He never told us THAT

Apparently Senate Dems were caught a little off-guard by the fact that drawn-down doesn't mean a total exit from Iraq. They seem a little surprised by the President's plan to leave up to 50,000 troops there after 2010. It seems that being caught off-guard is making the rounds. Gov. Jindal was surprised by the Vice President's repetition of claims by the Center for American Progress that Louisiana is losing more than 400 jobs per day. That claim was certainly news to the Governor, and the state and national labor boards which report that Louisiana was one of the few states to gain jobs in the last quarter - oops.

UPDATE 1: Jindal strikes back

Gov. Jindal of Louisiana is delivering the GOP response. He certainly has an interesting personal story and a bright future in the party.

He nails it: "The strength of America is NOT found in our government .... the way to lead is not to raise taxes ... The way to lead is to empower you." The Democratic leadership, "... instead of trusting us with our money ... passed the largest spending bill in history."

I love the hit on Sen. Reid's mag-lev train to Disney Land.

He then lays out the alternatives: tax cuts, promoting business and industry to grow jobs, increased energy development combined with conservation and innovation, universal health care access that is privately run, performance-based education, etc.

He calls for a true transparency in government - one which rejects political favors for money and rejects the corrupting earmark process.

I'm looking forward to seeing his career evolve.

The text of the entire response is here.