GOP: The Stupid Party

Governor Jindal in Politico:

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal on Monday called on Republicans to “stop being the stupid party” and make a concerted effort to reach a broader swath of voters with an inclusive economic message that pre-empts efforts to caricature the GOP as the party of the rich.

In his first interview since his party’s electoral thumping last week, Jindal urged Republicans to both reject anti-intellectualism and embrace a populist-tinged reform approach that he said would mitigate what exit polls show was one of President Barack Obama’s most effective lines of attack against Mitt Romney. [Emphasis added.]

While the interview is about much more (he talks about banking reform, immigration, and how "merely being the anti-Obama party didn't work" for example) he did say:

“It is no secret we had a number of Republicans damage our brand this year with offensive, bizarre comments — enough of that,” Jindal said. “It’s not going to be the last time anyone says something stupid within our party, but it can’t be tolerated within our party. We’ve also had enough of this dumbed-down conservatism. We need to stop being simplistic, we need to trust the intelligence of the American people and we need to stop insulting the intelligence of the voters.”

Ok, then.  Perhaps if Governor Jindal wants the GOP to cease being "the stupid party" he can start with the majority of Republicans (58%, according to Gallup) who believe that "God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years" even though the science dates the first "modern" humans evolved about 200,000 years ago.

Or perhaps Governor Jindal could address the 57% of Republicans who don't believe there's solid evidence for Global Warming (when asked by Pew only 43% said there was solid evidence for it) if he wants the GOP to stop being "the stupid party."

Perhaps had Governor Jindal vetoed the "Louisiana Science Education Act" instead of signing it, I'd have a little more faith in his words. And what did the LSEA do? From Slate:

The act allows “supplemental textbooks and other instructional materials” to be brought into classrooms to support the “open and objective discussion” of certain “scientific theories,” including, of course, evolution. As educators who have heard such coded language before quickly realized, the act was intended to promote creationism as science.

Good going, Bobby.