Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal hurled harsh criticism at his own party after the GOP was blindsided in the 2012 elections, telling Republicans to end "dumbed-down conservatism" by putting a stop to "offensive, bizarre" comments.
“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments -- enough of that,” Jindal told Politico. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”
Jindal told Politico Republicans should “stop being the stupid party” by working to embrace a larger group of constituents rather than becoming the party of "big anything."
The GOP governor criticized the idea that the GOP is "the party that simply protects the rich." Jindal even took a jab at Mitt Romney's now-infamous "47 percent" remarks, noting Republicans would have to be more inclusive going forward.
“The Republican Party is going to fight for every single vote,” he said. “That means the 47 percent and the 53 percent, that means any other combination of numbers going up to 100 percent.”
Other Republicans have attempted to explain the GOP's election failure in less harsh terms. Karl Rove gave nearly two dozen reasons for Republicans' election night losses, while 2012 Republican Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan said "urban areas" gave Obama the boost he needed to win.
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