Republicans should stop being the stupid party, Jindal says

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal says the Republican Party has to stop being the “stupid” party, as its approval ratings dipped to between 10 and 30 percent in recent public opinion polls.

Jindal made the remarks about his own party on Thursday in an address at the three-day winter meeting of the Republican National Committee, which was held in Charlotte, North Carolina and concluded on Friday.

It seems that Jindal has decided to resort to shock therapy to convince GOP officials that they must make serious efforts to improve the Republican Party’s image at this critical juncture.

“The Republican Party does not need to change our principles — but we might need to change just about everything else we are doing.”

“We’ve got to stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults,” Jindal said. “We had a number of Republicans damage the brand this year with offensive and bizarre comments. I’m here to say we’ve had enough of that.”

Jindal, thought to be a potential 2016 presidential contender, said Republicans have become obsessed with Capitol Hill number crunching and have failed to publicize the party’s strong points on financial growth policies.

He contended that the Republicans had gone too far in the recent debates with the Democrats over “which party can better manage the federal government” and added, “If our vision is not bigger than that, we do not deserve to win.”

Over the past two months, conservative Republicans have held high-stakes budget battles with President Barack Obama over raising the debt limit and “fiscal cliff” spending cuts and tax increases, which have been a public relations catastrophe for the party.

“We as Republicans have to accept that government number crunching — even conservative number crunching — is not the answer to our nation’s problems,” Jindal stated.

“If you take nothing else away from what I say today, please understand this — we must not become the party of austerity. We must become the party of growth,” he added.