Moe Lane

Background: in the hope of reminding people of their existence, the Louisiana Democratic party  fake-endorsed Bobby Jindal for VP, in the hopes that this will get him out of Louisiana.  Lord knows that the Democrats haven’t been successful any other way – and, hey!  I guess that this means that the LA Democratic party is conceding that Obama will lose in November.

Anyway, Jindal advisor Timmy Teepell came up with the thought that immediately came to my mind:

I’m glad to hear there’s still a Democratic Party in Louisiana…

(more…)

Tuesday, the news came out: Rep. Bill Cassidy (R, LA) has hired Timmy Teepell for his 2012 re-election campaign.  If you’re wondering why I’m telling you this, this is why: Cassidy is a two-term Congressman who won almost 2/3rds of the vote in the last election (and did not get hurt by this round of redistricting) and Teepell is the guy behind Bobby Jindal’s 2011 re-election… well, ‘campaign’ is not exactly the right word.  ‘Kinetic strike from orbit‘ would be a good deal more accurate.  In other words, Teepell is not exactly needed for Cassidy’s 2012 race.

One of my colleagues – somebody who is much more knowledgeable about Louisiana politics than I am – concludes from all of this that this means that Gov. Bobby Jindal will not be running for the 2014 Senate seat against embattled incumbent Mary Landrieu, and that Rep. Cassidy will.  Hard to argue with the logic; snapping up Teepell early and giving him a chance to get used to Cassidy’s existing campaign team in what should be a pretty easy election campaign sounds like a good idea.  And it’s certainly true that Landrieu’s Senate seat – one of the last remaining bastions of Democratic power in Louisiana – is a glittering prize.  But it does leave one question: if Bobby Jindal doesn’t want to go from Governor to Senator, then where does he want to go?

Because let’s not pretend: Bobby Jindal’s a good guy and a good governor, but he’s also a politician… which means that he’s ambitious.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

We’re in day two of the three day qualifying period for the gubernatorial primary, you see.  Another reminder: the only person that the Democrats have had so far who is willing to stand up and publicly oppose Bobby Jindal is… Tara Hollis, schoolteacher.  She is not particularly expected to win – but there’s nobody else right now, and that situation is being repeated all the way down the ticket.

I want to make this clear: this is not a knock on Ms. Hollis, whose most egregious crime seems to be retaining the charmingly naive belief that the Democratic leadership actually cares overmuch about their oft-stated principles.  But it is a fairly comprehensive knock against the Democratic party of Louisiana, which has taken multiple body blows for the last half decade.  It’s curious to note: for all the verbiage written about how devastating the Katrina response supposedly was to the GOP (particularly Bush), I can’t help but notice that in the state where the devastation was strongest the most obvious change was that Louisiana went from a largely Democratic-run state to a largely Republican-run one.  It’s also curious that this hasn’t been reported on more.

Well, OK, so it’s not curious.  Thou Shalt Not Question The Media Narrative, and all that.

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Bobby Jindal for Governor.  Better safe than sorry.

Aside from Ms. Tara Hollis, of course – note that I’m not going to make fun of her for running.  I could, but there’s something endearing about meeting a Democrat who actually still believes that her party is really committed to democracy and egalitarianism and anything else besides the creation and perpetuation of a paternalistic nanny-state run by people who think that they’re too smart to work for a living.  Besides, Hollis will have that presumption beaten out of her soon enough by her fellow-Democrats; there’s no need for me to get involved even if I wanted to.

Anyway.  It’s the middle of July; the deadline for declaring is in less than two months; and there ain’t nobody else stepping up to the plate. What gives?

Moe Lane (crosspost)

PS: Bobby Jindal for Governor, of course.  And he should come to the RedState Gathering, too.

Freshman Republican Jeff Landry (LA), on why he passed up a chance to meet with the President:

“I have respectfully declined the president’s invitation to the White House today,” Rep. Jeff Landry (La.) said in a statement. “I don’t intend to spend my morning being lectured to by a president whose failed policies have put our children and grandchildren in a huge burden of debt.”

Worse, Landry would have been tediously lectured to… although I must admit that President Obama is a bit of an expert on debt.  After all, he’s had plenty of recent hands-on experience in creating it.

Yes. Yes, this ‘big government, federal override of the states’ thing is working out ever so well.

Heckuva job there, Barry.

A popular section of Pensacola Beach has been closed because of oil that washed ashore there.

Government officials closed about a quarter-mile section of Casino Beach on Thursday. Thick pools of oil washed ashore there Wednesday.

Via Gateway Pundit, via Instapundit. But never fear: the White House in on the case! (more…)

Hunt is one of the candidates running for Charlie Melancon’s seat in LA-03: the district is smack dab in the middle of Obamaspill, and as you can imagine, the candidate has views on that. Hunt’s a former general in the LA National Guard and state official, which gives him a pretty interesting perspective on this mess:

His site is here.

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

(Via Hot Air Headlines) Given that the leak hasn’t been plugged yet, and given that the Gov. Jindal has a state to look after, this isn’t surprising.

Eight weeks into the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of the Mexico, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has told the National Guard that there’s no time left to wait for BP, so they’re taking matters into their own hands.

In Fort Jackson, La., Jindal has ordered the Guard to start building barrier walls right in the middle of the ocean. The barriers, built nine miles off shore, are intended to keep the oil from reaching the coast by filling the gaps between barrier islands.

(more…)

Eating breakfast.

Priorities, folks: priorities.  Apparently Lisa Jackson figures that if Interior Dept CoS Tom Strickland could go white-water rafting while the oil spread, she can go raise money for the Democrats:

As the Obama administration struggles to contain the massive oil spill threatening the Louisiana coast, one of its top environmental officials will be the featured attraction at a fundraiser for Senate Democrats next week in Manhattan, at which donors are promised they can speak to her about their “issues of concern.”

I have an ‘issue of concern:’ the Governor of Louisiana is shouting at the federal government to sign off on emergency sand berms to keep the oil away from wetlands; and the administration is dithering. So, several questions, here:

• When was the EPA planning to help with that?
• Was the EPA planning to help with that at all?
• If it’s not… why?  I mean, I can guess, but the nicest answer implies rank partisanship on Jackson’s part, and rapidly degenerates from there.  And I mean really rapidly degenerates.

Lisa Jackson can answer these at her leisure: after all, it’s not like there’s an acute ecological crisis going on right now…

Moe Lane

Crossposted to RedState.

It’s an open seat and a prime Republican pickup, seeing as Charlie Melancon has decided to end his legislative career by losing to David Vitter in the LA-SEN race.  You say you’re a Fair-Taxer, and I believe you: you also say that your, ah, life/work experience gives you a certain useful perspective on the proper role of government in man’s affairs, and I actually believe you on that, too.  But trying to jump from the adult entertainment industry to a Senatorial seat in one go was always going to have people assume the worst of your motivations.  House seat… you might have gotten a pass on that.  Senate seat: no.

Sorry, but that’s the way it goes.  I didn’t design this political system: I’m just trying to manipulate it for my own goals, just like you and everybody else who’s paying attention.

Half of what they asked for, but he’s going away for a while.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – A former Louisiana congressman who famously stashed cash in his freezer was sentenced Friday to 13 years in prison for taking hundreds of thousands in bribes in exchange for using his influence to broker business deals in Africa.

(H/T: Riehl World View) You know, when you’re faced with this sort of situation – one where you see a flawed, corrupted, fundamentally weak man finally be caught up by the impersonal forces of law and justice – there are times where you have to look on and ask yourself, Was it worth it to see the wreckage that has been made of this person’s life?  Can there be satisfaction in seeing an elderly man sent to prison for what might be the rest of his days?  Are you satisfied at the way that the foe has been relentlessly brought low?

(pause)

(Brightly) Yes!

Moe Lane

PS: …in his freezer.

Crossposted to RedState.

In the middle of complaining about the President’s curiously limited visit to New Orleans, Washington Post opinion columnist Eugene Robinson wrote:

It was stunning that he would spend only a few hours on the ground and that he wouldn’t set foot in Mississippi or Alabama at all.

Well…

• Mississippi, 2008 result: 56% McCain, 43% Obama
• Alabama, 2008 result: 60% McCain, [39]% Obama [My glitch, folks: sorry.]

Not really, no.

Moe Lane

PS: Louisiana is part of a critical bit of Democratic mythology (How the Right Wing Left Black People to Die), so it needs to get at least a little attention.  Provided that it can be also used to push something truly important, such as pushing the Democratic health care rationing bill.

Crossposted to RedState.