Jindal gets hammered on social media as campaign struggles for momentum in crowded field

WASHINGTON: Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal continued to get hammered on social media in his effort to make himself relevant in the 2016 presidential election, even as his wife Supriya put out a campaign hat seeking political contributions — from Indian-Americans, among others.
Jindal, who is running at the bottom of the overcrowded 14-member Republican field that has jumped into the fray, was the butt of ridicule on Tuesday after his campaign invited people to ask questions to the candidate under the hashtag #AskBobby.
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What followed was a corrosive barrage of insults, taunts, and gibes mocking Jindal’s conservative leanings from the mostly liberal tweeple. Here is a sample:
@CallmeKakarot #AskBobby when you say you don't support immigrants do you include your parents? @Wisco Which would you chose as a running mate: a life-size cardboard cutout of Reagan or a dinosaur from Noah's ark? #AskBobby @CarefreeBlkGirl Which spice girl is your favorite and if you had a chance, what laws would you pass to oppress them for having a uterus? #AskBobby @nonprophetess – Is the cognitive dissonance of having a biology degree and being viciously anti-science overwhelming?
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One tweeter @memeographs lampooned an article Jindal had written several years ago describing his experience with exorcism, asking ''Will your #Obamacare replacement plan cover exorcisms, @BobbyJindal?'' #AskBobby”
Jindal’s campaign responded to jibes about his being anti-immigrant and anti-color by releasing a campaign T-shirt with the slogan ''Tanned. Rested. Ready.''
''The liberal media said, 'There's not much Indian left in Bobby Jindal,' so we made shirts to mock them,'' Jindal, the first Indian-American governor and the 13th Republican candidate in the 2016 White House race, tweeted, asking his supporters to go out and buy the T-shirts, priced at $ 20 and ''Made in the USA''
READ ALSO: We came to US to become Americans not Indian-Americans, says Bobby Jindal
But even that effort ran into questions. The media in Jindal’s home state Louisiana wondered how he could be rested when he barely took any vacation and was coming off a rancorous legislative session.
Jindal’s office later clarified that the ''rested'' phrase relied solely on the idea that Jindal gets six hours of sleep every night. ''Campaigns need to have a little fun,'' Jindal’s spokesperson Shannon Dirmann told the local media. ''Bobby likes to have fun. Liberals who have attacked this slogan take themselves too seriously.''
However, the slogan was also evocative of one of the most despised American presidents, Richard Nixon. The hottest selling T-shirt at the Young Republican convention in Seattle in 1988 showed a smiling Nixon with the slogan ''He's tan, rested and ready.''
Evidently, Jindal and his campaign don’t have a clue either about how despised Nixon was in India and by most Indian-Americans for his support for Pakistan’s genocide of Bengalis.
Meanwhile, Indian-Americans were among the recipients of an email from Jindal’s wife Supriya soliciting political contributions.
The email read:
Last week, my best friend announced his campaign for President. It also happens that my best friend is my husband and the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. Our campaign team gave us an update this morning about our end-of-quarter fundraising goal, and we’re $2,422 short. If you can help Bobby’s campaign with a donation of just $50, we’ll just barely hit our goal. I’m hoping you’ll chip in $100 instead and help us blow our goal away.