PRESIDENT OBAMA'S SPEECH TO JOINT SESSION OF CONGRESS

President Obama's speech to Congress last night was very well received.



Gov. Jindal's rebuttal? Not so much.

Here's conservative columnist David Brooks' take on Jindal:

LEHRER: How well did he do?

BROOKS: Not so well. You know, I think Bobby Jindal is a very promising politician, and I opposed the stimulus package - I thought it was poorly drafted - but to come up at this moment in history with a stale, "government is the problem...we can't trust the government"...it's just a disaster for the Republican Party. The country is in a panic, now. They may not like the way the Congress passed the stimulus bill. The idea that government is going to have no role in this...in a moment where only the Federal government is big enough to do stuff...to just ignore all that and say government's the problem...corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending - it's just a form of nihilism. It's just not where the country is, it's not where the future of the country is. There's an intra-Republican debate: some people say the Republican party lost its way because it got too moderate, some people say they got too weird or too conservative. He thinks they got too moderate, and he's making that case. I think it's insane. I think it's a disaster for the party. I just think it's unfortunate right now.





Republicans have to take serious, serious note of this, otherwise, they will be seen as nothing but negative, obstructionist pessimists who have only old worn-out rhetoric to offer and nothing else. If the GOP continues down that path, and if Gov. Jindal is the best they have to offer, they're in big trouble.

GOP OFFERS RETRIBUTION AGAINST MODERATE REPUBLICANS: