Zachary Roth has figured out that significant portions of a Bobby Jindal anecdote from Tuesday night never happened, and Politico found out from a spokeswoman that the story didn’t happen when Jindal said it did, it wasn’t actually told to him directly, and, uh, yeah.  Despite all that, Jindal’s aides claim it’s the exact same story, despite being a different thing that happened at a different time in a different way to someone else. 

I’ve decided to edit the portion of Jindal’s speech containing the anecdote to make it clearer what actually happened, and then you’ll see that it’s pretty much the exact same thing.

The original:

During Katrina, I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine. When I walked into his makeshift office I’d never seen him so angry. He was yelling into the phone: ‘Well, I’m the Sheriff and if you don’t like it you can come and arrest me!’ I asked him: ‘Sheriff, what’s got you so mad?’ He told me that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn’t go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I told him, ‘Sheriff, that’s ridiculous.’ And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: ‘Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!’ Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.

During Katrina,

I visited Sheriff Harry Lee, a Democrat and a good friend of mine.

When

I

walked into his makeshift office

talked to him after Katrina

I’d never seen him so angry

. He

was yelling

told someone on the phone about how he’d yelled into the phone days earlier: ‘Well, I’m the Sheriff and if you don’t like it you can come and arrest me!’ I

asked him: ‘Sheriff, what’s got you so mad?’

kept listening.  He told

me

whoever was on the phone that he had put out a call for volunteers to come with their boats to rescue people who were trapped on their rooftops by the floodwaters. The boats were all lined up ready to go - when some bureaucrat showed up and told them they couldn’t go out on the water unless they had proof of insurance and registration. I

told him, ‘Sheriff, that’s ridiculous.’

stood by while he continued to tell the story.

And before I knew it, he was yelling into the phone: ‘Congressman Jindal is here, and he says you can come and arrest him too!’

Harry just told the boaters to ignore the bureaucrats and start rescuing people.

See?  There’s absolutely nothing relevant about the story, particularly as it relates to Jindal, that changes.  It’s just like I was telling Harrison Ford on the set of Star Wars when I played Greedo. 

UPDATE:  According to Redstate, Roth is racist because Jindal lied.  Apparently, that’s how racism works now.  So, uh, I can jump fourteen feet in the air.  You’re all racist now, fuckers!