re: #155 karmic_inquisitor

Allow me to go contrarian here for a moment - not out of conviction but in the interest of making sure we are all using the same standards here.

The POTUS (the current and all of the modern formers) get carted around to church on Sundays all of the time. They all make a show of it too.

Certainly, when Clinton was being impeached, his church visits (as well as his hosting different spiritual counselors) were quite public.

I have always found the whole “prayer breakfast” thing and the “national day of prayer” and the over the top church going to be a bit bothersome. perhaps there was a time when Church going was so normative that to not go was a statement. But the modern presidency makes it a statement. The pandering is thick and transparent.

So singling out Jindal (not that I am a fan) follows a certain line that correlates the pandering with a political group (Republicans/Conservatives) when the pandering really does cross party lines.

Public figures exploit the pulpit regardless of party. And they have done it at tax payer expense for a long time.

I think he will be able to show he was “within” the law with these visits, as he met with local leaders and probably gave cursory lip service to “state business”. Of course, the fact that it meets some legality requirements does not make it right. It is hypocritical of Jindal, the Champion of Spending Restraint, to splurge on these trips.