By Arun Kumar, IANS,
Washington : Quickly distancing himself from the defeated Republican presidential nominee, Louisiana’s Indian-American governor Bobby Jindal has said Mitt Romney’s comments about the manner of his defeat were unhelpful to the party.
A frequent subject of 2016 presidential speculation, Jindal reiterated Thursday his irritation at Romney’s remarks during a conference call with donors that President Barack Obama won votes by offering “gifts” to African-Americans, Hispanics and young voters.
“This is completely unhelpful,” Jindal told CNN Thursday “This is not where the Republican Party needs to go. If you want voters to like you, the first thing you’ve got to do is like them first.”
Jindal who made similar comments Wednesday in Las Vegas, where he and other governors are attending a meeting of the Republican Governors Association linked the latest Romney comments to the candidate’s remarks at a closed door fund-raiser in May.
The Republican nominee had then argued that 47 percent of Americans were “victims” dependent on government and would never vote for him.
“I don’t think we advance this discussion or debate by insulting folks,” Jindal said. “Look, the Republicans need to stick to our principles, but we need to treat other people with respect.
“Even those we don’t agree with, we need to show them we respect them and their beliefs. We can disagree without being disagreeable. Republicans said a lot of dumb things. We need to condemn the remarks.”
Among those dumb things, Jindal said, were comments from Republican Senate candidates in Indiana and Missouri about rape and abortion, which drew consternation from Democrats and Republicans. Both candidates lost their bids by wide margins in races that were previously close.
Ultimately, the 2012 presidential race is in the history books, and Jindal said he wasn’t sure “how much benefit there is to continue to look back.”
But in a separate article for CNN Jindal said Republicans do not need to abandon their core principles to win future elections.
“In the aftermath of the presidential election, Republicans have been inundated with advice to moderate, equivocate, and even abandon their core principles as a necessary prerequisite for winning future elections,” he wrote.
“That is absurd. America already has one liberal political party; there is no need for another one,” Jindal wrote. “Make no mistake: Despite losing an election, conservative ideals still hold true.”
“The Republican party does have a lot of work to do. But changing our principles is not a winning strategy. We need to modernize, not moderate,” he said outlining seven lessons Republicans should learn in order to move forward.
His roadmap: “Stop looking backward; Compete for every single vote; Reject identity politics;Stop being the stupid party; Stop insulting the intelligence of voters; Quit “big” and Focus on people, not government.”
(Arun Kumar can be contacted at [email protected])