Yesterday on NBC’s Meet the Press, host David Gregory asserted that the Republican Party "used to be the party of big ideas." Gregory then asked his guest Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA), "What’s the big idea Senator McCain is campaigning on?" Jindal responded, "I think there’s several," but couldn’t provide an answer. Gregory asked again, "Where are the new big ideas of the Republican Party that John McCain is, is championing?" And again Jindal couldn’t provide an answer.
Governor Bobby Jindal (R-LA) is just the latest McCain surrogate to be stumped when asked to defend McCain’s policies. Earlier this month, former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA) couldn’t name a single McCain accomplishment on energy in his long congressional career. Similarly, Gov. Mark Sanford (R-SC) recently drew a blank when asked to name a major economic policy that Bush and McCain do not agree on.
Now if Jindal, a potential McCain running mate, can’t think of even one of McCain's "Big Ideas", it’s probably safe to say voters won’t be able to, either:
Now, one could make the argument that McCain doesn’t need new ideas, because he’ll do such a good job following through on the Bush/Cheney agenda. In fact, I’d be over the moon to hear McCain's campaign surrogates make this point.
Here's a couple of BIG McCain ideas that Governor Jindal could have mentioned:
What about: the "Big Oil" Tax Breaks idea? $4 billion not big enough?
What about: "Drill, drill, drill."
What about: "Bomb - bomb - bomb, Bomb - bomb Iran"
What about: let’s all dump our first wives and marry heiresses. improved his economic standing hundred-fold, should work for the rest of us.
Whether there is talking or silence... it’s obvious the GOP is the party of empty heads.
Someone needs to splice together the Romney, Sanford, and Jindal moments of emptiness.