Bobby Jindal win due to "ethnic cleansing"
By John Rohan Posted in 2007 — Comments (32) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
By now, most people who read this site already know that Representative Piyush "Bobby" Jindal won the election for governor of Louisiana with 53% of the vote. What you may not know, is why he won it. According to the conspiracy theorists, it was all due to the "ethnic cleansing" of Hurricane Katrina which forced black people out of the state! Didn't you know this was all part of Karl Rove's plan to win Louisiana?
At 36, Jindal will be the youngest Governor in the country, and the first one ever of Asian Indian extraction. He is the son of immigrants from India, and if you want to know more, his official biography can be found here.
So how is it possible that a Republican won when the country has supposedly taken a huge shift to the left in the wake of the continuing Iraq war and several high profile Republican scandals? And of all things, in a state that blamed George Bush for the devastating Hurricane Katrina in 2005?
To folks on the fringe political left, rational people would never elect a Republican, epecially under these circumstances (conveniently forgetting that Katrina was mostly a failure of response at the state and local level), so to explain this non-sequitor, another conspiracy theory is born (or I should say, an new twist on an old conspiracy): many folks actually believe hurricane Katrina was all part of a master plan by Bush/Rove to claim political advantage in Louisiana.
I am not joking. As a general rule, I don't like to cherry-pick quotes because you can always find crazy things said anywhere. But there were enough of these that it was actually becoming a groupthink theme. Some quotes below (spelling mistakes left as they were, but out of respect for Red State, curse words have been put in asterisks).
The Daily Kos is rich territory for conspiracy theories, and this one is no exception:
From "Walt star":
We now see the Katrina plan played out in full
Force the Dmeocrats to move out. That was the plan all along.
From "Bensdad":
Louisiana is red for one reason:
The Katrina Afermath.If you "factor out" New Orleans, Louisiana is red because of all the f*****g Baptists up North. New Orleans kept them honest, and purplish. Karl Rove knew that. That's why they didn't lift a finger after Katrina hit. It took awhile, but half the city left, and did not come back.
Mission accomplished.
From "Barry in MIA":
Ethnic cleansing, baby!Why do really think NOLA is still in shambles - - remember who was in charge of reconstruction? ROVE
Later:
Ethnic cleasing works.Jindal got 48% in 2003 and 52% in 2007, largely attributable to the shrinkage of the black vote due to forced relocation to other states / failure to rebuild New Orleans (we're too busy rebuilding the Sunni part of Iraq). I guess they run Milosevic in 2011.
From "Louisiana 1976":
It's Bush Administration...ethnic cleansing by not letting New Orleans rebuild and repopulate that's turning Louisiana into a Red state. Because they don't want all the poor people of color who had to evacuate to come back.
From "LeftHandedMan":
Ethnic cleansing by Hurricane
pays off for the GOP handsomely I guess.
But of course, it's not just Daily Kos... The Internet is full of nuts everywhere:
A commenter at Hot Air (which does not reflect the site as a whole):
Who here honestly doesn’t believe she [Gov Blanco] knew there was no chance she would get re-elected? Particularly after the effective ethnic cleansing job Bushitler did to replace the residents with white folk. Vanilla City here we come!
Ethnic cleansing after Katrina?
Or:
[How did he get elected?] By Running Most of the Democrats Out of the State, In This Case
And, of course, obscure blogs:
F*** YOU JINDAL!
...
You Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, are a potential deadly disease to this place. You are the Katrina of the potential candidates!
Classy.
Now let me introduce myself. My name is John Rohan, I am an officer in the US Army, and two-tour Iraq War veteran (A short bio can be found here and my web site here.)
This is my first blog post on Red State, and hopefully first of many. I normally don't write about political fights, but this was an exception. A different version of the article above can be found on my web site here. Godspeed!
A cleaner America and all that...Besides, Pelosi promised to drain the swamp 2 years ago. What's taken her so long w/ NOLA.
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men."
hitting the Northeast. We win NJ, MA, CT, etc.
On a continued positive note, I see Karl has been sightseeing in SoCal. If he can't flood them out he'll burn them out.
Long live Karl Rove!!!
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
I think Rove's behind the effort to steer the hurricanes so he can send them up that way.
So, I guess they'll get the soot from Malibu.
--
Marc Bublitz
Let the left-wing kooks and cranks prattle. Gov.-Elect Jindal has put the lie to overinflated Democratic expectations. Good times, good times, and congratulations to Bobby Jindal.
Glad to have you here.
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There's two main problems with these conspiracy theories. First, it's just not true that Bobby Jindal couldn't have won without the exodus of black voters to other parts of the country. It is true that he might not have won without a runnoff election, but he would likely have in the runnoff anyway. The reasons are fairly simple. Louisiana is the only state in the nation that has an open primary system. The open primary system allows all the candidates from all the parties to compete in one general primary. The top two vote winners earn the right to compete in the general election, UNLESS one of the candidates wins an outright majority of the votes. That's what happened in this case. Bobby Jindal won 54% of the vote. That might not seem like much, but in the open primary system that's a massive victory because you're competing against so many other candidates. [1] Even if Jindal had failed to capture the governor's mansion due to a high black voter turnout, he would have been competing against a relatively weak second-place candidate, Walter Boasso, who finished nearly 40 points behind him. The two would have split the votes of the other major candidates, John Georges and Foster Campbell, as well as all the minor candidates. Unless Boasso managed to win something like 90% of those votes he could not have won the election.
Second, black did not move out of Louisiana because they were forced out by whites, they left because of the storms, and because the economic infrastructure of the state was devastated. These are things no conspiracy could have accomplished.
[1] http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/10709521.html
A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli
and possibly even the third place finisher wer both former Republicans who only chose to run as Dems because Bobby had sewn up the Republican nomination?
It seems to me to mean that the actual Dems in this election only garnered less than 15% of the vote. I don't think Katrina dislodged NEARLY enough voters to turn back THIS tidal wave.
were both former Republicans. Foster Campbell is a Democrat of the Southern variety (populist, anti-tax, man-on-a-horse, etc.). There wasn't a real liberal Democrat anywhere in contention.
Boasso is primarily an opportunist, not a partisan. He switched sides because he calculated that he had an opportunity running as a Democrat but no real chance running as a Republican. He portrayed himself primarily in "populist" rather than partisan terms. He was the little man's "BIG" friend in Baton Rouge, the anti-intellectual against the overly cerebral Jindal, and the businessman with enough horse-sense to run a state government full of rascals. He's really an engaging character and ruthlessly ambitious, and I suspect that this race was mainly about getting his name out in preparation for a future bid for high office. Frankly, I would not be surprised to see him switch parties again in the future.
For his part, Jindal ran a boring but effective campaign. He stayed on message the whole time, and he didn't let the attacks from all his opponents phase him. If he governs like he campaigns we'll all be thoroughly bored with him in four years, even though we'll also be much better off thanks to his administration.
A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli
... Louisiana may finally be ready for a serious governor who will govern effectively rather than entertain the state with his antics (cough, Edwin Edwards, cough, cough). We shall see.
A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli
...when they see me they'll say, "There goes Loren Wallace,
the greatest thing to ever climb into a race car."
Katrina sent a lot of her victims here and we're already starting to lose elections to Dems (see Dallas city/county results for 2006).
Help! Can anyone please take some liberals?
www.scottbomb.com
Click here to donate to the Fred Thompson campaign.
AKA, New England.
We've got plenty here - hardly notice any more.
Save yourselves.
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Diplomacy is the art of saying 'Nice doggie' until you can find a rock.
I've got our church holding special prayer meetings every Thursday night from 6 to 10 pm to pray for a hurricane to hit the northeast and cleanse that fine, historic region of those Godless liberals who run it now.
Massachusetts will be Republican again. God spoke to me on this, brother.
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
Thank you for your kind offer. Let us know when we can fly over and rescue you. Just don't expect us to land. :)
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
collard greens. It'll make them homesick.
If that doesn't work, introduce them to NASCAR, Bud and hot wings. That should create an epiphany and kick-start their conversion to conservatism.
FTR, I love hog jowls, black-eyed peas and collard greens.
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“Well, the trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.” – Ronald Reagan
... many of those same people who are currently screwing with your electoral process are still screwing with ours. Just because they no longer live in Louisiana doesn't mean that they aren't voting in Louisiana. Or to be more precise, it doesn't mean that someone isn't voting in their names.
A precedent embalms a principle.
- Disraeli
the states they move to have that many more Democratic voters?
...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...
---Thomas Paine---
I believe Louisiana is going to a primary system in 2008. Sec. of State Kennedy a recent Republican convert is the RNC selected candidate. It will be intersting to see if a Woody Jenkins candidacy develops in the gop primary.
I think Jindal's election does not bode well for Mary Landrieu. Beyond her dependency on the black vote in New Orleans, her brother's victory in the Lt. Governor's race was not impressive. His main opponent Singing Sammy Kershaw had recently filed for bankruptcy and still managed to get 40% of the vote vs. Mitch's 55%. I suspect alot of Mitch's vote was from "country-club" Republicans around Baton Rouge, Lafayette and the New Orleans suburbs who could not fathom voting for a country singer in the midst of bankruptcy.
Even more foreboding for the Dems, indicted incumbent Bob Odom who has been the Ag Sec in Louisiana since the days of his crony and benefactor Edwin Edwards has been forced into a run-off and is very likely to lose in the run-off against a Republican state house member.
Bottom line, Louisiana is definitely a state heavy resources should be poured into in 2008. Landrieu was always vulnerable, she is even moreso today.
John Kennedy isn't the Secretary of State, he's the Treasurer.
The Secretary of State is Jay Dardenne, who's a Republican as well, and has been a Republican, and just won with 63% of the vote. I'm actually thinking he'd be a better candidate. Kennedy has already lost once for Senate (to Vitter) and while he's always been relatively conservative, I don't see why he'd be better then a solid Republican who just won 63% of the vote in a real race.
Jindal/Palin '16
I'm not sure that 2012, even if we do lose, wouldn't be a little soon for Jindal. He'd have to be running for President while he was running for re-election as Governor, or he'd have to not run for a second term, and frankly, Louisiana needs him too much for him to not give them a second term.
So, basically, I'm either A. Assuming we win in '08, ('12 wouldn't matter in this case) or B. We lose in '08 and '12.
And actually, while I love Palin, I'm reconsidering the second half of that ticket if Dino Rossi wins in Washington State in '08 (just found out yesterday he's running again for sure). For those of you who don't know much about him, if he can ever convince the Soviet of Washington to elect him (well, he already did, twice, but Gregoire stole it from him anyway), he'll have national potential written all over him.
That said, I'd be happy with Jindal/Palin or Jindal/Rossi. All great folks.
Jindal/Palin '16
Looks like all that money Rove secretly funneled from school lunch programs to the development of his weather control machine was a good investment after all.
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Underlying most arguments against the free market is a lack of belief in freedom itself. - Milton Friedman
It would be funnier if they weren't have electoral success.
You have to laugh and cry at the same time to deal with stuff like this.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777
They're on to us. Now I'll bet they scatter before the helicopters get a good bead on them.
Seriously, wouldn't it be great if Rove had the power they think he has. The New Madrid fault would have catapulted St. Louis into the Pacific Ocean by now.
By the way John, welcome to RS and thanks for your service.
And sorry Mr Hahn polluted your diary with that obscene picture. :) !!!!!!!!
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful 100 percent.
CONSPIRACY....whooooooo....I guess they just don't understand that you can only kick a person so many times before that person kick's back and the people of LA said enough is enough.
Democrat's never learn how to treat the "little" people and in so doing consistantly marginalize them until they wake up and become Republican's....yeah.
Freedom of Religion not Freedom from Religion