A Little Transparency for Bobby Jindal -- Hypocrisy in Republican Posturing

Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana, sat there with a straight face and talked about the need for transparency in government on Tuesday night in his rebuttal to President Obama's congresssional "get-together." Apparently we can't call it a State of the Union in five weeks, even though Obama has done more in five weeks than Bush did for the country in eight years.

The problem with transparency is that you have to talk about the stuff that's uncomfortable, that you don't want seen. This has not been a strong suit of the post-Reagan Republicans, who have taken a big page from the actor-turned-politico who used smoke-and-mirrors to exceptional effect. The last thirty years of largely Republican rule have been largely based on deception and misdirection, particularly of their own partisans.

Take the abortion issue. Republicans have been dangling the carrot of "solving" the abortion issue over single-issue Christian conservative voters for decades to keep them coming out to the polls to vote.

The truth is that the Republicans have been the party in power for most of the last 30 years, or have been in control of the Congress when not holding the White House for the majority of that time.

Appointing right-wing judges is a carrot. If they really wanted to take the lead on banning abortion, they would have followed through with the oft-floated Constitutional amendment that was proposed in those early days of co-opting Southern religious conservatives away from the blue dog Dems.

Even if they did not succeed, as there would surely be opposition, they would have been walking the walk. Republicans do not ever push social issues beyond lip service because it would rob them of a mass of voters and volunteers who are needed to keep the politics of affluence, the real Republican agenda, moving forward.

Jindal's call for transparency is just the latest hypocrisy from a Republican Party that has too long relied on the politics of fear and lies. You want transparency, Bobby? Let's start with your party's heel dragging on the Stimulus Plan.

Republicans have been clinging to their bedrock "principles" as a grounding for their extreme opposition to the Stimulus Plan. We cannot run up a bill for future generations say hand-wringing hypocrites like representative John Boehner will tell you.

Unfortunately standing on Plymouth Rock in the middle of a storm of the century is not an easy thing to do.

These same Republicans had no problem running up a bill for a war that, even as one of their own, Colin Powell, complained, had no clearly defined goals and no exit strategy. What has been spent on the war, and has been thrown into the pockets of military contractors and international corporations profiteering from Bush's Folly, makes the Stimulus Bill look like a drop in the bucket. Where has their indignation been? What funds did they shut down from the Department of Defense until Rummy made procurement and spending more transparent?

Even prior to the Iraq War, though, the Republican-dominated Congress passed generous tax cuts, slashed and burned checks and regulations, and turned loose the freewheeling free-enterprise system to spin an Emperor-has-no-clothes financial system built on mountains of "derivatives," ridiculous piles of worthless paper backed up by even more worthless guarantors, credit agencies and insurers.

In his rebuttal, Jindal said:

"Today in Washington, some are promising that government will rescue us from the economic storms raging all around us.

Those of us who lived through Hurricane Katrina -- we have our doubts."

Aside from the unintentional indictment of his own party, as George Bush was at the helm of state when it hit the rocks in New Orleans, one has to ask:

When the state has established conditions that deregulate the marketplace and allow such conditions to occur that lead the major financial institutions of this country to ruin, does the same government not have the responsibility, really the obligation, to not only re-regulate free enterprise, but to help put it back on a responsible footing that does not crush the lives of the citizens it is charged to protect and serve?

Jindal stated that Republicans want to cut taxes for the average Joe:

That is why Republicans put forward plans to create jobs by lowering income tax rates for working families, cutting taxes for small businesses, strengthening incentives for businesses to invest in new equipment and hire new workers, and stabilizing home values by creating a new tax credit for home-buyers. These plans would cost less and create more jobs.

I would have to agree with the governor that these plans would cost less and create more jobs. They are in the Stimulus Bill and Republicans actually tried to kill them. GOP congressmen in conference slashed the middle-class and working family tax cuts that Jindal was calliing for last night. The Associated Press reported on February 11th that:

"[Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max] Baucus had said earlier that $35.5 billion to provide a $15,000 homebuyer tax credit, approved in the Senate last week, would be cut back. There was also pressure to reduce a Senate-passed tax break for new car buyers, according to Democratic officials ..."

He derided a "'magnetic levitation' line from Las Vegas to Disneyland," but seems to have no problem with the billions that we have spent buying bomb, missiles, and vastly overpriced airplanes, tanks and the like in the thirty years of Reagan-era military spending.

On healthcare, Jindal said:

"Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not by government bureaucrats."

I don't know where Mr. Jindal gets his insurance, but here in Florida I deal with the bureaucrats of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Florida, who make the State of Florida look downright efficient. The code is simple: Protect the deep pockets of the insurance industry which has funded the GOP machine for decades.

The notion that the Republicans stand for independence of the average businessman working hard to make it is a pure and simple lie. The Republicans engaged in decades of corporate welfare that have enriched the defense establishment, the pharmaceutical business, and Wall Street.

The topper of Jindal's speech, though, was the immense hypocrisy of his call for transparency:

"To strengthen our economy, we must promote confidence in America by ensuring ours is the most ethical and transparent system in the world. In my home state, there used to be saying: At any given time, half of Louisiana was said to be half under water, and the other half is under indictment. No one says that anymore. Last year, we passed some of the strongest ethics laws in the nation and today, Louisiana has turned her back on the corruption of the past. We need to bring transparency to Washington, D.C., so we can rid our Capitol of corruption and ensure we never see the passage of another trillion dollar spending bill that Congress has not even read and the American people haven't even seen."

Had there been transparency in the Republican-run government over these last decades, we would not be in the position to have to have a stimulus bill in the first place. Had the Republicans believed in some modest regulation that kept the financial system on a sound footing, we would not be facing a Citibank and Bank of America teetering on the brink of insolvency.

Most bills in the congress are not read cover-to-cover by the politicos who vote for them. That is why they have those well-educated and well-paid staffers.

To use incendiary words like "corruption," makes for good speechifyin', but hardly smacks of the attitude of a party that is concentrating on the people's business, rather than their own political advantage.

Mr. Obama has been getting straight with the American people. He has held open the hand to the Republicans to rediscover statesmanship, and put away the brinksmanship.

Mr. Jindal's speech was an embarrassing relic, a paltry political peroration that has no place in a political dialogue in the midst of a national crisis.

When hacks like Bobby are being put on the pedestal by the GOP, and more sensible politicians like Ms. Snowe or governor Crist are being threatened with financial sanction, it just affirms that there has been a bankruptcy, but it is not GM or Citibank.

The GOP is politically Chapter 11.

 

 

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Comments

[rbenjamin]

Great analysis Brian, but if Jindal got any more transparent he would disappear. Like the Cheshire cat, leaving only that trademark grin.

[vnetuolsbm]

Very thoughtful and well put together post. I love that you ended it on the idea that the GOP is bankrupt. (Morally and politically!) I just someone would tell them that. The sad part of all their delusion is that if (and that's a big if) they stopped playing games now and restructured into a real party again, they might have a chance for redemption years down the road. But now it's almost as if they've declared banctruptcy and sold all their stuff but they won't leave their house even though the new buyers are ready to move in and remodel the place. The reality is that the children that I may someday have and my generation's children will learn about them in history books by an asterisk and a line in the back that says, "Regarding Republicans: The editors have all agreed to not again speak of the party from the Bush years and beyond. It is believed they may have been a mythical figure like the unicorn or fiesty leprauchan."

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

I would not write them off yet, unless you have a nice garlic wreath to wear and a silver spike to carry around.

[WeSeeYou]

"Had there been transparency in the Republican-run government over these last decades, we would not be in the position to have to have a stimulus bill in the first place. Had the Republicans believed in some modest regulation that kept the financial system on a sound footing, we would not be facing a Citibank and Bank of America teetering on the brink of insolvency."

Spot on!! Thank you so much for writing this intelligent and honest article!. I can barely stomach reading or listening to anything regarding the GOP - thier hypocrisy makes me absolutely crazy!!

They so obviously believe that we are all stupid; and that nobody remembers what really happened (or didn't happen) while they were running the show...

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

If you look at my past articles, you will see a couple of pieces on the smoke and mirrors that the GOP has used for 30 years. They were largely based on the control of radio and the acquired control of television. If you tell a lie long enough to a lot of talking heads hired because they are pretty first and smart third, you will get the governance that you have had since Reagan.

[kathy001]

"When the state has established conditions that deregulate the marketplace and allow such conditions to occur that lead the major financial institutions of this country to ruin, does the same government not have the responsibility, really the obligation, to not only re-regulate free enterprise, but to help put it back on a responsible footing that does not crush the lives of the citizens it is charged to protect and serve?"

Beautifully said. Love the article - every word of it. Thank you!

[Charmed]

Jindal completely failed the other night....

[DestinationsUnknown]

The corrupt "FINANCIAL SYSTEM", before ENRON, Mortgage Fraud, Bernie Madoff, etc…; what about the Healthcare Finance Fraud?

“This case is one of the largest corporate fraud investigations involving a privately held company headquartered in small town America,” said ...of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division.

JPMORGAN CHASE and CITI PAID GOVERNMENT SETTLED AGREEMENTS FOR FRAUD in National Century Financial Enterprises, Inc.

JULY 10, 2007 - SUPERSEDING INDICTMENT CHARGES EIGHT FORMER EXECUTIVES OF HEALTH CARE FINANCING COMPANY WITH CONSPIRACY, FRAUD, MONEY LAUNDERING

At trial, the government presented evidence that the defendants engaged in a scheme to deceive investors and rating agencies ...between May 1998 and May 2001.

SEC: May 1998 James K Happ was the CFO of the Dallas-based Columbia Homecare Group, Inc. (Richard Rainwater’s). In '98 & '99 NCFE financed this divestiture to Medshares, Inc. in Memphis, TN.

July 1999, Medshares, Inc. filed the LARGEST Bankruptcy case in the history of Western TN's bankruptcy court; ALL of the NCFE financed Columbia Homecare Group, Inc.’s divestiture months earlier. In this court, lawyers cried fraud ; the JUDGE forbade the ‘F’ word in her court.

February 21, 2008 - COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A guilty executive told jurors she told investors "absolutely nothing" about National Century's practices of advancing cash to Memphis, Tenn.-based Medshares,...

December 18, 2008 - National Century fraud case produces 1st (AND ONLY) acquittal
Prosecutors' case fell short, juror says
By Jodi Andes THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

Interesting, albeit a bit off topic. Thanks for sharing.

[nicholieeee]

the problem is....i've been saying all of this to friends who are republican. (who, by the way, didn't even know who jindal was, while i could've picked him out of a crowd months ago. what does that say about their base?) i've been saying it until i'm blue in the face, but they just don't get it. they don't get what got us into this mess, and they don't understand what will get us out. now, i'm not speaking for everyone republican, but for the one's i've been dealing with, it really is just a general lack of education. the republican's say they're the party for the working man, and they swallow it whole.

to say it's irritating is an understatement

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

What does it say about their base? Their largely white, largely affluent or single-issue voting base? Jindal is a boot licker. The people of color in the party who could help lift it out of its lethargy are thinkers. Powell, Powell, okay, I ran out of people who don't march in lock-step and are effective.

[highflag]

I 'm not informed enough to say whether Bobby Jindal is doing a good job for his state, although grandstanding with much-needed unemployment benefits from the stimulus package doesn't seem like a good indicator.

What I can say, however, is that his shining moment was a disaster. Between the tired rhetoric and the "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" delivery, we may have seen the rise and fall of a political career in one brief moment.

If the GOP wants to pit Governor Jindal against Barack Obama, they may be on their way to Whig status.

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood,
Pelosi is bad, Boehner is good,
The GOP is just misunderstood
Won't you be,
Won't you be,
Please won't you be, my voter...

[musicisourhigh]

I listened to Jindal last night just waiting to hear something of value and substance. I am still waiting

[Brian Ross - Huffpost Blogger]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if the GOP's point people who have ambitions were not always turned into automatons... They would sound something like John McCain before he ran for president, or Charlie Crist.

[hunt49]

Brilliantly, perfectly said. These were the words I would have come up with last night if I hadn't been outraged beyond verbal ability.

To those of us in the middle, Jindal sealed his persona to the stagnant right last night. The GOP just branded him unelectable for Independents. I hadn't heard much specifically about Jindal, but just knowing he was willing to carry that toxic water last night told me all I need to know.