Jindal's Office Tries To Spin Katrina Story, Digs Itself In Deeper

[ccharles000]

It looks like Bobby Jindal's staff has been trying to do some damage limitation on that phony Katrina story -- with some help from Politico. But it's blowing up in their faces.

Picking up on an earlier post at Daily Kos, we wrote a post yesterday that raised questions about a key anecdote in Bobby Jindal's big Tuesday night speech.

You can watch the key excerpt here, but here's the transcript:


During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: 'Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!' I asked him: 'Sheriff, what's got you so mad?' He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, 'Sheriff, that's ridiculous.' And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: 'Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!' Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.

In our post, we reported -- among other red flags -- that we couldn't find any news reports that put Jindal on the ground in the affected area during the time when a boat rescue would have been needed. As we noted, we called Jindal's office twice before posting to ask them to verify the incident, but heard nothing back.

This morning, Politico's Ben Smith, noting that we and others had raised questions about Jindal's story, posted a response from the governor's chief of staff, Timmy Teepell:


It was in the days following the storm. Sheriff Lee was a hero who worked tirelessly to rescue those in danger, and he didn't take kindly to bureaucrats getting in his way.

That didn't really seem to clear things up either way -- indeed it admitted that it wasn't "during Katrina" as Jindal had originally said. Still, the headline of Smith's post characterized the statement as "stand by" the anecdote.

Team Jindal probably would have been wise to leave things there.

Instead, they went back to Smith, now telling him, in Smith's words, that Jindal "didn't imply" on Tuesday that the story "took place during the heat of a fight to release rescue boats." (Take 30 seconds to read Jindal's actual words, and you'll see that's flatly untrue -- but no matter.) Rather, Jindal spokeswoman Melissa Sellers told Smith, "It was days later .. Sheriff Lee was on the phone and the governor came down to visit him. It wasn't that they were standing right down there with the boats."

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/02/jindals_office_tries_to_spin_katrina_story_digs_it.php?ref=fp1

[KevTucky]

1. well........

Piyash probably lied when he said his dad said," Bobby, blah blah balh". I don't think his dad called him Bobby. Just a hunch.

[Why Syzygy]

3. Americans can do

ANYTHING.

That phrase annoys the dickens. I've said before, it is so Freeper-ish. Secondly, this *beautiful sentiment* was supposed to have taken place in a grocery store! How shallow is that?

Frankly, when I go to the grocery, I wonder why we need so many products competing. I know it's free market, but it still makes me feel something sad.

I doubt even that story is true. But, either way it indicates one of these:
1)Bobby's dad leans materialist; 2)Bobby leans materialistic; 3)Bobby thinks his potential voters lean materialistic.

And, with that we might assume, they haven't got a clue.

[StopTheNeoCons]

4. Thread title shoould be: JINDAL STAFF TRIES TO COVER UP JINDAL LIE TO AMERICAN PEOPLE

[xchrom]

2. i love watching bubba bobby implode. nt

[saltpoint]

5. Well that durn liberal media, right on cue picking on the

poor man.

I just hope he has a wonderful time at Disney riding the rides.

[Generic Other]

6. Jindal personally offended me with his Katrina crap

1. The Federal government's fuck-up of a response was a Republican plan not a Democratic one. "Heckuva Job" Brownie was a Bush appointee.

2. Louisiana was not better at managing their own affairs. Fuck up or not, the Feds did a better job than the state. The citizens of Louisiana do not get the highest grade for their response in every case. Mostly I saw heroic actions by friends and neighbors, some emergency teams, doctors. Higher you went up the chain of command though: looting policemen, cops firing on people trying to flee NOLA into neighboring communities, vigilantes, pencil pushing politicians unable to put any kind of emergency plan in position. If they had received no federal help, New Orleans would be a graveyard of dried bones today.

3. I live in volcano country which seems to amuse Gov. Jindal. The Pacific Rim. We always know we could experience the big one any day. Eruption. Earthquake. Tsunami. We do have to plan for these possibilities. But Jindal thinks that is ridiculous, and that you shouldn't have to care. Yet, my state poured money and resources into helping NOLA out. I personally organized an auction here on DU to help people I knew had been effected. Lots of people donated time, money, opened their homes to those who were in need. No one in my state said, "Why do we need hurricane watchers? Can't you see when bad weather is coming by looking up at the sky? Who needs NOAA?" That is small town thinking, Gov. Jindal.

4. To be a Republican person of color betrays self-hatred at a level too deep for me to fathom.

--my 4 cents

[Flying Dream Blues]

7. Great post, and I remember the auction fondly...nt