NO LEARNING CURVE

The Future Of The GOP, Bobby Jindal, gave a speech last night:

The governor's speech ... took on a serious tone when he emphasized the need for Republicans to put the 2008 election behind them and embrace the role of loyal opposition party.

"It's time to declare our time of introspection and navel-gazing officially over," Jindal said. "It's time to get on with the business of charting America's future. So, as of now, be it hereby resolved that we will focus on America's future...."

And what does getting on with the business of charting America's future consist of exactly?

More whining about nonexistent fascism!

Jindal described the premise of the question -- "Do you want the president to fail?" -- as the "latest gotcha game" being perpetrated by Democrats against Republicans.

"Make no mistake: Anything other than an immediate and compliant, 'Why no sir, I don't want the president to fail,' is treated as some sort of act of treason, civil disobedience or political obstructionism," Jindal said at a political fundraiser attended by 1,200 people. "This is political correctness run amok."

... Jindal, a potential 2012 presidential candidate, told the Republican audience he would "not be brow beaten on this, and I will not kowtow to their correctness."

Yes, folks, Republicans look at the 2008 election and can't grasp the simple fact that Barack Obama won in large part because he didn't whine endlessly about the unfairness of the other side's tactics -- in fact, he did about as little of that as humanly possible. They just don't get this.

Oh, and I'll note that Jindal is almost taking my advice -- I said a month ago that if he were smart he'd go on a TV comedy show and joke about his bad "Kenneth the Page" speech. He did a bit of that last night --

"Many of you have asked that I reprise my State of the Union response speech," Jindal said. "That was a joke by the way. It's OK to laugh about it.

"I have just learned that because of President Obama's opposition to torture, it is now illegal to show my speech to prisoners at Gitmo," he added.

-- but note that he did it in front of an exclusively Republican audience, at a $2500-a-plate fund-raising dinner. He still doesn't want to do anything like this outside the safety of the He-Man Obama-Haters' Club. This is another lesson the would-be saviors of the GOP have failed to learn: months after Barack Obama won election by taking his act to places such as Virginia and Indiana, Jindal and Sarah Palin are taking us back to the Bush-Rove days of zero outreach to the center, in the belief that playing exclusively to the base will win them 50% plus one vote. Given the GOP's horrible party-identification numbers right now, good luck with that, guys.

(Jindal story via the Huffington Post.)