Jindal sees 2012 contest between "very different visions of America"

Jamie Novogrod/NBC News

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal speaks with a Romney supporter in Coral Springs, Fla. Saturday.

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Stumping for Mitt Romney in southern Florida Saturday, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal cast the presidential election in stark terms, hammering President Obama over a vision of America that he said pits people against each other and diminishes the contributions of individuals to the national economy.

“It was ‘Hope and Change’ four years ago,” Jindal said, referring to Obama’s 2008 campaign.  “Now it’s ‘Divide and Blame.’  Everything is somebody else’s fault.”


 Jindal, who is speculated to be on Romney’s vice presidential short list, delivered the remarks from the bed of a pickup truck parked outside a newly opened Republican “victory” office here in this suburb north of Fort Lauderdale.

The visit marked just one of several high-profile events this weekend, as top Romney supporters blitzed key swing states while the candidate continues his foreign trip. 

Others rumored to be on the short list – including former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Ohio Sen. Rob Portman – also held events Saturday.

Asked during an interview with NBC News Saturday whether the activity constitutes a nationwide weekend try-out, Jindal demurred. 

“No, our role continues to be to remind voters what the important issues are in this election,” he said.

Jindal, who supported Texas Gov. Rick Perry during the Republican Primary, has since defined himself as a disciplined flag-bearer for Romney who pounces readily on Obama.  He would not comment on speculation over whom Romney might choose as a running mate.

“This election is not about Joe Biden,” Jindal told NBC News.  “I think this election is really about the two guys running at the top of the ticket with their very, very different visions of America,” he added.

Speaking from the pickup truck to about 150 Romney supporters and local volunteers, Jindal called Obama a “good family man” before attacking the President over his “you didn’t build that” statement earlier this month.

The Obama campaign asserts the statement was merely a reference to how private business and public infrastructure are interconnected.

“How many times have we heard this?” Jindal told the crowd, drawing a parallel to another set of remarks by the President in June. “You remember a few weeks before that, he said, well, the private sector is doing just ‘fine?’  It’s the public sector we’ve got to worry about?”

 “I think it’s appropriate to point out that this President has very, very liberal views,” Jindal said later during his interview.  “He says them, and then when his campaign aides realize that they don’t poll well, they don’t test well in focus groups, they come out and try to apologize for them, or take them back.”

Before Jindal arrived, about a dozen volunteers worked a phone bank inside the office, calling voters with prepared questions measuring approval of the President.

 One volunteer, Rose Criscuola, of Margate, Fla., said they were calling listed Democrats in an effort to identify swing voters.  She reached several Obama supporters.

But next to her, another volunteer, John Scarpulla, also of Margate, said he reached one such swing voter. 

Scarpulla, a retired taxi owner from Queens, New York, complained between calls about the national debt.  He said he himself is a registered Democrat, though the last Democrat he supported for President was Bill Clinton.

Asked why he hasn’t changed his party affiliation, Scarpulla said he’s “too lazy.”

 “Actually,” he added, “I don’t change it because when I get a call from Democrats, I give them a piece of my mind.”

Jindal attended area fundraisers before and after his visit to the Republican victory office.

 

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Jindal is an idiot. He is right though about one thing. There are two very different versions for America. One is for equal opportunity and prosperity for all of the people. The other one is for an aristocratic society where the wealthy few control everything.

No wonder the republicans couldn't survive without stupid and gullible people. Just like the nazi's couldn't survibe without the stupid.

    Reply#103 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 12:45 PM EDT

    This election is a choice between two visions for the future of America: One vision is for continuation of the progressive vision of a balance between equality and freedom as the moral foundation of justice, and a more recent conservative vision of an entitlement due the wealthy and the equivalence of corporations to the rights and protections of natural persons under the Constitution.

    A progressive future is one in which government is a custodian of the public trust and advocates for justice; where justice is a balance between equality and freedom. Government as a custodian of the public trust means that everyone plays by the same rules and that everyone is equal before the law. Public trust means the rights of the people to preserve and protect the common property of the United States is not severable to the interests of privatization. Public trust means that a corporation has no rights except those given to it by law and does not have equal standing with a natural born person under the Constitution.

    The conservative future is one of a hostile corporate takeover with privatization of government functions. The corporate takeover means that having wealth is an effective barrier to others participating in the process of government. It means that government would no longer serve the interests of the community but collaborate with the wealthy corporate owners to establish a separate set of laws that entitle them to preferential treatment while creating barriers to competition by eliminating opportunities for others.

    The free market is a myth: if it isn't regulated by government to prevent fraud, it is regulated by the corporate oligarchy to prevent competition. Free means not having to go to jail for fraud and theft.

    Freedom of speech for corporations is a political myth: the right to free speech is a right of the natural born person, not an artifact of legal convention.

    The conservative options for health care are no birth control, no abortion and no health insurance unapproved by a corporate CEO. The progressive option is universal health care and the right of women to make their own health decisions.

    This election is about education for citizenship, not choice for a privileged elite.

    This election is about living in fear, or finding a means to reducing the violence that haunts personal security.

    This election is about who gets to rewrite the tax laws: a privileged elite who personally benefits from tax entitlements to the wealthy, or one who advocates for tax fairness.

    This election is about who gets to nominate justices to the Supreme Court: pack a court with conservative judicial activists who want to roll back human rights, or one who advocates for judicial competence.

    This election is a moral choice between affiliation or aggression, empathy or egotism, service or selfishness, cooperation or competitiveness.

    The tale of two visions is the difference between a government of the people, by the people and for the people, and a government run by a plutocracy of wealth and corporate power.

      Reply#104 - Thu Aug 2, 2012 2:17 PM EDT
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