Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal bragged Friday that when abortion rights demonstrators showed up at the governor’s mansion to protest his recent cuts to Planned Parenthood, he had a surprise for them: large screens to display the secretly-recorded videos that have roiled the controversial organization.
“They came to protest at my house yesterday, and so we set up some nice video screens for them so they could watch those videos uncovered,” the Republican presidential candidate told a summit hosted by Americans for Prosperity in Columbus.
Outraged by the videos earlier this month, which purport to show the illegal sale of fetal tissue, the governor cut the state’s Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood, a decision that earned him huge applause at the conservative summit.
“I’m here to tell you Planned Parenthood should not get another dime of our taxpayer dollars,” he said.
His campaign website shows footage of the protests in Baton Rouge, as well as his team’s counter tactic. Text at the end of the one-minute video states that the protesters moved further away from the mansion “so they didn’t have to listen to the horrifying videos.”
Delivering a highly-charged speech with lots of red meat, Jindal got an enthusiastic reception from the conservative-leaning crowd at Friday’s event. Jindal, who earned less than half of 1% in CNN’s recent poll measuring support for the Republican presidential nomination, went after some of his rivals in the race for the White House.
As he’s done in recent days, he blasted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker for his health care plan, accusing it of being too liberal, and reiterated attacks against former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who spoke just a couple of hours earlier on the same stage. He also went after the senators who are running for president, blasting them for being speakers and not “doers.”
“Look they give great speeches, they filibuster, and I am proud they have large bladders, but that is not enough,” he said.
Jindal, who has joined with Donald Trump to call for the end of birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants, kicked off his speech talking about how his own mother came to the United States from India when she was six months pregnant. But he made sure to point out that that when his parents immigrated, “they came to this country legally.”
The governor has been known for his blunt views on assimilation and got thunderous applause when he said anyone who wants to come to the United States must “learn English, adopt our values, and when you get here, roll up your sleeves and get to work.”
