Republicans in Louisiana have not heeded Governor Jindal's advice to stop being the stupid party. The poll results demonstrate a classic example of Louisiana Republicans' disregard for facts. Everything is Obama's fault. Facts, dates, history, none of that matters. Unfortunately, it's not just Republicans in Louisiana who live in the unreality bubble.A significant chunk of Louisiana Republicans evidently believe that President Barack Obama is to blame for the poor response to the hurricane that ravaged their state more than three years before he took office.
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Twenty-eight percent said they think former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time, was more responsible for the poor federal response while 29 percent said Obama, who was still a freshman U.S. Senator when the storm battered the Gulf Coast in 2005, was more responsible. Nearly half of Louisiana Republicans — 44 percent — said they aren't sure who to blame.
People here and throughout the country cannot accept the fact that Obama is president, because he is black and because he is a Democrat, thus the birthers who blather endlessly about the invalidity of the president's birth certificate. Racism plays a large part in the disdain for Obama, but, if you observe the commentary about Hillary Clinton from certain quarters, you see it's not entirely about racism.
Indeed, Jindal himself has not followed his own good advice advice. He spent $800,000 of state money trying to pass his program to eliminate state income taxes an impose a sales tax to replace the revenue which was wildly unpopular and went nowhere in the legislature.
The next debacle was the administration's attempt to fund private schools by using public school money, which prompted a lawsuit that cost the state who knows what amount of our tax money to defend the suit. In the end, the Louisiana Supreme Court decided that the use of public school funds violated the Louisiana constitution, so Jindal had to scramble to find money that was already committed to pay tuition in private schools for low income families and return money to public schools.
And now the latest in the state's privatization of health care.
A private company that took over management of state behavioral health programs last year has not complied with contract terms, a state audit released Monday found.
The $354 million two-year contract with Magellan Health Services allows the state Department of Health and Hospitals to impose sanctions, but none have been, the Louisiana legislative auditor wrote.The company doesn't pay claims in a timely manner. A friend who is a psychologist told me that before he read the article, he know the company would be either Magellan or another company known for not paying claims on time. Kathy Kleibert, head of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says:
The program has been successful, she said, by allowing DHH to expand access to care for more people and provide better service. It allowed DHH to increase the number of providers from 800 to 1,700.All well and good, but if the providers don't get paid, they will not continue to provide services. Duh.
I'm sorry for us, the citizens of Louisiana, that Jindal and his cohorts have failed us in so many areas of governance, which leads me to the governor's latest poll numbers from Public Policy Polling. Only 28% of voters in Louisiana approve of Bobby Jindal's performance, while 59% disapprove. Three years ago Jindal's approval rating was at 58%, with 34% of voters disapproving of his performance. The governor's numbers are sinking like a stone.
UPDATE: For more on Jindal's polling numbers see CenLamar.
