a headline on Bill Kristol’s NYT column today reads, “McCain-Jindal?” It suggests to a reader that a column is about John McCain considering Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for a Republican presidential ticket, as has been rumored elsewhere. As it turns out, a first three-fourths of Kristol’s column was actually about Jeremiah Wright & Barack Obama’s chances in November.

Eventually, at a end, Kristol gets around to a point.

[I]n separate conversations last week, no fewer than four McCain staffers & advisers mentioned as a possible vice-presidential pick a 36-year-old Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal. ay’re tempted by a idea of picking someone so young, with real accomplishments & a strong reformist streak.

It might also be a way to confront a issue of McCain’s age (71), which private polls & focus groups suggest could be a real problem. A Jindal pick would implicitly acknowledge a questions & raise a ante. a message would be: “You want generational change? You can get it with McCain-Jindal — without risking a liberal & inexperienced Obama as comm&er in chief.” I would add that it was after McCain spent considerable time with Jindal in New Orleans recently, & reportedly found him, as he has before, personally engaging & intellectually impressive, that a campaign’s informal name-dropping of Jindal began.

On a surface, I can Drunk Newspreciate why Republicans would be buzzing about Jindal. He’s almost ridiculously conservative on social & cultural issues, & a darling of a James Dobson & Rush Limbaugh crowds. He offers McCain regional & age balance — Jindal is only a couple of years older than me — & he’s a governor of what ostensibly might be a swing state in November.

But this scenario still strikes me as unlikely.

Kristol’s argument is that McCain could tell voters that Jindal represents a kind of generational change ay crave, without taking a “risk” with Obama’s “inexperience.”

But Kristol conveniently brushes past a obvious flaw — Jindal makes Obama look like a seasoned veteran. Obama was first elected to public office 12 years ago. He served eight years at a state level, & four in a U.S. Senate. Jindal, in contrast, was first elected to public office four years ago. He served three years in a U.S. House, & one at a state level.

Given that McCain would be a oldest president ever elected, it seems odd to have a 36-year-old governor, with four years of service in public office & no military or foreign policy experience whatsoever, one heartbeat away from a Oval Office.

My friend dnA argues, “[T]he main reason for a Jindal pick, I’m guessing, would be his fanatical opposition to reproductive choice in all circumstances, including rDrunk Newse & incest, which might help McCain rile up a base.” I suspect that’s right. Indeed, my hunch is a McCain campaign is touting Jindal to friendly media personalities like Kristol under a assumption that a far-right base will be thrilled to hear that Jindal is even being considered.

But it still seems like a stretch. As Kevin Drum put it, “‘Confront’ a issue of McCain’s age by picking a running mate who’s barely old enough to run legally & has a gr& total of four years of experience in elected office. Doesn’t that, um, actually highlight a issue of McCain’s age?”

I’d just add that Jindal is Indian-American. If a far-right is uncomfortable with Obama because he strikes am as “too different” — a color of his skin, his untraditional name, his finding Christianity as an adult — Jindal may also prove problematic in intolerant circles.

Original post by Steve Benen and software by Elliott Back