Here in Louisiana, Bobby Jindal may not have the highest approval rating, and in the presidential polls, he’s not faring too much better. His recent turn on to attacking Donald Trump may yet pay off, but the bottom-tier debate certainly didn’t hurt either. Via Leon Wolf at RedState:
Really, Jindal was the only candidate on stage capable of of displaying a grasp of policy details, talking about actual accomplishments, or, quite frankly, of coming off as a socially well adjusted person. He stood head and shoulders above the other candidates on stage, all of whom displayed with painstaking clarity why they did not belong on the “big” debate stage.
Moving forward, the answer to the debate conundrum is obvious – move Jindal up to the big stage and eliminate the JV debate once and for all. Apart from Jindal’s contributions tonight, the rest of the show was just too painful to watch.
While one may not win a crown of laurels in a race against jackasses, Jindal matched his opening salvo against Trump with a clear victory over Lindsey Graham in a painful exchange on Planned Parenthood, the Iran Deal, and a government shutdown by getting Graham to, very publicly say a shutdown is a bad idea and that he doesn’t believe it’s worth the fight.
There is a huge difference between winning this debate, however, and being on the stage with the ones at the top of the charts. If Jindal wants to stay in this race, he needs a bounce from this debate. I tend to think he’ll get one, especially since he’s not competing with Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry, but will it be enough to eclipse Rand Paul and make it onto the stage next time? Only time will tell. Let’s see how the rest of September plays out.
