Bobby Jindal Keeps Heat on '16 Hopefuls - Lincoln Chafee This Time

Though admonished last month by the Louisiana Inspector General’s Office about using his office to launch attacks on presidential candidates, Gov. Bobby Jindal chided former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee on Thursday for advocating that America convert to the metric system, The Times-Picayune reports.

"Typical Democrat — wants to make America more European," Jindal spokesman Mike Reed told a reporter who asked about Jindal’s thoughts on Chafee’s support for the metric system. "Gov. Jindal would rather make the world more American."

Chafee, whose political affiliation has evolved from Republican to independent to Democrat, announced this week that he was running for president.

His announcement included the championing of the metric system as a "bold embrace of internationalism" that would "help our economy," according to Politico.

Jindal, who will announce June 24 whether he plans to seek the Republican nomination for the White House, has been an outspoken critic of the field of candidates.

Last month, he fired off a series of attacks on Twitter against Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a declared GOP presidential candidate who had pointed his finger at Republican hawks for being behind the rise of the Islamic State (ISIS) jihad group.

"ISIS exists and grew stronger because of the hawks in our party who gave arms indiscriminately," Paul said on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe."

"They created these people. ISIS is all over Libya because these same hawks in my party loved — they loved Hillary Clinton’s war in Libya. They just wanted more of it."

Jindal took Paul to task, posting on Twitter:

(1/5) Sen. Paul’s comments on ISIS take the weakest, most liberal Dem position, showing he is unsuited to be Commander-in-Chief.

— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) May 27, 2015

In another, Jindal tweeted:

(5/5) It has become impossible to imagine a President Paul defeating Radical Islam and it's time for the rest of us to say it.

— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) May 27, 2015

According to a May 29 article in the Times-Picayune, the state Inspector General's office issued its report after receiving complaints alleging that Jindal’s criticisms of Paul had violated the state constitution.

"The Governor's office could have easily avoided such questions by issuing the statement through means that did not involve the use of public funds or employees," the Inspector General's office wrote.

Jindal told the newspaper that he spoke out against Paul’s comments because "national security matters are important to people of Louisiana, and I thought it was important for me to share my views on keeping our country safe from the threat of radical terrorists — Islamic terrorists."

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