On Thursday's CNN Newsroom, during a discussion of GOP presidential candidate Bobby Jindal's official announcement speech, CNN political reporter Sara Murray provocatively asserted that some of Jindal's pitch was aimed at GOP "core" members who want immigrants to "act like every other white person in America."
After CNN senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny suggested that Jindal's "tanned, rested and ready" line was meant to advertise the "diversity" he would bring to the Republican side, CNN anchor Carol Costello brought up liberals who have used Twitter to disseminate jokes utilizing stereotypes of whites to mock Jindal as seeming to be "white" instead of a minority. Costello:
Well, and as you might imagine, Sara, Twitter went crazy upon those words, "I'm tanned, rested, and ready." The first thing that pops up when you put Bobby Jindal into the Twitter is the hashtag #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite.
After smiling and laughing lightly, Murray began her response:
Yeah, probably not the reaction that the Jindal campaign was going for, but, as you said, the Internet can be a very cruel place, and this is how they've chosen to respond. The interesting thing is, as Jeff points out, Bobby Jindal does inject some diversity into the GOP field, but that's not the area of voters he's trying to appeal to right now.
She then added:
When you listen to his speech, he talked a lot about how we need to not be, you know, hyphenated Americans, we all just need to be American -- not Indian-American, not African-American -- and that immigrants need to better assimilate with society.
Murray made her characterization that Republicans want minorities to behave as if they were "white" as she concluded:
Now, that's not a pitch that is going to bring in new voters, that's going to bring in minorities. That is a pitch to the core of the Republican party, to the folks who think that if you come to America, you should immediately speak English and you should act like every other white person in America.
Below is a transcript of relevant portions of CNN Newsroom from Thursday, June 25, at about 9:30: a.m.:
CAROL COSTELLO: It has all the makings of a great campaign video -- a politician surrounded by his wife and children, a casual family gathering in the backyard, except it fell a little flat for Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who decided to secretly videotape his children's reaction at the very moment he told them that he was running for President. Take a look.
[CLIP OF BOBBY JINDAL ANNOUNCING TO HIS FAMILY THAT HE IS RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT]
COSTELLO: Okay, so it was a nice try, but a little awkward, right? It might have helped if we could actually have seen Jindal's face, but his head was obscured by that tree branch. Maybe this is a sign of the times, but let's just way it was an odd way to announce that you're running for President. The Internet -- of course, the Internet is never kind -- agrees.
Joining me now to talk about this and more, CNN's senior Washington correspondent, Jeff Zeleny, and CNN political reporter Sara Murray.
So, Jeff, it was a good try, but why did Jindal choose to announce his run for the presidency with that video?
[JEFF ZELENY talks about the video of Jindal with his family and then moves to his official announcement speech.]
JEFF ZELENY: ...He gave a very interesting speech when he was announcing. He went after some Republicans, but he also tried to show that he would be a new brand, a new face of the Republican party. He said something very interesting. Let's take a listen.
BOBBY JINDAL: In case it's not clear by now, I am running for President without permission from headquarters in Washington, D.C. But rest assured, I am tanned, rested and ready for this fight.
ZELENY: He's "tanned, rested, and ready," and what he meant by that was, that was his way of saying that he would add a bit of diversity to the Republican party, too. He was the first Indian-American governor in the U.S. His ancestors are from India. And he would -- he's running to be the first Indian-American President. Kind of an interesting way to point out his biographical differences with the rest of this very large Republican field, Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, and as you might imagine, Sara, Twitter went crazy upon those words, "I'm tanned, rested, and ready." The first thing that pops up when you put Bobby Jindal into the Twitter is the hashtag #BobbyJindalIsSoWhite.
SARA MURRAY: Yeah, probably not the reaction that the Jindal campaign was going for, but, as you said, the Internet can be a very cruel place, and this is how they've chosen to respond. The interesting thing is, as Jeff points out, Bobby Jindal does inject some diversity into the GOP field, but that's not the area of voters he's trying to appeal to right now.
When you listen to his speech, he talked a lot about how we need to not be, you know, hyphenated Americans, we all just need to be American -- not Indian-American, not African-American -- and that immigrants need to better assimilate with society.
Now, that's not a pitch that is going to bring in new voters, that's going to bring in minorities. That is a pitch to the core of the Republican party, to the folks who think that if you come to America, you should immediately speak English and you should act like every other white person in America.
