And now for another word from the Windom family ...

Oh, my goodness! (4.00 / 1)

I did not realize there was video -- maybe I purged it from memory.  What an embarassing moment for the state.

I would never vote for her, but we really can't hold this against Mrs. Windom.  She was probably even more mortified than the rest of us by this silly little episode.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 01:25:15 AM CDT

How do I put this . . . ? (4.00 / 1)

 

 This is one of my problems with the Alabama Democratic Party.  A'yup, you read correctly.  See, anyone with two-functioning brain cells to rub together could tell,   from.  the.  get-go.    that Windom was not a slimeball because to conclude such a thing would be a horrifically unfair thing to say about slimeballs, and, yet, he was an up-and-coming climber in the Democratic Party of Alabama before he decided to take his Republican ball and go play with the kind people knuckle-draggers find crude, offensive and beneath contempt.

   My point:  how was it that this cretin ever found any "cred" in the Democratic Party in the first place?  I don't really have an answer to that, but I do know that -- whatever the answer is -- the very fact that Windom ever had any "following" or "support system" in the party tells me something about the degree to which the party seems blind to cancers that seems to too often thrive within it (Charlie Graddick, anyone???).

  Who is the next Graddick, the next Windom, the Alabama Democratic Party will cough-up like a 185 pound hairball?  As important, and sad, is the notion that we'll never likely know who that other person is who will have been passed-over by Party Elders & Special People Annointers in favor of such a just-wait-for-it-and-you'll-see-it swine.  

  Of course, one response is that Graddick-Windom types live in every party in every state, like tumor cells that can never really be spotted until they've begun to metastasize.  I get this argument, but I respectfully reject it:  people like Graddick-Windom can be spotted a country mile away.  Do I advocate kicking them out of the party years before they've committed their first political crime?  No, of course not.  What I do advocate is being more discerning and conscious about who's in, who supports, who really believes in the principles and ideals of, the Democratic Party, and who is using it as a mere conduit for self-aggrandizement and self-enrichment.

  Perhaps my point carries less validity these days than it would have 15 or 20 years ago, when neo- (or, for that matter, paleo-) Kluxers and their kith and kin were regularly found in the state Party, not having yet received the Memo to the Membership that they'd find a more welcoming home in the Alabama Republican Party.  But I submit that another Graddick, another Windom, is, likely as not, climbing up the ranks of the Beautiful People in the Party and that it's only a matter of time before, all timebomb-like (or, perhaps, lifesize zit-like), they explode all over Alabama politics and screw-up things for Alabamians and the Democratic Party for another 5-20 years thereafter.

  Maybe I'm wrong.  But if I'm not, then that next political timezit is rising-up within Party ranks right now.  I don't advocate any intra-party "witchhunts".  I just suggest that common sense be used when deciding who to kick-up the Party ladder and who to not bend over backwards for.  I have absolutely no one in particular in mind; just speaking in the broadest, most generic sense.

 

 

 

 

 

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by: BenGoshi @ Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 07:15:22 AM CDT

switchers (4.00 / 1)

The phenomenon has abated since it got to the point you couldn't get elected as a Democrat in places like Shelby, Baldwin and Houston counties (at least not at a countywide level). The really amazing thing is, how poorly most of these former Dems have done after switching. As I noted, Windom was killed against Riley in '02. And he was only nominated for Lt. Governor in '98 against another switcher, John Amari (who has had several subsequent losing primary campaigns). Legislators like Angelo Mancuso, John Tanner and Jim Murphree lost in primaries after switching. Several courthouse Democrats in Baldwin and Shelby lost primaries after switching when those counties entered the abyss in the early 80s. Jim Bennett had the sense not to run for something he wouldn't be allowed to have in '02.

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by: PubliusIX @ Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 11:33:01 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well, duh! (0.00 / 0)

Nobody likes a turncoat.  His former allies despise him and his new allies don't trust him. 

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 14:11:01 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

who was the guy that passed windom the jug? (4.00 / 2)

and what was he thinking

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by: bhamhoover123 @ Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 08:44:29 AM CDT

He was thinking... (4.00 / 1)

that it's better for Stevie to use the jug than it would be to have him lose control and pee all over his (and everyone else's) shoes.

;-)

I'm not short.  I'm fun size!!

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by: countrycat @ Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 09:36:10 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Who were both of the other guys? (0.00 / 0)

They look familiar.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 09:44:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

they are ... (4.00 / 1)

The one on our left is a Senate staffer whose name eludes me.  The one who leans in from our right is none other than another onetime Democrat, Larry Dixon - a double dipper whose state paycheck you will never hear The Birmingham News denounce.

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by: PubliusIX @ Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 10:58:54 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Thank you (0.00 / 0)

I thought he looked familiar.  Here's his Senate photo:

 

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Mon Jun 16, 2008 at 11:11:02 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Holy Crap (4.00 / 1)

I mean pee. Let us thank the lord that he did not have to go Number Two!

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by: chap @ Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 09:49:38 AM CDT