I believe I was among the first bloggers to throw out the name Bobby Jindal as a possible running mate for John McCain — I made the speculation back in February, not too long after McCain emerged as the front-runner in the Republican primaries. At the time it seemed a bit out there, even to me, and there was never any indication from anyone close to McCain that Jindal was on their list. Still, the story kept floating around, and now it seems to have moved to the next level.
For the first time, there are signs that Jindal is being considered among a very short list of possible running mates by the McCain camp:
Senator John McCain is planning to meet this weekend with at least three potential Republican running mates at a gathering at his ranch in Arizona, suggesting that he is stepping up his search for a vice president now that the Democratic contest appears basically decided, according to Republicans familiar with Mr. McCain’s plans.
Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a one-time rival for the Republican nomination, have all accepted invitations to visit with Mr. McCain at his ranch in Sedona, these Republicans said. (link)
A couple of other names are also mentioned by the New York Times article, including Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and Bob Portman. Lindsay Graham will also be invited to the “Veep Vet” party in Sedona, though thus far it appears he’s going as a close friend of McCain’s, rather than as a potential VP.
Given all that competition, it still seems unlikely that Jindal would be chosen. The strongest reason I was able to come up with before was a presumed Republican anxiety about a game-changing, mass-movement emerging around Obama. And while that has happened to some extent, it’s also become clear that there are limits to its reach (i.e., Appalachia). So the idea of off-setting a minority Democratic candidate with a minority Republican Vice-Presidential candidate is probably seeming less urgent now.
Still, perhaps we’re due to have our first Punjabi Vice President.
49 · portmanteau said
you’re not going to be able to impose your fat liberation theology on me port. i listen to rush limbaugh.
Rush Limbaugh rocks.
50 · kusala said
But more national name recognition, especially since he’s been on late night shows, and because of Katrina – than Dan Quayle, who didn’t have it either, and got on the ticket in ’88. Also at least he lives in this century and can spell ‘potato’! 🙂
If Jindal got on the ticket, this would become the most interesting Presidential race in history. The Indian-American vote would be up for grabs again, and this would push the Democratic platform to be even more responsive to their concerns, and to POC concerns more generally.
I say it would be a damn good thing, and I don’t agree that he brings all the creationist etc baggage he carried in Louisiana when he’s on a national ticket.
Chachaji,
I don’t understand sure why the Indian American vote will be up for grabs when it has been discussed countless times on SM that he doesn’t identify himself as such. Is there special affinity because he looks Indian American and people will forget about what he stands for?
50 · kusala said
in that case, feel free to hate and stifle yourself, friend. i’m sorry that bathroom stalls are your only sanctuary from the world these days. they were larry craig’s temporary salvation too. until they caught up with him.
55 · portmanteau said
but that’s what happens when you have a wide stance
I predict it’s going to be Pawlenty.
Oh, good. He can finally be taken off our hands here.
Chachaji
and 2000
Since elections in Florida have been so close (with democratic winning the vote in 2 out of the last three presidential elections ) , it makes more sense for McCain to have Crist on the ticket
Florida went to Bush in 2000. NYT second guessing doesn’t count, it didn’t change results on the ground. I was aware of NYT and other second-guessing when I wrote that.
And Florida went to Bush by 400,000 votes in 2004. But you’re right, it could be close this time.
Jews don’t like Obama. Florida=semi-large Jewish state. Add in Crist, and McCain is our Presidente.
An Indian, a gay, and a Mormon. Wow. McCain is really swinging for the fences here.
43 · umber desi said
This is pretty strange. I have seen a tendency on Desi-focused blogs and message boards to claim that Punjabi is a religion. This really, really needs to be nipped in bud so people do not come across as foolish and ignorant.
Word on the street is that this VP invite to Arizona is nothing but a ploy to distract attention from the fact that old man McCain is releasing his med records at the same time.
That is truly bizarre. Punjabi is a ethno-regional-cultural identity, just as being Tamil, Gujarati or Bengali is ethno-regional-cultural. It is not equivalent to religion, although, naturally, there is overlap between regional religious practices across the religions indigenous to the area. Sometimes people conflate elements of their Punjabi identity with their religion, and vice-versa, but it’s absolutely not a faith tradition.
yep, if i recall correctly, even hillary clinton was described as d-punjab about a year ago.
he pushed the exorcism and hellfire nonsense at least a decade ago, when he was in oxford. either, every act of his since he was 15 or whatever has been targeted towards becoming a successful politician, in which case i have absolutely no idea what he believes in, or he really believes in this stuff. in either case, i certainly wouldn’t want him in the white house or in that orbit.
a lot of people voted bush based on what was perceived as a bipartisan record in texas, and he repudiated both that and his “not a global policeman” stance in no time once he got to office. there is no reason to make that kind of mistake again.
jindal made his choice of how he wanted to get to power, and i see no reason to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Jews don’t like Obama. Florida=semi-large Jewish state. Add in Crist, and McCain is our Presidente
Rahul, I could be wrong, but I can’t see bluehaired Floridian Jewish retirees voting for McCain in appreciable numbers, with or without Crist. However, it’s anyone’s guess how Florida will swing in November. I’d like to see some numbers.
Camille/Delurker,
I agree it is an inaccurate comparison but the larger point about if Indian Americans may vote for him doesn’t sound right.
66 · kusala said
Ever since Obama is the new Mr. Appeasement (his talks on Iran), Jews are skeptic of Obama. Here’s a link.
http://newsmax.com/insidecover/florida_jews_obama/2008/05/22/98181.html
given Jindal`s voting record, do you guys really want a nutcase for a VP….or are all desis in the USA completely bonkers?
or are all desis in the USA completely bonkers?
How did you vote in the last general/state elections in India?
I mean he went to Brown and Oxford. Do people really think he believes in Intelligent Design? Hell no.
he wrote atheism’s gods in 1995, with chesnuts like “Even if we grant Dawkin’s assumption that human beings are the product of unassisted evolution, which is quite a generous gesture since there is much controversy over the fossil evidence for evolution….” i doubt he rejects evolution (brown had a very rigorous and deep set of classes for biology majors during his period there from what i have heard from those who went through it contemporaneously), but he was working on his creationist talking points early on.
and yeah, bobby is great as a louisiana governor. but even george w. bush doesn’t oppose abortion to the point of no exceptions. i’m a yankee, so of course i stand with the yankees….
Jews don’t like Obama
really? so this is a fabrication: Poll: Most Jewish voters want Obama to win, huh? A new Gallup survey found that 61% of Jewish voters prefer Obama to McCain, who got 32% of the Jewish support.
That number is far greater than the rate found for the general population, who only preferred Obama to McCain 45-43, according to the poll. Obama also still trails Clinton in Jewish support, according to the survey, with Clinton winning against Obama in the Jewish community 50%-43%.
…
“In 2004, John Kerry received 75% of the Jewish vote and George W. Bush received 25%. The recent polling numbers demonstrate Obama’s weakness among Jewish voters. This data comes on the heels of the exit poll data from the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania. Hillary Clinton beat Obama among Jewish voters 62%-38%,” said RJC Executive Director Matt Brooks.
it seems likely that obama will lose some on the margins, but the poll probably is obama’s low point with jewish voters since many of them are hillary supporters who are currently claiming they won’t vote for him in the fall. historically that doesn’t usually hold. remember to check up on the media, they’re innumerate ‘tards.
Anurag,
there are days when I do wonder myself.
Jindal for veep is about as ridiculous a notion as I’ve seen yet. Though Abhi, I’ve seen stranger things–and so have you. I really really hope you don’t wind up naked on SM.
For your sake…and ours.
given Jindal`s voting record, do you guys really want a nutcase for a VP….or are all desis in the USA completely bonkers?
bobby jindal threads often devolve into a crap load of anti-christian and anti-conservative bashing. so you are talking to the wrong people; the brown people who are supporting jindal in a knee-jerk fashion for VP or higher office aren’t the ones that read SM….
Ah, that’s what’s wrong with my knee–I can cancel my orthopedics appointment–I was getting worried that I had “restless leg syndrome.” 😉
Anurag, what’s so crazy about his voting record? Don’t tell me everyone in the Desh these days is some sort of free-love Socialist?!
75 · rob said
hmmm, better see your urologist…could be “restless 3rd leg syndrome.” (sorry for the slam comrade rob, but since your vying for Port’s affection, all is fair in…)
Port is far too generous–I put you up there in Rahul’s league, Manju!
77 · rob said
oh, very clever cassanova rob…a backhanded compliment separating you from the mob.
I just hope that Pat Buchanan is not on the ballot in Florida this year. Wasn’t there one district in 2000 that Buchanan get alarge % of the jewish vote, that most people thought would go to Gore. So for Obama sake he better hope that doesn’t lose some of the jewish vote like Gore did in 2000 to Buchanan.
I still never understood why, in that one county the Jews voted for Buchanan.
suki: gore was right on top of Buchanan in the infamous butterfly position. they were into gore and wanted to poke him but ended up penetrated buchanan instead, as elderly palm beach county citiznes are known for their accedental rear-end collisions. But why chad was found hanging remains unkown.
…everyone got bush at the end of the day
dick too
…even those who ralphed
Yeah, I know about them voting for Buchanan by mistake.
But there was apart of me hoping that was some Jews for Buchanan group based in South Florida. It would be weird, but also kinda of cool. Kind of like that group in Louisana in early 90’s which was Blacks for David Duke.[ I recall reading somewhere that Duke get 4 black votes].
I just don’t get the whole paronia over ID (Intelligent Design) issue. If a strong science curriculum in public high schools was a keystone of American greatness, then we have a lot more to worry about than creationism. In fact, I do agree that scientific advance is a key component of America’s success, I just don’t think American public high schools have much to do with it, because our public high schools are, on average, crap. Rather, our private higher educational institutions are the envy of the world, and the best and brightest of the world end up coming here as a result, pursuing their advanced degrees and enriching us by their discoveries.
I went to a decently ranked public high school in an upper-middle-class neighbourhood in California. Yes, “decently ranked” in a backwards educational cesspit like California doesn’t mean much, but honestly, it was a pretty good school, at least by California’s banana republic standards. It sent graduates out to the Ivy league, Stanford, Berkeley, etc. regularly. I took AP Biology there. And we learned nothing in that class. Anything we learned, we learned from cramming on our own for the exams.
This is the paradigm I’m looking at here. School districts can say they want to “teach” creationism, but there’s so little learning going on in public schools that what they put in the curriculum is an irrelevancy. This is the same problem we run into with debates on abstinence vs. condom use — it doesn’t matter what you say because the students aren’t listening to you in the first place. It’s a heated debate conducted on matters of minor importance in an atmosphere of total fantasy.
Now, if creationism gets put into the doctoral program at MIT, then yes — we might have a problem. Or even if creationism gets into the elite magnet schools, like Thomas Jefferson, then yes, I could see there being a problem. But the curricula we are talking about are being shaped by locals. And the issue is whether local districts get to exercise this kind of control in their curricula, for better or worse. This is, how you say, an extremely minor issue. We’re talking about a handful of districts across the US, against the backdrop of an irreparably broken public educational system that can’t teach basic maths and reading comprehension let alone evolution.
We have much bigger public education problems, problems we need to solve before a handful of school districts teaching that evolution is “only a theory” and that their lord god and master created the world in 6 days should even be registering as a concern.
I heard he’s still secretly Hindu. Read it on the internet.
Early this morning, I heard on this radio show that comedian Mark Curry was thinking about running for President…but ONLY if he can get Condeleeza Rice as his running mate, so that he can have political banners reading CURRY & RICE. Go figure, lol.
87 · Huey said
Huey: Do you write your own material? If so, I see a career with MADtv in your future.
Speaking of Mark Curry, anyone else here besides me struggling to move on after the demise of Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper? No? Anyone? Didn’t think so.
76 · Manju said
the republican politics of exclusion, a very narrow range; that is why the states united heed the clarion call of change. creating false dichotomies, why! that’s rove’s scheming art there’s a place for both of you, in my big bleeding heart.
Rush Limbaugh rocks.
Rush Limbaugh is on rocks.
I think people who were on painkillers (like Oxycotin) became addicted to this; this was a drug that wasn’t supposed to be on the market. That’s what I remember reading back then.
Oh so, Limbaugh is just an innocent victim, who was hooked on a drug by the evil doctors and the general stress of the liberal media making his life oh-so unbearable, of course all the poor black people in Harlem that are hooked on crack, are just pathologically predisposted to act that way, has nothing to do with the white gangsters (in bed with the cops and the gov at the time) that trafficked narcotics SPECIFICALLY in those areas to target poor neighborhoods, and give them a way to escape the suffering they’d endured their entire lives?
92 · HMF said
I think you’re more racist than Limbaugh.
I think you’re more racist than Limbaugh.
By pointing out how blacks were treated differently, first explicitly without any veiling, then through systematic institutionalized discrimination, and pointing out how a general perception of blame is applied to them while a perception of understanding and healing is applied to people like Rush?
If I’m racist, so was MLK and the entire civil rights movement.
If I’m racist, so was MLK and the entire civil rights movement.
Please HMF don’t compare youself to MLK.
It’s not very cool, given that David Duke headed up the KKK in Louisiana. Or is the phenomena of targeted groups voting for someone who says hateful things about them what’s cool?
umber desi — I agree with you, I think it would be bizarre (and unlikely) that desis would vote overwhelmingly for McCain if Jindal were on his ticket. That said, perhaps it would be a generational or migrational difference (similar to older white women preferring to vote Hillary for various reasons). Maybe that’s a loaded, and overly cursory, comment on my part, though.
I think the Creationism issue is valid, including in public schools. That said, we’ve debated about Bobby Jindal’s creationism and religious views a LOT already, and the convo is relatively pointless. Are we really going to rehash everything that’s already been said?
45 · HMF said
Yep.
HMF,
are you a guy or a lady?
Please HMF don’t compare youself to MLK.
Show me where in this regard, our views are different? I’m pointing out a difference in the way the american government legally, then american society in general has treated black americans in this country. I’ll quote you a speech (a line not often quoted)
“In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir… It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.””
link
Quote frankly, creationism has no place in the sciences. not even indirectly(which is ID). That would be like if Scientology got more adherants, science textbooks would have to start dealing with thetans or whatever nonsense they spout. Watch Flock of Dodos a pretty evenhanded documentary which does a great job explaining why ID and creationism is getting so much traction in some school districts. The amount of propaganda involved with ID is so clever that I would not want that to get any kind of foothold in schools because it will surely lead to other crap being brought in.
But if they want to discuss it in philosphy, history, or whatever, fine.
Jindal cant do much harm at the state level with his religious fundamentalism. At the state level, his positives will outweigh his negatives. At the federal level, I wont trust him.