Bobby Jindal, from Rand Paul Critic to NSA-Doubting Convert
Bobby Jindal, Republican governor of Louisiana, speaks during a conversation at the National Review Institute 2015 ideas summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Friday, May 1, 2015.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergTwo years ago, at a roundtable for Republican governors at the Aspen Institute, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie went to war with libertarians. The House of Representatives had almost voted to bar funding for the NSA's bulk data collection program, then newly exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. In Aspen, Christie chastised the libertarians (like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul) who wanted to wind such programs back, saying they simply didn't understand the world.
"The next attack that comes," said Christie, "the one that kills thousands of Americans as a result, people are gonna be looking back at these people who had an intellectual debate and wondering whether or not they [neglected] our first job, to protect the people we serve."