Gov. Bobby Jindal, who once warned the GOP to not be the “stupid party,” shared some questionable ideas on “Meet the Press.”
Louisiana Republican Governor Bobby Jindal for several years now has been working overtime to align himself with the far, far Christian right – despite this now hypocritically infamous advice to the GOP in January of 2013:
“We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults. It’s time for us to articulate our plans and our visions for America in real terms.â€
By June of that year, that plan was out the window, and Jindal all but demanded the GOP start (or rather, continue) being the stupid party.
Jindal certainly has been taking his own advice – the latter set, not the former set – as was evidenced by his comments on Sunday’s “Meet the Press.”
“I am, in general, in support of defending religious liberty,” Jindal told NBC’s Chuck Todd, in response to a question about an upcoming Louisiana “religious freedom” bill similar to Indiana’s. “I think we can do that without condoning discrimination.”
“There are many that turn to the heavy hand of government to solve society’s problems,” he continued. “Instead, we need to be working with people in their hearts and minds.”
Perhaps Gov. Jindal was thinking back to a speech he gave at a National Organization For Marriage anti-gay marriage rally in 2012, when he warned that gay marriage is a slippery slope to overturning the Second Amendment.
“We’re not talking about day-to-day routine commercial transactions,” Jindal said. “We’re talking about a very specific example here of business owners, of florists, of musicians, of caterers who are being forced to either pay thousands of dollars or close their businesses if they don’t want to participate in a wedding ceremony that contradicts their religious beliefs.”
“So in that instance, yeah, I think part of the First Amendment means that we allow individuals to obey their conscience, to obey their religious beliefs,” he noted.
“I was disappointed that you could see Christians and their businesses face discrimination in Indiana, but I hope the legislators will fix that — rectify that.”
“The good news is our society is moving in a direction of more tolerance,†Jindal observed. “My concern about creating special legal protections is historically in our country, we’ve only done that in extraordinary circumstances. It doesn’t appear to me we’re in one of those moments today.â€
“I have faith and confidence in the people in America and the people of New Orleans and the people of Louisiana to not tolerate discrimination,” he continued, “to not support businesses that want to support discrimination,†he added. “So absolutely we need to have a society where we’re not discriminating against people. I do think we need to be very careful about creating special rights.â€
So, rights for Christians, fine. Rights for gays, not so much.
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