From Bobby’s Response to Obama:

“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.”

This passage does not really tell us who Sheriff Lee is speaking with on the other side of the phone. However, thanks to YouTube, there is now a second version of the Harry Lee story online with which we compare. From Jindal in Cedar Rapids, Iowa:

“I found Harry yelling through a phone to some unnamed, unknown, faceless bureaucrat.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sopRKVaiSc0

So according this version of the story, we are to believe that Sheriff Lee was talking directly to a “bureaucrat” about the issue of some rescuers not being able get their boats in the water due to lack of registration/proof of insurance. This part works well for Jindal’s purposes, considering he uses the story to illustrate the evils of government bureaucracy.

But let’s go back in time to look at an earlier version of the story. Jindal gave a speech in front of the National Press Club on 5/2/08. In pertinent part:

“I told the sheriff — I told the good sheriff, “Sheriff I agree with you. That’s ridiculous.” Before you know it, he’s back on the phone, and I hear him say, “I got Congressman Jindal here. You can come arrest us both if you don’t like it .” I said, “Wait a minute. I don’t remember volunteering for that, Sheriff.” (Laughter.) I said, “Who are you talking to?” He was all, “Aw just the radio stations. Don’t worry about it.” (Laughter.)

So the earlier versions of this story that Jindal was telling people, Sheriff Lee was not speaking with a “bureaucrat,” he was speaking with a radio station. This also makes sense with the original version of Ben Smith’s article that mentioned that Harry Lee had been on the phone giving an interview when Jindal arrived (this part of Smith’s article has since been deleted).

Considering that the NPC speech was given not even a year ago, I don’t see how Jindal can explain this away by saying his memory is faulty.

Further proof that Jindal has been fabricating elements of this story.

“Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.) may have lost his home in Kenner and his district offices in Metairie and Covington, but he has not been able to return to the area to assess the damage. He and his wife, Jolly, and their children, Seilia, 3, and Shaan, 1, have been staying with his parents in Baton Rouge.”

Sorry about the link. It’s PW protected.

Even the muckraker didn’t try and pass that off as proof that he wasn’t there, they just thought it was “odd” he wouldn’t mention it.

Contra that sloppy reasoning, two eyewitnesses place him there, a testament requiring no deduction to arrive at a conclusion.

“Thus, he had not been on the ground in Jefferson Parish at that point.”

Saying thus doesn’t mean you reasoned to a conclusion. You’re wrong.

Oh, wait. Here’s the transcrip. All that is said is that Jindal did overfly the affected area. Not that he only did an overflight.

This is what is called a “logical fallacy.” That because Miles O’Brien, correspondent, talked about Jindal overflying the area but not being on the ground, that he therefore must not have been on the ground.

This is the same kind of logical fallacy that leads people to believe that president Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction: “They weren’t there, he must have lied. If he weren’t lying, they’d have been there.”

However, there is one statement by Jindal that is telling:

You look at the areas that you’re used to being looked at — I looked at my children’s school and you just see this devastation and you think even seeing the pictures don’t prepare you for it. What’s even worse, we spent hours in the shelters. We’ve been trying to comfort people and bring them assistance. Even worse than seeing the physical damage is talking to people.

Notice what he said: “we spent hours in the shelters.”

Since the shelters are on the ground, wouldn’t that indicate that Jindal was on the ground, too?

Of course, that’s the same logical fallacy I just accused of being committed by you.

The only real evidence, one way or the other, is the statements by Sheriff Lee and his deputy, now-Sheriff Normand.

It’s more like deduction. The Jindal interview with CNN American Morning on 9/1/05 indicates that he had only done an aerial fly-over at that point. Thus, he had not been on the ground in Jefferson Parish at that point.

I’m just looking for some substantiation as to when he finally made back to the ground in his district.

Show proof (someone who was there who says it’s a crock, for example), or clearly label it as merely conjecture on your part.

Both the Sheriff and his deputy, both life-long Democrats, both support Gov. Jindal’s statements. If you have a evidence to the contrary, we’d all like to see it…

I’m pretty sure he was not there the day after Katrina hit as Sheriff Lee said in the video link.

[Oh, and before I forget. For the inevitable linkage:]

When it comes to hearing/seeing truth
Liberals are reduced to Children

Edit them all into one video, with the Olbermann clip twice, at the beginning and the end. Post to YouTube and give out the address to that video in a press release.

We have to play hardball with these pig****ers. A video like this could make out Olbermann into the laughingstock we all know he is.

Starting with the halving of IQ, apparently.

They are such media wh*res, they can’t comprehend someone doing something and NOT holding a press conference about it.

Rather, he is a young, attractive minority son of an immigrant who has literally taken hold of every freedom America could give him and made himself a success in business and government.

He is the anti-Obama.

And, as with their irrational fear of Sarah Palin, they are scared out of their minds.

Source: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:9_BVh4vTg6MJ:download.premiereradio.net/guest/rushlimb/pdf/LimbaughLetter_BobbyJindal_Interview.pdf+jindal+rush+katrina+interview&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us&client=firefox-a

And Jindal DID tell the story before, in an interview with Rush.