...a Jindal spokeswoman has admitted to Politico that in reality, Jindal overheard Lee talking about the episode to someone else by phone "days later." The spokeswoman said she thought Lee, who died in 2007, was being interviewed about the incident at the time.Here's Jindal in his own words describing how he was in the room with the sheriff at the time and that it was him who encouraged the sheriff to disregard the fed's warning.
*Update:
Oh the Republican Party! It must really suck to be so weak and impotent that every time you try to hold a circle jerk you have to make up lies to get people to pay attention. But lies are the inner-core principles of the Republican Party. So of course they will cheer and clap when one of their very manly, macho men (or women, see Ann Coulter's adam's apple) stands up and talks about how tough they are and how they stood up to Democrats and government.
Bobby Jindal's lie about his role in the Hurricane Katrina rescue efforts contains all of the above.
In case you don't want to watch the clip above of Gov. Jindal describing how tough he is and how he stood up to a weak Democratic Sheriff and government, here's the transcript of it.
During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I'd never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: 'Well, I'm the Sheriff and if you don't like it you can come and arrest me!' I asked him: 'Sheriff, what's got you so mad?' He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn't go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, 'Sheriff, that's ridiculous.' And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: 'Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!' Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.It never happened. Jindal by his own admission was not there the day of the rescues and the conversation between him and the sheriff never happened.
After many questions for proof that Jindal was in the Sheriff's office that day, Jindal's staff finally released a clarification to Ben Smith at the Politico stating:
It was in the days following the storm. Sheriff Lee was a hero who worked tirelessly to rescue those in danger, and he didn't take kindly to bureaucrats getting in his way.Realizing Jindal's office just made a comment calling their boss a liar, Jindal's staff has now said that he was indeed there during rescue efforts but that he wasn't there during the Sheriff's phone conversation about rescue boats. In the Republican Fantasy World this means the story Jindal told on Tuesday night to millions of people is true. But read it again and see if Jindal makes it sound as if he wasn't present during the Sheriff's phone call. He specifically states he was there when the Sheriff was arguing on the phone with a bureaucrat.
Looks like Bobby Jindal can see Russia from his front porch. (h/t to Zack Roth for his superb coverage of this).
