SPRINGDALE, Ark. -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said Saturday that the Republicans only had themselves to blame for losing control of Congress and the White House.

"The country fired us from our congressional majority in 2006. Why? The country didn't stop being conservative. The Republican Party did," Jindal told a gathering of Arkansas Republicans. "We became what we came to Washington to change -- the party of earmarks and government spending. The party needs to stop worrying about what to do to fix itself. Let's worry more about fixing our country. Then the party will fix itself."

Jindal also discussed his push to put a new set of ethics rules in place in Louisiana -- a state where he said "half of it is under water and the other half is under indictment."

"Hundreds of members of state boards and commissions resigned in protest," he said. "That was fine with me. I knew they could be replaced by people who'd work for free and wouldn't mind having everyone know what they were doing."

Jindal, 37, spoke to a crowd of 660 people at the Washington County Lincoln Day dinner Saturday night, an event attended by U.S. Rep. John Boozman, former Arkansas gubernatorial candidate Asa Hutchinson and several state legislators. On his trip to Arkansas, Jindal also visited the Bentonville headquarters of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to thank the world's largest retailer for its help after Louisiana's four hurricanes since 2005.

Friday, Jindal attended a private fundraiser in Fayetteville. His previous fundraising travels have taken him to Texas, North Carolina, Mississippi, Florida and Connecticut.

Jindal, a former member of the House, has strong support from conservatives for his income tax-cutting initiatives and is an early favorite among many Republicans for the 2012 presidential election. Many of them advocated for John McCain to pick Jindal as his vice presidential running mate.