PrairiePundit

Politico: The Justice Department suffered a setback Tuesday when the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in effect ruled that the feds don't have the authority to regulate Louisiana's school voucher program. In a 2-1 decision written by Judge Edith Jones, the appeals court says a district court had no jurisdiction to let DOJ collect data and monitor the voucher program. The fight between federal officials and Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal started in 2013 when then-Attorney General Eric Holder tried to halt the program out of concern that it was upsetting the racial balance of some public school districts. The case is based on a decades-old decision that said the state couldn't give money to private schools that segregate students. Holder later abandoned that effort, instead asking for data on the racial background of students participating in the program each year so federal officials could monitor the program's effect on school segregation. DOJ could then use that ...

Washington Post: When ‘Piyush’ becomes ‘Bobby Jindal’ I have seen several stories that are critical of Bobby Jindal for embracing the American culture and adopting a more American sounding name.   Are they being racist or do they just not like the American culture?  Jindal is a smart articulate man.  They should accept him as he is and stop wallowing in multi culti arguments that have zero to do with his ability as a leader.  These are the same people who are happy about Bruce becoming Caitlyn but think there is something sinister about Jindal changing his first name when he was a kid.

Jonah Goldberg: Liberals Are Playing a Racial Shell Game You may be a liberal if you think it is OK for Elizabeth Warren to claim to be an Indian, but you think Bobby Jindal is not Indian despite his DNA.  At its heart their argument represents anger toward Jindal and Nikki Haley because they have embraced the American culture and became successful instead of the liberal grievance and victim culture.

Joe Cunningham: The Casual Racism of the Left The left finds fault with Jindal for his embrace of the American culture.  They are like those idiots who criticize educated blacks for "acting white."  Jindal is extremely intelligent and that seems to bother the left too.

Leon Wolf: ... These stories crop up every year in Louisiana and have several features in common: 1. an observation that the state faces a budget shortfall, 2. complaining from various Republicans indicating that revenues (read: taxes) should be raised 3. anecdotal evidence that previous years’ budget cuts have wrought terrible hardships on the people of Louisiana. They always conveniently omit 1. Actual data 2. The context of previous years which indicates that this truly is another instance of same song, different verse. Allow me to rectify the first of those deficiencies with some actual data about the effect of Jindal’s budgetary approach, which has remained constant throughout virtually his entire tenure. Weak-kneed pundits (and state legislators’) favorite word for Jindal’s budgetary approach is “irresponsible,” primarily because Jindal refuses, out of hand, to consider tax increases to make up shortfalls. There is absolutely no reason given for why this is “irresponsible” o...

The Governors got tired of his harping on immigration issue to the exclusion of significant issues.

Byron York: "There are hundreds of thousands of Americans who are working today who will lose their jobs as a consequence of this Republican decision," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said during a conference call with reporters Sunday afternoon. "This is going to have a very real impact on people's lives and on communities." The Obama administration has entered the full-court-press stage of its campaign to defeat a measure, known as sequestration, that would slow the rate of growth of federal spending. Its latest tactic is to release a state-by-state analysis claiming the cuts would hit hard in every corner of the country. Louisiana, for example, would lose $15.8 million in education funds, putting 220 teachers' jobs at risk, according to the White House. Head Start would be eliminated for 1,400 children, and there would be many more cuts in military spending, law enforcement, job training, environmental and other programs. Wisconsin, to ...

Conn Carroll: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wowed conservatives at the annual Republican National Committee meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina, last night with a  stinging indictment  of how Republicans are running the party in Washington: Look at the debates that have dominated Washington in just the last few weeks: The fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling, and Joe Biden’s gun control task force. These are in reality sideshows in Washington that we have allowed to take center stage in our country – and as conservatives, we are falling into the sideshow trap. Instead of obsessing over what is going on in Washington, Jindal, who is Chairman of the Republican Governors Association, urged conservatives to look to the states: In addition to Washington, there are a bunch of outlying areas we call states, but they are pretty much just adjuncts of the federal government. This is not the idea of America. But this is what America will become if we do not reorient our way of think...

Politico: Jindal: Obama Measures Success by Number of People on Food Stamps, Govt Run Health Care I think Jindal has correctly framed the issues.  Democrats will start calling his manes rather than responding to the issue raised.

Washington Post: ... “The court has declared that President Obama can have the federal government use its powers of taxation to compel behavior, and that’s one of the most frightening legal aspects of this decision,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said in a conference call with reporters that was arranged by the Republican National Committee. “It really raises the question, what’s next? Taxes on people that refuse to eat tofu or refuse to drive a Chevy Volt?” ... That argument is going to resonate because it sounds like something Obama would do.

Washington Post: Mitt Romney told reporters here Tuesday that his vice presidential search team is vetting Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), one of the Republican Party’s biggest young stars, to be his running mate.   “Marco Rubio is being thoroughly vetted as part of our process,” Romney told reporters, according to a pool report, after gathering a press pool for an unannounced campaign stop Tuesday afternoon in Michigan.   Romney’s comments come on a day when ABC News first reported that his search team had not asked Rubio to complete a questionnaire or submit any personal financial documents. One outside Romney adviser confirmed the report to The Washington Post later Tuesday, but the adviser left open the possibility that Romney officials could decide to thoroughly vet Rubio at a later date.   Another adviser who works directly on the campaign told the Post earlier Tuesday that Romney officials conducted a preliminary review of Rubio, mostly using documents, statemen...

The Ticket: Is Bobby Jindal being vetted by the Romney camp? He won’t say he is, won’t say he isn’t Bobby Jindal is one of the smartest people in this country who is in politics.  He has also raised his game on the stump.  I think he has a bright future where ever he is working.  He has done a great job with reforms in Louisiana and in building the state's economy.  He is certainly smarter than both Obama and Biden.  That would be pretty galling for liberals

Fred Barnes: ... Jindal has done what most -governors only dream about. But he and his aides are painfully aware his accomplishments are unknown outside the state. To spread the word, they’ve produced a five-page report headlined “Louisiana Turnaround—The Untold Story.” It’s a largely factual document with minimal spin or exaggeration.   Listing 63 separate actions, reforms, or changes, it makes the point that a lot has happened in Jindal’s first four years. He cut spending sharply before that became sexy. In 2008, the state budget was $34.4 billion. For 2012, it’s $25.4 billion, a 26 percent decline. Nearly 10,000 state jobs have been eliminated. “If you enforce fiscal discipline, it frees you to do things you should have done anyway,” according to Jindal.   He gets credit for the biggest income tax cut—$1.1 billion over five years—in state history. At his instigation, the legislature approved an array of business tax reductions, including a 25 to 30 percent t...

NOLA: Gov.  Bobby Jindal  rolled to an easy re-election Saturday, defeating nine little-known and under-financed candidates in a record-setting landslide. Based on incomplete returns, Jindal had about 66 percent of the vote, eclipsing the 62.31 percent open-primary era victory margin Democrat Edwin Edwards tallied to oust then-Gov. David Treen in the 1983. It also came on a day when turnout was considerably lighter than the 46.6 percent who voted in the 2007 statewide race, then the smallest turnout in the open gubernatorial primary system that began in 1975.   His margin was so overwhelming that Jindal was able to deliver his victory speech a little more than 45 minutes after polls closed at 8 p.m., arriving on stage at the Baton Rouge Renaissance hotel in the company of LSU football coach Les Miles, whose team had just defeated Auburn, 45-10. "Every time I run for governor the LSU Tigers win the national championship," Jindal told the jubilant crowd. "I'm not...

Reuters: ...   Recent polls suggest the first-term Louisiana governor may easily win a second term against his opponents, who are polling in the single digits. In one poll released this month by WWL-TV in New Orleans, 57 percent of registered voters said they'd choose Jindal, while his nine opponents garnered only 15 percent combined. ... They will start counting the votes around 8 p.m.  It looks like Jindal will win without a run off in Louisiana's combined primary where candidates from all parties run against each other.  

Watch the latest video at <a href="http://video.foxnews.com">video.foxnews.com</a> He is a smart guy who knows what has worked in Louisiana and Texas.

Image via Wikipedia Melinda Henneberger: When at least four possible presidential contenders – Govs. Haley Barbour , Bobby Jindal , Tim Pawlenty and Mitch Daniels -- shared a stage at the Republican Governors Association conference Thursday morning, along with Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie , who do you think was the standout? Yes, Barbour's every word is quotable, Daniels has sewn up the David Brooks primary, and no one can say that Pawlenty doesn't present well. But if you read Politics Daily 's Jill Lawrence, you might not be surprised to learn that it was Christie who got the most applause and laughs from the crowd. What new governors can't understand, he said, is that "I don't care if you had a Democrat or a Republican before you,'' you will still be up against the same "it's never been done that way'' mindset. He told governors-elect that their own political advisers will tell them, "Let's not kick anybody yo...

Jay Ambrose: Here it was, the crystallizing moment that told us who is who and what is what in the Gulf oil spill disaster and that also signaled that there really is reliable leadership to be found in this country. Not that there was high drama when Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal got 16 barges busy dredging up BP oil that was otherwise going to wreak havoc. He has been ever alert, ever in motion, ever figuring out new ways to save his state from ruin, and this decisive action was nothing new for him. Then, however, we had a counter-attack. The Coast Guard put the operation on hold for fear the barges might not have life jackets or fire extinguishers aboard. To find out the hard way, officers attempted without success to contact the company that built the barges. Meanwhile Jindal was trying to contact someone in the Coast Guard or White House. It took 24 precious hours to wring retreat out of these abettors of gooey grief. So where was the White House on this, anyway? Ha...

He is unquestionably a smart guy, but the reviews of his speech last night were not good. This seems to be a better forum for him. Perhaps we should let Sarah Palin handle the responses from now on.

Opinion Journal: Debt-laden state governments were supposed to be the big winners from the $787 billion economic stimulus bill. But at least five Republican Governors are saying thanks but no thanks to some of the $150 billion of "free" money doled out to states, because it could make their budget headaches much worse down the line. And they're right. These Governors -- Haley Barbour of Mississippi, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Butch Otter of Idaho, Rick Perry of Texas and Mark Sanford of South Carolina -- all have the same objection: The tens of billions of dollars of aid for health care, welfare and education will disappear in two years and leave states with no way to finance the expanded programs. Mr. Perry sent a letter to President Obama last week warning that Texas may refuse certain stimulus funds. "If this money expands entitlements, we will not accept it. This is exactly how addicts get hooked on drugs," he says. Consider South Carolina. Its annual budge...