Thursday, June 3, 2010

Alabama Politics — It Seems to Be Infecting South Carolina

Posted by Will Moredock on Thu, Jun 3, 2010 at 12:51 AM

Check out Gail Collins' New York Times column on the insane politics of Alabama. These rubes may be even more shameful than Bauer, Barrett and McMaster — and that takes a helluva an effort.

McMaster has no chance of successfully challenging “Obamacare.” And no legislation that Bauer and Barrett push through the General Assembly will affect either federal welfare laws or federal immigration laws. But in states such as Alabama and South Carolina, where even educators will not stand up for science for fear of either losing their jobs or losing elections, it is no wonder we continue to fund abstinence-only education and reap the harvest of teenage pregnancy, cervical cancer, AIDS, and STD's. Why do white southerners keep falling for this kind of politics?

Here's an excerpt from Collins' column. Read the whole thing a www.nytimes.com/2010/05/29/opinion/29collins.html?src=me&ref=general. And when you finish, see Dale Peterson's campaign ad in my earlier blog from last week.

The trend goes back to Demon Sheep, the legendary ad for Carly Fiorina’s campaign for the Senate nomination in California. It had regular sheep and then cartoon sheep and then a guy crawling around the ground disguised as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He had on a cardboard mask with red light bulbs for eyes. I believe the message was supposed to be fiscal responsibility, but really, all you got was Demon Sheep. Red eyes. Carly Fiorina.

The man who made it, Fred Davis III, then took up the cause of Tim James, a deeply unremarkable Alabama businessman who wants to be governor. To separate James from the crowd, Davis came up with “Language,” a 30-second ad in which the candidate stared at the camera and demanded to know why “our politicians make us give driver’s license exams in 12 languages.” (The actual answer is: a federal court ruling.)

“This is Alabama. We speak English. If you want to live here, learn it,” James said irritably. “We’ll only give the test in English if I’m governor. Maybe it’s the businessman in me, but we’ll save money.”

James’s staff insisted it was fiscal conservatism, not xenophobia, that put their candidate on the driver’s license warpath. But Alabama’s tests are automatically graded by computer, using federally financed software — even the approximately 2 percent that are taken in a language other than English. Given the fact that the state would probably have to defend the policy in court, James’s idea would actually be a new expense.

But I cannot emphasize how totally beside the point all that is. “Language” went viral. “This is the first election in a long time where the fate of the campaign really did change on a single ad,” said David Lanoue, chairman of the University of Alabama political science department.

James is now one of the front-runners, despite a last-minute crisis involving a rumor that he believed the state was spending too much money on the University of Alabama football coach, who makes $4.1 million a year. Which James vigorously denied wanting to cut. It’s the businessman in him.

He now has a sequel to the driver’s license ad, in which he says that as a businessman, he feels sex offenders should be required to “re-register with the state, face to face, every 90 days.”

“Some politicians think that might inconvenience the sex offenders,” James said somberly. He did not explain who those politicians were, but I suspect the same guys who keep stealing Dale Peterson’s signs.

This has been a peculiar political year, even for Alabama. James’s biggest opponent, Bradley Byrne, was attacked by a group called True Republican PAC, which ran an ad charging that Byrne supported the teaching of evolution.

Byrne, who has multiple degrees and was chancellor of the state community college system, indignantly denied the charges.

But wait, there’s more. It turns out that True Republican PAC was bankrolled by the state teachers’ union, which is angry at Byrne for trying to ban teachers from holding second jobs as state legislators. The Alabama Education Association apparently felt a good payback would be to spend $500,000 on a group that encourages people to vote against any candidate who believes there is a scientific explanation for the origin of life.

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Unfortantley I think that it's S.C. politics spreading to Alabama. I've spent half of my life in each state and I absolutley feel S.C. is far more right than Alabama...which is saying something. One important point, Alabama doesn't have it's history as deeply rooted in the Civil War as does S.C. More imortantly Alabama does seem to try to move forward, rather than reflecting on the past... ie the civil rights museum in Birmingham. Regardless of where the most stupidity is coming from neither state has ever been known for their brilliant Politicians.....

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Posted by CHADAMAN on June 3, 2010 at 10:13 AM

Chadaman, are you kidding me? "Heart of Dixie" on license plates? First White House of the Confederacy?, What do you think the Alabama State Flag is modeled after? Believe me, the state of Alabama is just as deeply rooted in Civil War history as SC is, even more so.

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Posted by rjs2005 on June 3, 2010 at 10:25 AM

I'm not kidding you.... So many remember what they saw in the 60's in Birmingham that it left a deep imprint on their perspective of Alabama, and Alabama does try to shake it, rather than embrace it as does SC!

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Posted by CHADAMAN on June 3, 2010 at 11:30 AM

I will grant you that Alabama is doing a better job of moving past the ghosts of the past in the more prominent locations. Don't think for a moment that the soft white underbelly of those days isn't still alive and well in the state, just not openly in the streets of Birmingham, Montgomery and Selma. I experienced it firsthand, and I know it's there, practiced openly, and they still have a long, long way to go.

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Posted by rjs2005 on June 3, 2010 at 11:52 AM

I agree... I was never claiming Alabama didn't have racism and I also experienced it. I agree that Alabama obviously has a long way to go, but it starts with a step forward. It seems to me that SC takes too many steps back. Alabama doesn't have the Confederate flag flying on government owned property and the citizens can still breathe! :) Again I hear you regarding smaller cities and agree with you, but small cities obviously have fewer voters for the state level.

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Posted by CHADAMAN on June 3, 2010 at 12:47 PM
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