“I was among a number of bloggers invited to dinner at the Governor’s Mansion last week for a mostly off the record chat. As we sat around the table, Jindal shared some of his ideas and his vision for Louisiana.” – Erick Erickson, Human Events.
Erick Erickson of RedState— not to be confused with psychoanalyst Erik Erikson— informs us today of a private bloggers meeting that was held last week in the Governor’s Mansion in Baton Rouge. Governor Bobby Jindal, whose name has recently been tossed around as a second or third tier candidate for veep, apparently wanted national bloggers like Erickson to know why he’s just like Barack Obama… except different and way better! Erickson writes (bold mine):
The contrast between Barack Obama and Bobby Jindal could not be more stark. On the campaign trail this year, Obama serves up messages of hope and change. Last year, running for Governor of Louisiana, Jindal did the same. But Obama’s hope and change consists of platitudes. Jindal’s hope and change was premised on detailed plans and policy roadmaps to move people forward, get Louisiana on the road to recovery, and end the boom-bust economic cycles. Entering his fourth month in office, Jindal’s change has already proved to be change we can believe in.
There’s nothing quite like a syndicated sycophant to inform us ignorant Louisianans about how our governor has turned rhetoric into “reality.” Nevermind the fact that Mr. Erickson was compelled to write this fawning piece only after personally meeting with Jindal and nevermind Erickson’s decision to co-opt language from Obama’s campaign in an attempt to describe Mr. Jindal. It also doesn’t seem to matter that Mr. Obama has, in fact, published numerous policy papers on a much wider range of issues than Mr. Jindal tackled during the governor’s race.
The real issue here isn’t Erick Erickson’s ridiculous article, which includes lines like “Governor Jindal is a master of the new media” amid a series of anecdotes that Jindal’s been repeating since he began his campaign; the real issue is the purpose of this bloggers’ roundtable. And believe me, I don’t think anyone would expect a bipartisan roundtable, but apparently, we shouldn’t even expect a roundtable featuring Louisiana bloggers. I rarely find occasion to stick up for Chad Rogers of The Dead Pelican, but it’s hard to deny the relevance and the popularity of his website. Plus, Chad was a big Jindal supporter.
Yet, when the Governor decided to meet with the “new media,” it seems he forgot to include people like Chad Rogers. Today, Chad issued the following statement on his blog:
Some of you are already asking- was I invited to the clandestine gathering of bloggers at the governor’s mansion?
Well no, for the record, I was not. Nor were many other bloggers that I have spoken with.
It has also been pointed out to me that not being invited could be interpreted as having a general lack of concern about my influence and the influence of other blogs.
Some bloggers may be tempted to go out of their way to demonstrate that the Jindal admin should be concerned.
But I digress.
NOTE: I’m not asking or wondering why I wasn’t invited. But some of you are, and I’m just responding to your questions as best I can. Since I can’t answer each email individually, and I consider it rude to not respond in some fashion, I’m posting this. What else am I to do?
I don’t really care to discuss Chad’s or anyone else’s “influence.” The problem is that Jindal had an opportunity to connect with people who live and breathe Louisiana politics on a daily basis and people who share their perspectives on the news and the issues to a local and/or regional audience, but instead, it appears he used that opportunity to recapitulate his campaign speech to a select group of partisan, national bloggers– people like Erick Erickson, who operates RedState.com from his home in Macon, Georgia.
By the way, this wasn’t Erickson’s only “off-the-record” dinner with our Governor. In his personal blog, “Confessions of a Political Junkie,” Erickson recounts having dinner with then-candidate Jindal on February 11, 2007. Erickson wrote:
It was all off the record, but I can say I had dinner last night with Bobby Jindal, who I hope will be Louisiana’s next governor. He will be awesome.
I know a good number of friends and family from Louisiana read here, so pay attention:
You must do whatever you can under the sun to help Bobby Jindal.
By the way, Erickson recently made news when he said the reason he thinks progressives have an “advantage” online is because “(conservatives) have families because we don’t abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism.”
Really classy guy, Governor.
He must be a real kick at dinner.
CenLamar 
‘Birds of a feather flock together” especially over dinner. I guess that Jindal is seeking to brag on his accomplishments more so now in the national media and blogs.
hmmm….so after several minutes of thinking I actually have no comment…
Drew, were you invited?
I KNEW it.
Greg, I really hope that Jindal and Erickson aren’t like birds in the same flock. Erickson is offensive.
What a bunch of crybabies! You, Chad, and CB. COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN, COMPLAIN!!!
Maybe it’s your perpetual cynicism or your inability to do better research.
Maybe you weren’t invited because of the level of your contribution to REALITY.
Or could it be because you are one of those bloggers like “CB Forgot the Session hasn’t even begun, yet before he starts bxxxxing”.
This meeting was “off-the-record” (I understood more OTR than Erick seems to have thought), and was NEVER intended to snub anyone, certainly not anyone of Chad’s self-importance.
Instead of whining that you were not invited, perhaps you should give Erick, Ben, and Mary Katherine the credit they deserve for being able to organize this meeting in the first place. Of course, that might expose you for NOT being able to organize a similar meeting.
Dinner with Governor Bobby Jindal
http://louisianaconservative.com/?p=467
I can’hardly wait to hear your whining that you weren’t on the Louisiana list., EITHER. Please, send me an email alert so I won’t miss out.
Oh, and thanks for highlighting how much more important Louisiana Conservative.com really is. 🙂
This just indicates how quickly he will bail on the state for his next careee move. He’s alreadt looking to move on.
Obama is his joke, I looked at his website and was kind of appauled at his so called solutions…
While Jindal has done more in the last several months that Obama has in his whole career.
Well, Obama did manage to get a house at a deflated rate while a currupt businessman’s wife purchased the adjecent lot at an inflated price may never be something Jindal accoplishes like Obama did Jindal otherwise will always be more accomplished overall.
Oh, he will never be VP this cycle, that is a stupid internet rumor and will neve be seriously entertained by anyone.
Yes i was there…punch was served.
: )
On a positive note the capitol vindaloo is great although the use of Tony Chachere’s was a little confusing.
———-
There is one thing I wonder, if offered the vp spot, would Jindall evacuate his post as governor to leave a democrat in charge? Especially the brother of the senator his LCRM chums hope to crucify in the upcoming cycle?
Deryl, if I started selling Bobby Jindal bumperstickers on my website, would you be my friend?
They would say, “J: The Vice President,” and I’d print them in red, white, and blue.
Of course, all proceeds would go toward LouisianaConservative.com, because it’s the only website in the world that can be trusted to defend the smartest, best-looking, most awesome, most superhero-like, most accomplished governor in the history of our state.
http://wesawthat.blogspot.com/2008/03/most-pathetic-post-in-louisiana-blog.html
Also, thank you for linking to the photograph of you and our Governor, although it only serves to make me and everyone else even more jealous!
Seriously, though, Deryl Bryant, looking back on everything you wrote during the governor’s race, it’s hard not to find this post by Dan Zimmerman (look, it was all about you!) prescient. Quoting:
Drew,
The quick answer is, I am very confident Governor Jindal will NOT take the position. I am sure he has thought of your scenario, just like most people who actually know who the LT Gov actually is. I do not see that reason as the primary driving force for his decision, but a very good reason on its own.
Given Mitch is a part of the same “Good Old Boy” regime that has been destroying this state, I am sure you will agree.
Lamar,
Friend?…well,….we could try,…. but keep your stickers.
Obviously, the Governor has excellent taste in those he trusts and who served (supporter/servant) him in his campaign.
Even better you seem to finally understand how special he truly is, but don’t be jealous of me getting a picture with the Governor. He is a very gernerous guy and he will pose with you, too. Of course, if the LSP reads your blog, they might not let you into the Mansion, 😉
Oh, yeah, great link. Those (racist?) folks crack me up. If I needed to use comments off the “buzz” to fill a space, I would sell my laptop.
Talk about self-important. How enlightening to find out that I am controlled by a single post made two weeks ago when today is my first ever visit. Talk about an ego.
Trust me,..THIS person is jealous. I am a bit fanatical with proof reading/editing my blog posts, unlike this hack, and you can be certain her importance is only self-generated.
It is telling, however, that she must have really liked the post, since she obviously read it at least twice. Very flattering.
Perhaps you could explain to her how handy a Thesaurus can be.
Deryl, this isn’t your first visit. You wrote in on September 27, 2007. You sorta kinda implied I was a liar, but that’s okay.
Because I’m not.
Who is “THIS person” that you speak of?
Are you talking about “chukmaty?” I don’t know her/him.
I may certainly have visited this site before, but if I visited the site you linked ( we saw that) and to which I was referring, (try reading it again) it certainly wasn’t worth remembering and I wil be glad to correct the record, just for you.
I doubt that I “implied” anything. Given your free use of bad facts, as you have on this thread and the accuracy of mine, I was likely spot on.
Deryl, I agree: Your bad facts are always accurate and spot-on… as are the clarity and coherence of everything you have ever written.
And your proof to that?
And what about your previous comment? Who is in error their Lamar?
I would also point out your incorrect headline to this thread.
Pardon me,, ”
there”
Why is the headline incorrect?
Please elaborate.
Because no one was snubbed. Just how would you like me to elaborate on this FACT?
So, what about your comment: here:
“Deryl, this isn’t your first visit. You wrote in on September 27, 2007. You sorta kinda implied I was a liar, but that’s okay. ”
I never said it was my first visit HERE. Is this just ANOTHER one of your mistakes or not?
Deryl,
Just pointing out that this isn’t your first visit here. Welcome back.
🙂
I also haven’t forgotten some of the insipid comments you’ve left at the News Star and the Daily Kingfish.
Re: the headline.
I disagree.
Compare your hits (an average of 189 a day)
to
The hits received at The Dead Pelican
And then perhaps you’ll see why Chad Rogers fielded a number of e-mails from people who wondered why he had not been invited to that roundtable. He was even compelled to write about it.
Oh, I see.
As long as you disagree, you are right. NOT!
How very narrow of your thinking.
Since I was at that dinner with the Govenor, since I live here in Louisiana, and since there is absolutely no reason for ANYONE to think Chad has first rights to ANY meeting with the Govenor, YOU ARE WRONG
II don’t think bad of you for making a mistake, it is a human thing to do, but it is a serious character flaw to be unable to admit your mistakes and CONTINUE to insult those that have obviously proven you wrong.
To make futher unsubstantiated insults as some kind of defense for your mistakes moves to immaturity.
Waht commets on the Newsstar can you show that I made that I did not backup with FACTS? I challenge you to list one, but you don’t have much use for facts, do you?
Since you failed to produce your Sept. 07 comment where youclaim I implied you to be a liar, it would seem logical that what I did do was point out that your facts then were just as flawed as the ones you use here now and you were equally unable to accept the facts then as you are here now.
Deryl,
You could be a really nice guy, but you sometimes come across as overly combative.
It’s not necessary. We can attempt to speak to each other like adults.
That said, let’s be honest.
Your website receives an average of 88 unique visitors (189 returning visitors) a day. Chad Rogers’s website receives– literally– more than one hundred times that number.
The guy who runs RedState.com– which receives hundreds of thousands of visitors a day– writes about a bloggers roundtable with the Louisiana Governor, and many people take notice, including Chad Rogers. Chad says he was compelled to post about the issue because he was inundated with e-mails, and I’ll take his word.
By the way, according to your own statcounter, The Dead Pelican sends you a great deal of your total traffic.
Yet, for some reason, you believed this post to be about YOU and your website. In your first comment:
“Oh, and thanks for highlighting how much more important Louisiana Conservative.com really is.”
Well, sir, I am not one of the 88 people who read your site everyday. I did not link to your site. I hadn’t read your piece on meeting the governor. Like thousands of others, I first read the story on The Dead Pelican and Red State.
The issue here is not and has never been about you, your encounter, or your website.
I suggest you take this up with Mr. Erickson. He essentially created this story when he wrote, “I was among a number of bloggers invited to dinner at the Governor’s Mansion last week for a mostly off the record chat.”
And then, perhaps you should ask Chad Rogers why he felt compelled to write about this issue as well. He supports Jindal.
By the way, what do you mean by “first rights to the Governor?”
Strange phrasing… “first rights.”
Well, “seriously though” Lamar, I would suggest that you go back to square one and if you are able to be objective, which is highly in doubt at this point, it was YOU that set the mood for this exchange. This was NEVER about me or louiaianaconservative.com, despite your unsubstantiated attacks on my credibility and using the most immoral and hypocritical sources you could have found to assist you in your assault. I am sure you will understand that any further exchanges will NOT be here.
This was about the truth and my friends.
You started with an undeserved criticism of the Governor in your title. No one was snubbed nor was it ever anyone’s intention to do so and you have absolutely no proof to support your claim.
You claimed that Erick Erickson considered the people in Louisiana ignorant, when the ignorance is yours; Erick never claimed nor implied that. He is originally from LA and his family lives in Jackson, LA. Then you went on a tear to further discredit the man, and for what reason? I doubt an honest description will look favorable for you and will likely be avoided here.
You then attempted more mischaracterizations and unflattering assumptions of the Governor’s intentions for attending this meeting. It was certainly not to “recapitulate” his campaign and the only comment from the Governor about Obama came after a direct question by Ben Domenech to analyze the Obama campaign which never included a comparison of himself to Obama. The Governor’s comment was both thoughtful and respectful pointing out that Obama’s claims of non-partisanship had no example. It was Erickson that made the very accurate distinction between them and Erick simple went on to illustrate that on the subject of “change” Obama talks the talk, but Governor Jindal walks the walk.
Continuing YOUR attack on Erickson, you called his article “ridiculous” when in truth; it was both flattering and accurate. What is your problem with someone saying good things about our Governor? Again, an answer you will likely avoid.
Then, and like you accuse, in sycophant style you go pouting that Chad Rogers was not invited. So what?! What about the many dozens of other bloggers that were not invited? Who appointed the “Drudge clone” as the first pick to represent Louisiana bloggers and if Chad was really trying to be objective, why didn’t he call Erickson to actually get the facts? Hmmmm…….maybe you will be so bold as to ask him.
This was not some official convention or news conference and it was never touted as one. Even if it was, I don’t remember being asked to vote any site as my representative. Your whole argument of “numbers” is irrelevant using flawed logic and forgetting the intended “off-the-record” status of the meeting. You will likely enjoy the fact that when I emailed a link for the story to my friends, I admitted it was a “puff” piece simply to record the event. Had you read the article closely, you would have noticed my explanation that the meeting was not intended to be a news conference. The fact is, as I pointed out and you later ignored, REDSTATE.com organized this, Ben Domenech extended an invitation to those paying attention in Louisiana and OVER half the bloggers in the meeting were from Louisiana. Perhaps if people like you, looking like a slobbering unfed dog, had done the slightest bit of research BEFORE attacking the Governor you would not look so “ridiculous” as you do right now.
As a defender of helpless children and the American way of life, Erick IS a classy guy. I know, because unlike you, I have actually met the man. I am proud he is from Louisiana and I am proud that he is in the TOP 100 of the most influential conservatives in the United States.
With much greater credentials and a love for his state, and despite the relentless and undeserved attacks by uniformed and shallow people like you, Lamar White, Jr., Governor Jindal has chosen to sacrifice his life to serving the people of Louisiana instead of a certain and more prosperous career in the private sector away from unappreciative hacks bent on tearing him down rather than supporting his efforts.
Both of these men are my friend and while I encourage honest people to support their efforts, I will never hesitate to defend either of them when they are wrongfully disparaged by much lesser men like you and your ilk.
Even more important, if the people of Louisiana will recognize the Gift we have been given with Governor Bobby Jindal, as he works for a better Louisiana, if we give him an honest chance and the respect he deserves, our children will have a much better Louisiana than I did.
Deryl,
This may sound crazy to you: But it’s possible that we fundamentally disagree about the issues.
Whereas you read an objective and reasonable piece, I found Erickson’s work to be hackneyed and obsequious.
Whereas you say things like “Governor Jindal has chosen to sacrifice his life” and (Governor Jindal has) “the Gift” (with a capital G), I do not attribute any Messianic qualities to him. Frankly– and I don’t know how to put this any other way– I find some of your language a little creepy.
If I felt responsible for defending him and his role in this event, I would
a) Know my audience
b) Speak with an even temper (which means avoiding your inner Limbaugh).
c) Skip all of the hyperbole and go right to the facts.
Regardless, thank you for clearing up the fact that this was actually solely organized by RedState.com.
I wonder what Republicans would be saying if a Democratic governor held a DailyKos conference at their house.
By the way, classy people don’t make statements such as Mr. Erickson’s.
Sorry.
Signed,
The ridiculous, uninformed, shallow, slobbering dog who lacks sufficient credentials and who doesn’t love his State as much as he should,
Lamar
Deryl is creepy. I wonder, is it possible that he could be related to Trashcan “My life for you” Man?
Apparently, Deryl believes that my panties are in the bunch about his meal with Governor Jindal.
I am just disturbed about the fact that he was thinking about me with women’s underwear on.