Thomas Schaller, a political scientist at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said, “Someday, when scholars are trying to fingerpoint the nadir of the post-Bush Republican Party, they may arrive at Jindal's speech tonight,” he said. “Though it was a tough moment for any Republican to give the opposition response, his speech came across as unserious in content and condescending in its tone.”

Please. After everything the GOP has done wrong in the past eight years, Jindal flubs a response to a quasi-SOTU address and is blamed for crashing the party to the rocky depths? Get serious.

I think this critique was on target- especially the part about the ill fated decision to make the speech as a populist instead of a policy wonk. It may be true that a wonky speech isn't terribly inspiring, but having the choice between being himself and erring in the direction of sounding intellectual and the alternative of giving a Sarah Palin “you betcha' speech with an Indian accent, choosing option “B” was massively stupid.

I just hope this is a lesson learned early enough before this goofy image has a chance to stick. And hopefully when he has a bit of time in between rebuilding Louisiana, he'll study some tapes of Newt Gingrich- his style would work well for Jindal.