Will Revelations About Bobby Jindal's Weird Secret Past Destroy His Political Career?

By Max Blumenthal, The Daily Beast. Posted February 25, 2009.

While under the supposed control of satanic demons, Susan lashed out at Jindal and his friends. "Whenever I concentrated long enough to begin prayer, I felt some type of physical force distracting me," Jindal reflected. "It was as if something was pushing down on my chest, making it very hard for me to breathe I began to think that the demon would only attack me if I tried to pray or fight back; thus, I resigned myself to leaving it alone in an attempt to find peace for myself."

Toward the conclusion of what Jindal called "the tremendous battle between the Susan we knew and loved and some strange and evil force," Jindal and his friends forced Susan to read passages from the Bible. "She choked on certain passages and could not finish the sentence 'Jesus is Lord.' Over and over, she repeated "Jesus is L..L..LL," often ending in profanities," Jindal wrote. Finally, evil gave way to the light. "Just as suddenly as she went into the trance, Susan suddenly reappeared and claimed 'Jesus is Lord.' With an almost comical smile, Susan then looked up as if awakening from a deep sleep and asked, 'Has something happened?'"

During the 2006 gubernatorial campaign, the campaign of Jindal's Democratic opponent, incumbent Gov. Kathleen Blanco, attempted to inject his religious views into the race by running an ad promoting a website called JindalonReligion.com, which featured his essay about participating in an exorcism. However, Jindal immediately fired back, denouncing the commercial as an assault on his faith and on the deeply religious culture of Louisiana. "Jindal turned that one around and tried to play the victim before [the Democrats] could get any traction," Crouere told me. "Then the Blanco campaign just backed off"

Though Crouere is a Republican, he harbors strong doubts about Jindal. To him, the young governor is still too green for the national stage. "I just find it odd that the GOP seems to have as its savior a guy who has been in Congress for three years and governor for one year," Crouere said. "The same criticism that was leveled against Obama for being untested could easily be leveled against Jindal."

Because Obama entered the presidential campaign without an extensive political track record, the video histrionics of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah "God Damn America" Wright, remained unexposed until the middle of the Democratic primary. Could similar exposure of Jindal's tales of "spiritual warfare" complicate his ascendancy as well? "The Louisiana Democrats don't really have their act together, and weren't able to get the word out," Crouere remarked. "I still don't think a lot of people are aware of the nature of Jindal's religious background."

Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is due this spring. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.

See more stories tagged with: gop, bobby jindal, exorcism

Max Blumenthal is a Puffin Foundation writing fellow at the Nation Institute based in Washington, DC. Read his blog at maxblumenthal.blogspot.com.

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