What's the deal with Bobby Jindal?

[Hugabear]

Honestly, I'd never really even heard of him until his name started being floated around as a possible McCain VP pick. I was listening to some RW radio talk show the other day, and they were lauding Jindal as the "next great conservative icon", the "next Reagan" they've been hoping for.

What's this guy's background? The only thing that I know about him is that he's the governor of Louisiana, and that he's supposed to be pretty conservative, and that he's of Pakistani descent.

Do conservatives really like this guy? I've never pegged them for being a very open bunch, hard to see how they would embrace someone who isn't a "WASP" conservative.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. The safe assumption is, if you know nothing other than that a guy is

a republican, figure he's a real bastard.

[jgraz]

2. He would be a GREAT choice as McCain's VP

Hear that, lurking Repugs? You want BOBBY JINDAL for VP. You are getting sleeeepy. Call Grampy and tell him to pick BOBBY JINDAL. You'll win fer sure. Honest.

[jeff30997]

3. Who the Hell is Bobby Jindal?

A chippendale?

[KamaAina]

4. He just got raked over the coals in a brouhaha over a legislative pay raise

apparently the staunch fiscal conservative :sarcasm: promised the legislators they could have a pay raise, if only they'd support his pet school voucher bill. :puke: Then after the media turned up the heat -- largely from the right! -- he weaseled out and vetoed the pay raise.

http://blogofneworleans.com/blog/2008/06/26/how-bobbys-wheels-came-off-the-prequel

Early in the session — very early in the session — several key lawmakers met face-to-face with Jindal to discuss the pay raise idea. They wanted to know up front if he was going to oppose it publicly or veto it, because if either scenario occurred they didn't want to waste time and political capital voting for a highly controversial measure, one they knew would draw voters' ire, only to have him shoot it down. They reasoned correctly that they wanted Jindal to "hang" with them on this one, or else no one should hang at all.

In that meeting, which occurred in very late March or very early April, Jindal promised he would not oppose the raise — but in return, he secured a promise that lawmakers would pass his voucher ("scholarship") bill....

Later, when the bill became hotter than anyone anticipated, Jindal apparently dispatched his chief of staff, Timmy Teepell, with a message that the governor would veto the raise because it was too big (at least, that was the official excuse). At that point, House Speaker Jim Tucker countered with a threat against Jindal's "reform" agenda — the voucher bill. Obviously, a whole lot of folks don't consider vouchers a "reform," and it's interesting that Jindal never fully identified which bills were being held "hostage" as a result of Tucker's threat....

Here’s the kicker: Badon's voucher bill cleared its last legislative hurdle on June 18, a day after Jindal announced he would not veto the pay raise.

Some DU discussion, from before I knew about the deal:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3532916&mesg_id=3532916

P.S. He is of Indian rather than Pakistani descent, and his given name is Piyush. We're always supposed to call him "Bobby", though, or else a small-town newspaper publisher in north La. will call us a bunch of mean old racists. No, really.

edit: header

[rudy23]

5. He's horrible. People are pumping him up because he's young, "intelligent", and ethnic

As if being of Indian descent makes him somehow more progressive. That's a lot of what he's getting by on right now.