Well, after it appeared that Democratic and Republican Governors were feeling nice and bi-partisany after their meeting with President Obama today at the White House, a neat little hissy fit exploded in front of the White House perpetuated by Bobby Jindal. He almost always acts like a jerk in a public and why anyone takes him seriously is lost on me, but he fueled and instigated the outburst in front of the White House.
The nation's governors emerged from a meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday claiming harmony, only to immediately break into an on-camera partisan feud in front of the West Wing.
Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal lashed out first, saying if Obama were serious about growing the economy he would approve the Keystone XL pipeline project and take other executive actions.
Instead, Jindal said, Obama "seems to be waving the white flag of surrender" on the economy by focusing on raising the federal minimum wage to $10.10, up from $7.25. "The Obama economy is now the minimum wage economy. I think we can do better than that," Jindal said.
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Connecticut Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy took over the microphone from Jindal and responded sharply, "Wait a second, until a few moments ago we were going down a pretty cooperative road. So let me just say that we don't all agree that moving Canadian oil through the United States is necessarily the best thing for the United States economy."Malloy said Jindal's "white flag statement" was the most partisan of their weekend conference and that many governors support a minimum wage increase.
"What the heck was a reference to white flag when it comes to people making $404 a week?" Malloy snapped. "I mean, that's the most insane statement I've ever heard."
Jindal did not the back down. "If that's the most partisan thing he's heard all weekend, I want to make sure he hears a more partisan statement," the Louisiana governor responded. "I think we can grow the economy more if we would delay more of these Obamacare mandates."
Digby calls it like a scene from House of Cards.
In an initial story by Jonathan Karl, it made it seem like the Democrats were just as jerky as Jindal, but in the longer piece by AP, the Dems did fight back hard and got some good shots in.
Gov. Jindal is fighting hard to repair the damage he caused himself after his Howdy Doody GOP response moment and it appears he believes that if he becomes an even bigger jerk, the Tea Party will rally around him.
