This is a little uncomfortable to watch, but funny, nonetheless…

Last night, Gov. Bobby Jindal gave one of the most tepid and embarrassing N(non)SOTU responses these eyes have seen. Not only did he offer no new solutions from a party struggling to find itself after two crushing cycles of defeats that have left them without the House, Senate or White House…he also stumbled on his first big introduction to the American people.

Clearly, the GOP wants a new messenger to deliver an old message and that was evident last night. For example, take this passage from Jindal’s speech:

To solve our current problems, Washington must lead. But the way to lead is not to raise taxes and put more money and power in hands of Washington politicians. The way to lead is by empowering you – the American people. Because we believe that Americans can do anything.

Huh? Empowering you? Who is you? Are ‘you’ one of the 600,000 people who lost their job last month? Are ‘you’ one of the 7.6% of Americans who are out of work? Are ‘you’ able to suck it up and just deal? No, ‘you’ are probably one of the 95% of Americans who will receive a tax cut from the stimulus legislation and ‘you’ are looking to the President and his party to help lift this country out of the ruins of this crushing economic meltdown. These smears on Democrats and false statements from GOP leaders don’t help the GOP move their agenda or their message down the road. They lose credibility because they are tone-deaf. They don’t need a smiley new messenger, they need to re-tool their agenda and present solutions.

I’m not sure how this plays in middle-America, but from where I sit, the speech fell flat. Considering Jindal has already visited Iowa and is expected to seek the GOP nomination in 2012 – this was a failure to launch.

Jason Linkins from the Huffington Post made a perfect comparison and one that I made to my fellow speech watchers during Jindal’s performance. Jason writes:

If it wasn’t such a dead-on comparison it would be catty to say out loud…but there’s no denying it: Bobby Jindal was totally channeling Kenneth The Page from NBC’s 30 Rock tonight. (With maybe a touch of “Moviefone guy.”)

Seriously, it’s uncanny. Close your eyes and see if you can detect any specific difference between Jindal’s opening paragraphs…

…and this special web-extra from 30 Rock, featuring Kenneth.

I just took a screen shot of the Republican National Committee’s website. Notice the countdown clock still reads 925 days, 01 hours, 07 minutes, 00 seconds since Barack Obama has last visited Iraq.

Did the RNC miss something? Wasn’t Obama in Iraq this past week meeting with Iraqi leaders, soldiers and commanders on the ground?

Why hasn’t the RNC changed their countdown clock?

Former United States Senator Fred Thompson is ready to run for the GOP nomination. Today, he launched his “I’m With Fred” website. Click on the Thompson picture to view the site.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Senator Craig Thomas and his family.

From AP (via Huffington Post):

Wyoming Sen. Craig Thomas, a three-term conservative Republican who stayed clear of the Washington limelight and political catfights, died Monday. He was 74.

The senator’s family issued a statement saying he died Monday evening at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. He had been receiving chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia.

Rest in peace, Senator.

newspaper in Washington, D.C. is reporting that “Republican officials operating at the behest of the White House have begun seeking a possible successor to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.”

YouTube is proving to be very troubling for some GOP candidates who continue to “out” their true political stances by way of old video footage of, well, themselves contradicting the positions they currently hold.

We’ve seen it with Governor Mitt Romeny and his positions on abortion and other social issues.

Today’s GOP candidate caught in the YouTube cross-hairs is former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

This video is from a Women’s Coalition for Giuliani event in 1989…Enjoy…

Chuck Hagel (R-NE) is expected to announce in the VERY near future, possibly as early as Monday that he will seek the Republican (or Independent??) nomination for President of the United States. More from National Public Radio.

From our friends at Political Wire:

“The only one I wouldn’t support is McCain. I don’t agree with him on hardly any issues. I don’t think he has the temperament and leadership ability to move the country in the right direction.”

– Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), in an interview with The Politico, on the 2008 Republican presidential field.

John McCain doesn’t have the temperament to President of the United States. Rick, this will probably be the only time we ever agree. Don’t get used to it.

This man wants the Republican nomination…ehhhhh…