto our broken system by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who apparently plans on annihilating every precedent for political rhetoric by finally, at long last, being the politician who stands up and says, "My party is too focused on Beltway thinking."
Can "the game" take all of this "change?"
The Washington Post has this super scoop Thursday, and announced that Jindal is going to be "speaking truth to GOP power."
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal will deliver a forceful denunciation of his party’s Washington-centric focus in a speech to the Republican National Committee on Thursday evening, arguing that the GOP is fighting the wrong fight as it seeks to rebuild from losses at the ballot box last November.
“A debate about which party can better manage the federal government is a very small and short-sighted debate,” Jindal will tell the RNC members gathered in Charlotte, N.C., for the organization’s winter meeting, according to a copy of the speech provided to The Fix. “If our vision is not bigger than that, we do not deserve to win.”
Oh, snap, Washington, you are really gonna get it now. You would be hard-pressed to find any examples in the contemporary history of the GOP where prominent members take the time to point out that their party has become mired in "Beltway thinking" and that it's going to take a "Washington outsider" to finally '“recalibrate the compass of conservatism” or something that sounds vaguely similar.
Unless, of course, you count Mitt Romney, or Newt Gingrich, or Rick Santorum, or Rick Perry, or Michele Bachmann, or Jon Huntsman, or Paul Ryan, or John McCain, or Sarah Palin, or George W. Bush, or Ronald Reagan.
Or Barack Obama, for that matter. Or anyone who ever aspired to hold office, in Washington, basically.
So, considering that, why is this considered "news" by The Washington Post? Who the hell even knows? The thing I would point out, of course, is that the whole, "why-don't-you-give-a-forceful-denunciation-of-your-party’s-Washington-centric-focus-in-a-speech?," strategy is handed to just about anyone who aspires to a national political profile by battle-worn political consultants who ply their trade, right here, in Washington.
It's also worth noting that Jindal's new big idea is to "eliminate all Louisiana personal and corporate income taxes to simplify the state's tax code and make it more friendly to business" and offset the loss in revenue by raising the sales tax, thus soaking the working class residents of his state. I can promise you, Jindal did not come up with this idea, floating around on the ol' bayou, communing with nature, seeking the fresh ideas with which he could storm the battlements of his party and "speak truth to power."
Rather Jindal got this idea wholesale from some Beltway think-tank which probably peddled the idea in some form or another for a long time. (Well, lookee here!)
Here is a pro-tip to the Post: If you want to know what a conservative governor of Louisiana who is an actual Washington outsider and who does actually challenge his party's entrenched thinking by "speaking truth to power," then you should follow Buddy Roemer on Twitter.
PREVIOUSLY, on the HUFFINGTON POST:
Bobby Jindal 2016: The Governor Of Louisiana Wants You To Know He's Got His Eyes On The Prize
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