Uh oh.
The latest "flame up" involves Jindal's "Harry Lee story", the veracity of which is being questioned by bloggers. At the very least, Jindal appears to have artfully embellished the episode. Jindal's conversation with Harry Lee didn't occur "during Katrina", or while "the boats were all lined up ready to go", as Jindal implied.
Ben Smith reports:
[Jindal spokeswoman Melissa Sellers] said the story Jindal told in his response to Obama actually took place some days later in Lee's office -- though still in Katrina's chaotic aftermath -- as Lee was "recounting" his frustrations with the bureaucracy to someone else on the telephone.
Indeed. But if Jindal was witnessing Sheriff Lee "recount" the story a week later, why would Jindal quote Lee as saying
before I knew it, [Lee] was yelling into the phone: 'Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!'
Does Jindal want to let Timmy and Melissa explain that quote while he's on the Peter Pan ride?
The point Jindal tries to make with his embellished Harry Lee story is absurd. Jindal implies that government should just get out of the way and let "enterprising" individuals resolve any catastrophe, whether that catastrophe involves high finance, floodwater or volcanoes. See, incompetent government wasn't the problem "during Katrina", the problem was government itself. A very Reaganesque notion, to be sure, but if Jindal thinks his embellished Katrina parable will guide us through our current financial morass, he's even more simplistic than his harshest critics allege.
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Now to one of my perpetual political hobbyhorses-- looting during a catastrophe.
Here's what Jindal said a couple years after the Federal Flood:
"A lot of foolish things happened following the storm," Jindal said. "We all remember the horror stories.
"People were still in the water. Numerous heroes rushed down with boats to rescue them, but then the bureaucrats got involved. They said if you don't have proof of registration and insurance, you're not allowed to go into the water.
"People were drowning, and they were worried about paperwork. Look, if I'm drowning, I don't care if you steal the boat, I hope you come and get me."
So, unlike Bush, Jindal doesn't appear to have a "zero tolerance policy" on looting during a catastrophe. Cool.
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Update: Not many people know this, but the late Harry Lee had a painting in his office that memorialized the episode referenced in Jindal's speech. Here it is:
Big thx to Michael.
