# Bobby Jindal: Raving nutbag **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 17, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234 "2008-06-17T18:17:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/1 "2008-06-17T18:17:38Z")
Thanks to **Liberal** for calling this to my attention in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=472111). For those who don’t know, Bobby Jindal is the Republican Governor of Lousiana. He’s an ultra conservative, Indian-American, religious-rightie who is heavily rumored to be on McCain’s VP shortlist. Well [not any more](http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/06/bobby_jindals_dance_with_the_d.php), I suspect. > [@](#): > > …in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer. Jindal’s account of demon battling is quite amusing: > [@](#): > > Whenever I concentrated long enough to begin prayer, I felt some type of physical force distracting me. It was as if something was pushing down on my chest, making it very hard for me to breathe. . . Though I could find no cause for my chest pains, I was very scared of what was happening to me and Susan. I began to think that the demon would only attack me if I tried to pray or fight back; thus, I resigned myself to leaving it alone in an attempt to find peace for myself. I don’t think he has any chance of getting tapped now, but I’d love it if McCain were to choose him. The jokes would write themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/2 "2008-06-17T18:20:01Z")
Thomas Eagleton wasn’t that nuts. I think it’s safe to say that Jindal shouldn’t be waiting with bated breath by the phone. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/3 "2008-06-17T18:23:33Z")
68% of Americans believe in angels, and 61% believe in the devil, which makes me suspect that 50% of them think it’s plausible that Bobby Jindal kicks demon ass… [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris\_poll/index.asp?PID=618](http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=618) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/4 "2008-06-17T18:25:50Z")
I don’t think that most people believe they’ve battled them, though. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/5 "2008-06-17T18:31:10Z")
My boyfriend and I have long involved discussions about whether he’s just putting on or if he really did go off his rocker. Fact is that Republicans tend to love Indians and it makes sense that he could climb faster within that party than within the Democrats. OTOH, it’s one thing to fake a conversion to pacify your constituency and then try to move the dialogue to your economic policies, quite another to preach intelligent design and engage in exorcisms and shit. So seriously, we’re still arguing about it though the pendulum seems to be swinging more and more towards “he really is nuts” than “he’s faking it to further his political career.” Oh, and his original name was Piyush, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/6 "2008-06-17T18:32:00Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] 68% of Americans believe in angels, and 61% believe in the devil, which makes me suspect that 50% of them think it’s plausible that Bobby Jindal kicks demon ass… [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris\_poll/index.asp?PID=618](http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=618) [/QUOTE] Except by his own admission he pussed out. McCain went through more shit in 10 seconds at the Hanoi Hilton. No way he picks Jindal. Chest pains? Difficulty breathing? OMG Its The Devil!! Run For Yor Life!! ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/7 "2008-06-17T18:33:33Z")
Meh. I don’t believe in them, but I don’t see that much difference between “I believe in demons” and “I believe in battling demons”. I mean, if you know they’re there, you really ought to do something about the bastards, right? ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/8 "2008-06-17T18:37:14Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Meh. I don’t believe in them, but I don’t see that much difference between “I believe in demons” and “I believe in battling demons”. I mean, if you know they’re there, you really ought to do something about the bastards, right? [/QUOTE] But he didn’t do anything. He got short of breath and quit the field. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/9 "2008-06-17T18:46:19Z")
The funny thing is I remember reading in a local political blog recently that Jindal was spotted on his Blackberry throughout Ash Wednesday services, dealing with email. Ah, here we go: [Blagueur: Ashes and a Blackberry, oh my!](http://joefromla.blogspot.com/2006/03/ashes-and-blackberry-oh-my.html) Well, 2006… not that recently. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/10 "2008-06-17T18:52:24Z")
He’s just thinking ahead. When he gets caught with a kilo of coke and a dead hooker in his trunk, he’ll just blame the demon that he neglected to slay. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/11 "2008-06-17T18:56:02Z")
[QUOTE=lisacurl] The funny thing is I remember reading in a local political blog recently that Jindal was spotted on his Blackberry throughout Ash Wednesday services, dealing with email. [/QUOTE] … from _demons_! ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/12 "2008-06-17T19:20:34Z")
well, I heard him speak at the NRA convention last month to a very appreciative audience, and his main points were that he’d cut Louisiana’s public healthcare budget (but without going into specifics, leaving me wondering if “cutting red tape” is a euphemism for “pulling out breathing tubes.”); and how he battled petty-minded insurance officials who refused assistance from boat-owners offering to resuce Katrina victims (which sounds like bullshit, but the audience still beleived in those “welfare queens driving cadillacs” that Ronald Regan had told them about, so why bother?). It seems there’s a core of “real” Americans, but they’re saddled with the civil service from the old Austro-Hungarian Empire, threatend by an equally alien welfare/crimminal class, and scolded by a Stalinist/Maoist academic class. So why would demons be out of the question? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/13 "2008-06-17T19:33:50Z")
Hopefully someone who is better at Wikipedia than I am can add this to [his page.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Jindal) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/14 "2008-06-17T19:44:17Z")
[QUOTE=anu-la1979] … Oh, and his original name was Piyush, I think. [/QUOTE] Yes. Named after the Hindu god of childbirth. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/15 "2008-06-17T21:51:32Z")
Never mind. Too obvious. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/16 "2008-06-17T21:59:41Z")
Well you have to say this about Louisiana: it sure does produce some colorful politicians. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/17 "2008-06-17T22:30:34Z")
How is this any crazier than feeling the presence of God? Or thinking that a Jewish carpenter that lived 2,000 years ago is God? ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/18 "2008-06-17T22:56:28Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] … from _demons_! [/QUOTE] … from other legislators, same thing. 😃 [QUOTE=dalej42] Hopefully someone who is better at Wikipedia than I am can add this to his page. [/quote] it’s there at the bottom, under the heading, “Writings.” ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2008, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/19 "2008-06-17T22:58:07Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] How is this any crazier than feeling the presence of God? Or thinking that a Jewish carpenter that lived 2,000 years ago is God? [/QUOTE] I don’t know, it just is. There’s a difference between talking to Jesus and thinking Jesus talks back. ---
**Author:** ![Incensed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Incensed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incensed)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234/20 "2008-06-18T01:39:50Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] 68% of Americans believe in angels, and 61% believe in the devil, which makes me suspect that 50% of them think it’s plausible that Bobby Jindal kicks demon ass… [http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris\_poll/index.asp?PID=618](http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=618) [/QUOTE] [Pointless aside] Just when I am getting along well, pretending I am not surrounded by raving lunatics, someone has to prod me with the red hot iron of truth. Twenty-eight percent of Americans believe in witches? 28%? Witches? F\*\*\*\*\*\* WITCHES? Seriously? ::_aneurysm_:: [/Pointless aside] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bobby-jindal-raving-nutbag/453234.md?page=2)