Shut up, all ye faithful

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Look for the conservative criticism of Bobby "Worst. Rebuttal. Ever." Jindal to stop... now. Why? Because Dear Leader -- that is, Rush Limbaugh -- has given the order.

Jindal's response to Obama's quasi-SOTU has been widely panned across the political spectrum, including by the right-wing likes of David Brooks and, in the blogosphere, Ace of Spades, among others. Jindal still commands the admiration of Michael Gerson, who calls him "the anti-Palin," a compliment if ever there was one. At least Allahpundit had the good sense to defy Limbaugh and declare that Jindal failed miserably.

And, to be fair, there are, and will be, holdouts against Rush, those who refuse to adhere to narrow rightist orthodoxy of the kind that Limbaugh, who backed Palin, pushes through the airwaves from his lofty talk-radio perch. But conservatives, or at least those many who maintain fidelity to the GOP and who don't have Brooks's stature, platform, and independent streak, have a way of doing what they're told like the good little soldiers they are. And, with Limbaugh continuing to hold that Jindal is "brilliant," "the real deal," and the second coming of Ronald Reagan, the heterodoxy, the daring to go against Dear Leader, will soon stop, replaced by the usual ever-so-earnest falling back into line.

Meanwhile, Jindal and his family have gone to Disney World on vacation -- like he just won the Super Bowl or something instead of disrupting his high-flying political ambitions with an embarrassing rebuttal worthy of intense ridicule. Perhaps he can spend some of his time monitoring volcanoes at Epcot Center.

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For a solid non-conservaive take on Jindal's rebuttal, similar to my own, read John Amato.