The American Spectator

Martin| 3.16.09 @ 9:36AM

As a 2012/2016 Presdiential candidate he's the ultimate inside-the-beltway figure. By the time those elections roll around, the American public will have become thoroughly fed up with pointy-headed intellectuals with fancy degrees and no ability to connect with the average voter. This is a pity, because it means we probably won't get Newt Gingrich. Jindal I find much less appealing.

Running against the Great Orator who will have been in for 4 years and messed up the economy, Sarah Palin looks awfully good. She's certainly no Landon; much more a Republican Huey Long.

Quin| 3.16.09 @ 9:49AM

If she is a Republican Huey Long, then we should keep her as far away from power as possible. Huey Long was a thoroughly corrupt, brutal, authoritarian, leftist demagogue.

Martin| 3.16.09 @ 10:13AM

A Republican Huey Long would by definition (I hope) not be a leftist demagogue. Corruption also appears optional --with all respect, not coming from Louisiana probably helps.

The immense popular appeal combined with the hatred and fear by the establishment are however parallels between Huey Long and Palin, and may be very usefully so against the current incumbent.

Martin| 3.16.09 @ 10:13AM

A Republican Huey Long would by definition (I hope) not be a leftist demagogue. Corruption also appears optional --with all respect, not coming from Louisiana probably helps.

The immense popular appeal combined with the hatred and fear by the establishment are however parallels between Huey Long and Palin, and may be very usefully so against the current incumbent.

Roy| 3.16.09 @ 11:38AM

How can he be the ultimate "inside the Beltway figure"? He was inside the Beltway for what, 2 years? 4? Mostly been in state politics?

In any case I have ceased to think that concern has any objective reality. The Democrats spent the entire lead up to the presidential election saying we needed an outsider who would bring HopeyChange. Then came the VP picks and they picked a guy who has been in the Senate since 1972. This had no discernible effect, in any way, under any circumstances, on one single supporter of theirs. I tend to think it's raw spin, if the guy you wanted to vote for anyway hasn't been in national politics, great he's an outsider bringing hopeychange; if he has, then he's an experienced, battlescarred, wily veteran who can get the job done. Pure, raw, spin.

James | 3.16.09 @ 11:46AM

The amazing thing about Jindal was his ability to appeal to non-cosmopolitan Christian Louisiana voters despite his ethnicity and mile-a-minute delivery.

Admr. S.O.B. Buniontow VI| 3.16.09 @ 12:01PM

I'm not a fan of Bobby Jindal per se, but we do owe the man the benefit of a doubt on this one.

His after the quasi SOTU speech was a man of Indian descent doing the Andy Griffith Show....well, golliee....all Bobby needed was for the sheriff and Barney Fife to make a cameo appearance.

Folks, let's get real serious here. The only presidential candidate for 2012 is Sarah Palin. She has the personality, the charisma, the strong values, and the following to take the office back and set the nation back on the right course of fiscal responsibility.

MattSwartz| 3.16.09 @ 1:19PM

The DNC is treating Mark Sanford as the frontrunner, even expending precious psychic resources by accusing him of racism.

What do they see that you guys don't?

Sanford is the ultimate fiscal and social conservative, and he has a history of standing up for what he believes that far surpasses that of either Palin or Jindal, and I say that as somebody who liked Palin so much that he almost held his nose and voted McCain, so intense was her appeal.

MattSwartz| 3.16.09 @ 1:23PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqTkk9t4sec

They're running personal attack ads on a potential presidential candidate three years before the campaign starts. That is how people react when someone has them shook, so to speak.

Sanford is the DNC's worst nightmare, and they know it. He's also one of the few people on the national scene with the standing to debate free-market economics without being vulnerable to criticisms of inconsistency

CH| 3.16.09 @ 3:53PM

I agree with Admr. S.O.B.

Interloper| 3.25.09 @ 1:45AM

Quin Hillyer, a scion of New Orleans Confederate elite, delivered the above trip to the woodshed to Piyush Jindal because he perceived Jindal as getting out of 'his place.' That place was supposed to be in Washington state raising money for a white legislator instead of himself. Hillyer has provided an insight into the GOP's use and abue of its token Indian politician.