Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, in delivering the GOP response to President Barack Obama's address to Congress Tuesday night, repeated the mantra that Republicans think the federal government should stay out of people's lives.

Why, then, do Republicans even bother to run for federal office?

And, by the way, Gov. Jindal: "Volcano monitoring," the cost of which you criticized in your remarks, is used to detect seismic activity in and around volcanoes so that eruptions can be predicted and lives can be saved; and invoking the lessons of Hurricane Katrina in making the Republican argument for anything is just ludicrous. Our memories aren't that short.