Captain's Quarters -

Bravo... One down, hundreds to go...

How bout that William Jefferson scandal? Good ol Willy is probably not to pleased with this result.

If he can clean up Louisiana

And winged porcine's might fly from my nether regions, too. I wouldn't hold my breath, Lousyanna's corruption runs deep, and it'll take more than 8 years to root it out.

And of course the Kostards are attributing this to Darth Rove successfully "ethnic cleansing" New Orleans via Katrina.

Having grown up in the southeast, this news amazed me. An Indian or Pakistani winning an election in the Midwest or South is hard to comprehend. But look at his background. Jindal switched faith from Hindu to Catholicism as a child- not for political reasons, he is genuine. He is probably the only Rhodes Scholar who supports the teaching of Intelligent Design.

His opposition to abortion surprises me the most. India is a nation that suffers from massive over-population (a billion plus). The country lacks the resources or means to provide basic housing to a significant part of its population. I've never met an Indian who isn't a supporter of abortion and the free distribution of birth control products (something the US needs to start aggressively funding in all parts of the world).

The displaced blacks of NO will be back and ready to do a little ethnic cleansing of their own. From little acorns mighty oaks grow. Palestine on the Mississippi.

This is being reported in the Middle East newspapers, too. The fact that he is Indian with immigrant parents. No mention made of the other fact that he started off Hindu and is now Catholic, so that Arab readers can safely assume he might be Muslim.

Another blow to the bogus leftist narrative of a populist uprising against Republicans because of Iraq and Katrina.

One might even say this is another grim milestone for the democrat party.

bayam sez he's surprised an Indian like Jindal is pro-life because most Indians ought to recognize the dysfunction of overpopulation.

Yes if one has a headache, one can cure it by blowing ones head off, and yes one can "cure" overpopulation by abortion and dispensing birth control pills to kids in pez dispensers.

However, I thought we all agreed that you don't kill a village in order to save it?

What profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? It's a question secular progressives need to ask themselves with complete honesty and candor. A culture is not a patient that needs to be cured by a benevolent central health ministry. Don't confuse moral issues with medical ones.

Jindal won because he strikes people who meet him..I have as being a lot more intelligent when he is asleep than all the rest of the politicians in Louisiana when they are awake. We need some brains...

I see him running for National Office sometime in the future and I know that I will vote for him.

Lost in the Jindal brouhaha was the fact that another Democrat lost in Louisiana...

Unable to withstand the fallout from two Katrina-related prosecutions, Attorney General Charles Foti narrowly missed a runoff that will leave the former Orleans criminal sheriff out of public life for the first time in three decades.

Foti fell short of second place in a three-man field, with Republican Royal Alexander, a Shreveport lawyer, emerging to face primary leader James "Buddy" Caldwell, a Democrat and longtime district attorney from Tallulah. The two will meet in a battle sure to be vitriolic, judging from the increasingly caustic tone of the campaign leading up to Saturday's vote.

This is a wholly remarkable set of races for Louisiana just for the fact that a number of offices went to, or were retained by, Republicans without the need for a runoff.

The state's major offices were typically Democrat-held for years with few exceptions.

Governor was occasionally Republican-held (Roemer, Foster) while the late Fox McKeithen held the Secretary Of State office as a Republican until shortly before his death.

In THIS election, Republicans officially hold the Governor, Secretary Of State, Secretary Of Treasury, and Secretary Of Insurance offices outright.

There are runoffs for Secretary Of Agriculture and Attorney General in which a Republican will face a Democrat.

The only office won outright by a Democrat was Lieutenant Governor, in which incumbent Mitch Landrieu, brother of Senator Mary Landrieu, was re-elected by a commanding margin.

Of the runoffs, both are impressive for their own reasons.

As stated above, the AG race is impressive because incumbent AG Charles Foti didn't even make the runoff, getting pushed out by approximately 6,000 votes.

It's VERY rare for an official running for re-election to miss the runoff, as the last big time I remember that happening was in the early 90s, when crook Edwin Edwards and racist David Duke pushed incumbent Governor Buddy Roemer out of the runoff.

The Agriculture Commissioner race is impressive as well, as long-term incumbent Bob Odom got pushed to a runoff against Republican Mike Strain.

All of Odom's opponents were Republican, so the total vote against Odom was 59%, with 40% of it going directly for Strain.

Knocking Odom out of office would be a tremendous boon, as he's been the poster-child for corrupt Louisiana politicians for years.

(He's been indicted many times, but a lot of those indictments got tossed by politically-connected judges for questionable reasons.)

If Strain and Royal Alexander (AG race) both win their respective runoffs, then it will be a near-total flip of how things USUALLY turn out down here... with Democrats only holding one major office and the Republicans controlling the rest of them.

Bobby Jindal's win in LA marks the rise of Generation X to political power - and in the GOP. This couldn't have come any sooner.

Congrats, Governor!

His opposition to abortion surprises me the most. India is a nation that suffers from massive over-population (a billion plus). The country lacks the resources or means to provide basic housing to a significant part of its population. I've never met an Indian who isn't a supporter of abortion and the free distribution of birth control products (something the US needs to start aggressively funding in all parts of the world).

Have you met any Indian Catholics? One of the priests at my church is Indian and he gave a VERY strongly worded anti-abortion homily three weeks ago. From what I've heard, a lot of Asian (and African) Catholics tend to be conservative Catholics....and that means anti-abortion and anti-birth control.

How odd. I remember being told by some very reliable moonbats that Jindal could never be elected to statewide office in Louisiana because of all of those nasty Republican racists who would refuse to vote for him. Could they have been. . .wrong?

Dear M. Scott Eiland,

The answer to your rhetorical questions is, of course, "Yup." ;)

Jindal's victory, of course, blows the standard leftist racial and ethic boilerplate to smithereens. Therefore, look for Kossacks and DU'er's to explain away Jindal's victory by assertions that a) national and state Republican party elders had bestowed "honorary whiteness" upon him and b) that, in return, he promised to be their sock puppet.

I don't bother looking at the Kos or DU sites, but I'll wager these rationales have already been submitted to the comments section by various lost souls. But, hey, the folks who post there are as predictable as a Sylvester Stallone movie flop!

The extreme left usual suspects donned sack cloth and ashes weeks ago when the polls relentlessly foretold the results. The now have had time to work on the current spin.

This is a vindication against all the left and the MSM agenda driven issues to tar the Bush administration and republicans in general with every type of card in the playing deck.

One side note of interest is Royal Alexander was the chief of staff (no relation) to Rodney Alexander who's intern was part of the focus in the Foley scandal released with perfect timing to affect the election process in Florida 16th District.

I saw a small blurb about this in my local newspaper and noticed the remarkable absence of the "R-word" in the text. The party of the two 'top losers' was mentioned, but Jindal's own affiliation wasn't.

How odd...

Moving back to New Orleans which today has a murder rate exceeding the pre Katrina levels with only less than 1/2 the population makes as much sense as taking a vacation in Anbar province 18 months ago.

Shows that Louisiana voters are a heck of a lot smarter that voters here in NJ. Here they accept any abuse the Democrats dish out including corruption, tax increases for 5 years straight, a horrendous business environment, politicians that hold multiple public offices simultaneously, et., etc., the list just keeps going on. Now the genius Corzine wants a public agency set up to build power plants!!! Wait till they kow tow to the global warming nut cases which you know will happen.

After the mayor of Passaic was accused of accepting bribes as part of a sting, the stupid people in the town defended him by saying he was not perfect and neither are they.

No wonder the state is loosing population as people vote with their feet. Yet the Democrats seem surprised by that.

If the dems in Louisana are corrupt - be gone with them. Americans need competence and as much independece that they desire - and I say this as a principled left-of-centerer.

It's such a shame Jindal has to be anti-choice and anti-birth control. Both positions are deeply unethical...

Meh, hopefully he can bring more good than bad, considering it seems inevitable he gets elected.

MarkJ said:

"I don't bother looking at the Kos or DU sites, but I'll wager these rationales have already been submitted to the comments section by various lost souls."

Some of the chattering class from DU:

"....I personally don't think the VOTERS decided anything yesterday....there is no receipt...nor any verification after the fact either...in this area...there were *glitches* all evening with the results too....hmmmm"

"Katrina... "Mission: Accomplished!"

A purple state is now trending red. That was the plan... that's why the refugees were scattered... that's why rebuilding is taking so long."

"New Orleans was waiting to happen. The relocation of thousands to places outside the state was planned. Especially to places that an influx of Democratic voters wouldn't affect too much."

"This guy is trouble. Could be a future Presidential canidate - we must destroy him -NOW"

"So much for the recovery. on the one hand, Bush**co might well decide to stop screwing La. and handing all the $$$ to Haley Barbour's Miss. now that the once-Gret Stet has a Rove protege at the helm.

On the other hand, Piyush (his given name) will be certain to spend all that largesse on the Disneyland model of recovery (i.e. no black people allowed unless blowing a trumpet).

And to think, I was ready to go back, given the opportunity. Looks like they'll have to do without me for a few more years"

NYT reaction today to the win

son of immigrants from India

first nonwhite governor since a Reconstruction-era figure briefly held the office 130 years ago

is likely to be regarded as a racial breakthrough of sorts in this once-segregated state. Still, it is one with qualifiers attached.

For another, he did not have the support of a majority of the state’s blacks, about a third of the population, who vote Democratic.

As a side not, Bobby Jindals given name is Piyush. While a small child watching the Brady Bunch show he adopted Bobby Brady's name for his own. But Governor, perhaps 'Bob' at your age?

The last election the Dems darkened his picture and plastered it all over the air waves before the runoff. I would like to think that the reason the Dmes did that was to help Jindal garner some African Amercian support. I'm wrong, the Dems are the real racists in America, they prove it over and over again.

If he does a decent job in LA for the next 8 years this man will have to be considered the front runner after Rudy is term limited. Will be a brouhaha of a race if he goes up against whoever Rudy picks for VP. (Pawlenty anyone? Shame he can't pick Lingle.) The MSM knows this, the next 8 years will be an endless smearing of him.

and xel, killing babies is ethical? The only choice in 'choice' is what manner to terminate their life; the real shame is that you can't even call it what it is: abortion. Pro-abortion. You are a very sick person and need help.

Here's my capture of the NYT story:

Non-white wins - Blacks hardest hit.

Amazing how for that worthy publication all must be analyzed along racial lines.

What about the possiblity that even Democrats were disgusted with the woeful performance of Blanco and the Democratic administrations running LA and NO during Katrina and its aftermath?

Silence, of course.

This outght to make the fact checkers over at the NYT heads explode

But what is the logic here? Can there be no “racial breakthroughs” unless blacks vote for them?

Isn’t it more significant that whites voted for him — and in overwhelming numbers, despite the color of his skin? Isn’t that a clear sign of an absence of so-called racial prejudice?

Or is it?

Maybe someone should tell the race-obsessed Solons at The Times that anthropologists classify Indians as members of the Caucasian race. (Indeed, they are the original “Aryans.”)

Then watch their heads explode.

I hope Rep Jindal's election as the Governor-elect of Louisiana has a two-pronged effect:

1. Encourage young Americans of South Asian extraction to contemplate careers apart from the cliched medical/legal/IT/consultancy/engineering careers that they are all forced to enter by their parents (Yes, folks, that is the sad truth in South Asian American communities all over the US). I hope and pray that parents will see that their kids can go to public service or journalism or public policy as viable career options.

2. The irony of being an Indian (non-US citizen) in the US is talking to Indian-Americans who overwhelmingly lead very conservative lives (low divorce rates, very religious, patriotic, hardworking, emphasis on families and academics, do not depend on government handouts, etc) and yet call themselves liberal leaning or Democrat supporting. Nothing could be farther from the lives they lead and the political ideologies they support, primarily because their first exposure to American culture, news, etc is via Hollywood movies and TV and liberal mainstream media outlets like the NYT, WP, SF Chronicle, etc or via extreme leftist "public" channels like PBS or NPR. Being new immigrants, they have no other parameter or yardstick to critique liberal propaganda on these media outlets and are quite easily 'indoctrinated.' I am hoping that the election of a conservative Republican like Rep Jindal will give my fellow Indians the option of exploring ideologies like conservatism and/or libertarianism, etc. I hope they will sit back and think for a while and not fall for the old, cliched Democratic lie of the GOP being a party of "white, right-wing bigots" only. For, I do not see a greater disconnect between the conservative values that they practice in their personal lives and the values espoused by their political party of choice.

Thank you, Rep Jindal. I hope this will be a break-out moment for Americans of South Asian descent.

Sri Menon,

Your comments are very thoughtful. Thank you for them. My in-laws are South Asian immigrants are your description of the conservative nature of the community is very true. Of course, this is true of a much larger portion of the black community than the 10% who vote R.

Also, fwiw, a majority of "asians" generally voted R until very recently. Even in 2004, Bush received 40% of the "asian" vote. "Asians" include East Asians and South Asians so it is hard to tease out the voting habits of South Asians alone.

"Moving back to New Orleans which today has a murder rate exceeding the pre Katrina levels with only less than 1/2 the population makes as much sense as taking a vacation in Anbar province 18 months ago."

I just want to point out that the murder rate is actually LESS than before Katrina.

I noticed in the St. Paul Minnesota paper today that they had a very small blurb on this race and they never mentioned he was a Republican. Hmm--- I wonder why?

Jindal's first job has got to be putting NOLA back on the map. The message here is that the people of Louisiana do not trust the Democrats to do anything for them

This is a complete, 100% repudiation of the moonbat theory that is "Katrina being Bush's fault." It's Blanco's fault along with Dollar Bill Jefferson and the rest of the corrupt Dems in the state, and that's why they are being ripped out at the root by the voters. They abandoned the state, not Bush. Now Blanco is gone and the Dems will follow.

And this will not be the only state that this happens in. Not by a long shot. This is the beginning of the sea change that will leave the Democrats broken for a generation and the Euro-Socialist nanny-state demolished for good.

Bobby Jindal is very much the new face of the new generation Big Tent GOP: devout, brilliant, driven, blindingly intelligent, self-reliant, and ready to debate and defeat the "conventional wisdom" of the left at every turn.

And it's far past time for the revolution to begin.

I don't think this was a sign of things to come at all. I'm from Louisiana and am a registered independent. I vote mostly Democrat. I voted for Both Gore and Kerry. However, I voted for Jindal yesterday. It wasn't so much that I agree with his positions but he's very smart and I think people in Louisiana are just looking for someone who can govern. Our state is trending Republican. But I don't think this is a national trend. Kentucky is about to elect a Democrat and I think you can argue that Kentucky is anything but liberal. But they also have some corrupt politicians including the sitting governor and I'm sure they just want someone who can lead.

The message here is that the people of Louisiana do not trust the Democrats to do anything for them

The fact that they expect anyone, from any party, from any government, to do anything for them, is testament to the fact that the real difference between the R's and D's is who has the better Nanny/Daddy state management team.

At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huey_Long
we read Huey Long, a Democrat, he was noted for his radical populist policies, he served as Governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a U.S. senator from 1932 to 1935.
So Dems in Louisiana have a long history.

Here's the best thing about this, something that we ALL should be celebrating IMO. Here's a guy, a 2nd generation immigrant who just got elected as the head executive of a State, a very powerful political position to say the least. Leftys who tout diversity and such should be dancing in the streets over this guy's victory, yeah they're not just cause he's not got a "D" after his name. Can you say: "hypocrites"?

bayam sez he's surprised an Indian like Jindal is pro-life because most Indians ought to recognize the dysfunction of overpopulation. Yes if one has a headache, one can cure it by blowing ones head off, and yes one can "cure" overpopulation by abortion and dispensing birth control pills to kids in pez dispensers.

I wasn't talking about dispensing birth control to kids, but to adults. It's unfortunate that the US doesn't do more on that front. In 40 years, overpopulation is going to hit this world in a very painful way for everyone. Food and severe water shortages will disrupt significant parts of world. Even the US will be affected by foreign populations that continue to grow at a fast rate.

We should be celebrating this as the picture of the American Dream; the son of immigrant parents raised to believe you can be anything you want to be in America, this is the Land of the Free. Matter of fact, I will. Congratulations Bobby Jindal! Show the way!

bayam,

Jindal has made the determination that abortion is the taking of human life. A whole lot of Indians also think nothing of exposing female infants to die or selectively aborting female babies (I know, you don't think they are babies, but Jindal does).

By the way, a nuclear weapon is also a very good population control mechanism. What do you think -- does the end justify the means?

Miss Jean

To clarify the body count is higher now then pre Katrina with half the population the rate per capita has more than doubled.

They were in the running for murder capital of the US before Katrina.

Bayam,

As one other person pointed out, abortion has resulted in a huge mismatch between girls and boys in parts of India, perhaps a gap of as much as 30 million fewer females. Also, your fears about overpopulation are way exaggerated. The worldwide trend is the opposite. Believe it or not, forced abortion in China is about to cause a major demographic and economic crisis there. Hundreds of millions of elderly supported by fewer and fewer younger workers, disproportionately male since as in India, girl babies are destroyed in far greater numbers. Japan is suffering the enervating effects of high abortion and low birth rates.

bayam:
Killing a child in the womb is more ethical than letting the child live?

India, the land of one of the most fertile river systems in the world, has a population density of 778 persons per arable square kilometer. It is growing more slowly than Pakistan, with a population density of 866 persons per arable square kilometer. China has a population density of 954 persons per arable square kilometer. Indonesia has 1,165. The Philippines have 1,608, almost ten times the density of the United States. Israel comes in with a whopping 2,046 and Japan with a mind-boggling 2,921.

India can support more people than it has. There is no need for it to kill babies, as Mother Theresa would have told you should you have visited her in the slums of Calcutta and asked. Malthusianism of the sort that you appear to endorse is part of the racist pseudoscience of eugenics that was behind the Nazi death camps. Abortion is no more ethical than the experiments of Josef Mengele.

Erlich pulled off a similar victory over corrupt democrats in Maryland, but went from simple corruption to all out loot and pillage. Hopefully Jindal won't make the same mistake.

Really now, if you think the corruption problem is limited to Democrats in Louisiana, well, you don't know Louisiana. It's pretty much an inside/outside thing. Or is it everywhere where the tax assessor calls you at home to invite you to his office to "discuss" [wink-wink] how your property gets assessed? When you get a call like that, you don't think Democrat or Republican but "inside."

Why did you say Bobby Jindal was a Non-white?

That ALMOST implies that he is black.

Why DIDN'T YOU SAY HE IS ASIAN WHICH HE IS?

He will probably make a good Governor.

Congratulations Bobby Jindal!!

"You are a very sick person and need help."

Thank you for trying to affirm the prejudices against pro-"lifers". Luckily my mind is far more flexible than yours, yet more civil and respectful of dissent. Now, are there any adults here?

Let me see if I have it right....

The native-born, dark-skinned son of legal immigrants fulfills the American dream and gets elected to the state legislature then the governorship of a racist state (if you believe the Revs. Al and Jesse), and the MSM hardly mentions this fact, nor his party afiliation if they indeed covered it at all...

Did they mention that he was the only major Republican in the race, and his 3 opponents were 2 career Demaocat pols and an independently-wealthy business man?

Did they mention that he, in his first bid for elected office, won the popular vote in the last gubernatorial race, and lost the runoff by ONLY THREE percentage points?

Did they mention that he is now one of the youngest governors of Louisiana, or of any state?

Food for thought, isn't it???

Burford, regarding MD Gov Erlich:

How exactly did Erlich, who had to work with a hugely Democratic legislature, loot and pillage? I guess that was why there was a one billion dollar surplus in the state's coffers when he left office.

BTW, where is that billion dollars now that the new administration has had to legalize slots because they are now broke? Quit projecting please.

Xel,

To state that your opponents are unethical and immoral shows a lack of the flexibility you claim to have. There are quite ethical reasons to be anti-abortion/anti-choice, which, if you are truly flexible, are ones you should claim you see but disagree with for reasons of greater ethical weight in your mind.

In some cases, inflexibility is the correct approach -- consider the cases of Stephen Douglas and Frederick Douglass. Which one was flexible, and which one inflexible, on the topic of slavery? Which one do we remember as being correct, and why?

One of the reasons the anti-abortion crowd is slowly making headway is the realization by Gen X'ers that they are lucky to be alive -- that there was a significant probability that they could have been killed prior to birth merely because their mother did not want them. "Every child a wanted child" makes the child a property devoid of any right not given it by its parents; it negates our Constitution.

Finally, the answer your final queston is that there are adults here. The asking of the question is an ad-hominem attack on every poster here -- is that what you intended?

No mention in the secular media about the attacks on Jindals Catholicism