Creationist governor’s right wing economic proposals not welcome

Something fascinating is taking place in Louisiana; Bobby Jindal’s fiscal agenda, which looks an awful lot like the national Republican Party’s fiscal agenda with a little extra Ayn Rand, is being overwhelmingly rejected by the public.

After months of pushing a dramatic proposal to swap the state’s income and corporate taxes in favor of higher, broader sales tax, Gov. Bobby Jindal is shelving his proposal. In a speech opening the 2013 legislative session, Jindal is telling lawmakers that he is taking his plan off the table even as he said he will not “pout” or “take his ball and go home,” instead asking lawmakers to develop and pass their own version of a plan to phase out the state’s income tax, according to a copy of the governor’s prepared remarks. The text of the speech was released to the media prior to Jindal’s 1 p.m. address on condition that it not be published until the governor begins his speech. The speech is a major concession that Jindal’s proposal, a complicated plan contained in a total of 11 bills, is unpopular both within and outside the Legislature. The proposal has come under increasingly heavy fire in recent weeks as business groups and advocates for the poor have assailed its effects and think tanks have questioned whether the math in the proposal adds up.

Benjy Sarlin has more on Jindal’s political collapse and what it may portend for the national GOP.